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CRM sector not done with mergers yet, says Gartner
CNET News.com - Jun 20, 2006
com and others, which "places pressure on software providers. "
It's a difficult market even for the most experienced, says Gartner, which points out that even "Oracle determined itself unable to cost-effectively develop a CRM solution likely to generate maintenance revenues as high as PeopleSoft and Siebel. "
But the winners in CRM, Gartner hints, could well not be. Despite two of the largest purchases in the software business, "Oracle has not finished purchasing CRM vendors," Gartner predicted.
http://news.com.com/CRM+sector+not+done+with+mergers+yet,+says+Gartner/2100-1011_3-6085868.html
Office reaches to business apps
VNUNet.com - Jun 19, 2006
The software giant outlined plans for what it calls “People-Ready” businesssystems at its Tech Ed 2006 conference for IT professionals in Boston. Thesesystems will be built around new capabilities coming in Office 2007 known asOffice Business Application (OBA) services, enabling developers and customers toextend Microsoft applications by building links to their existingline-of-business software... The software giant outlined plans for what it calls “People-Ready” businesssystems at its Tech Ed 2006 conference for IT professionals in Boston. Thesesystems will be built around new capabilities coming in Office 2007 known asOffice Business Application (OBA) services, enabling developers and customers toextend Microsoft applications by building links to their existingline-of-business software. Renaud Besnard, Office Business Applications product manager, said thatMicrosoft wants to see Office applications become a user-friendly front-end formajor enterprise applications. “There is typically a performance gap between back-end systems and the userinterface,” Besnard said.
http://www.vnunet.com/itweek/news/2158531/office-reaches-business-apps?vnu_lt=vnu_art_related_articles
More of the Same for Microsoft Stock?
BusinessWeek - Jun 17, 2006
Without a clear catalyst, the stock could remain stuck in its current range. The stock closed 3 cents higher, at $22.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jun2006/pi20060617_076912.htm
Open-source ERP vendor Compiere gets $6 million funding
InfoWorld - Jun 20, 2006
There are currently about 240 paying Compiere customers, along with more than 1 million downloads of the open-source software. Compiere plans to use the funds from venture capital investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA) to enhance its software to better serve its partners' needs, said Jorg Janke, founder and chief executive officer of Compiere. In particular, the company intends to expand its manufacturing and CRM capabilities. Previously, the Compiere software was more heavily weighted toward providing ERP functionality. Currently employing fewer than 10 people, Compiere looks to hire more staff and move from Portland, Oregon, to California's Bay Area, Janke said. The main reason for the move is to have access to a larger pool of skilled ERP developers, he added. Compiere is looking at real estate in Silicon Valley and hopes to relocate within a month... In the midmarket space, Compiere competes with Oracle in terms of the technology it acquired from J. Edwards and Microsoft with the software it gained through buying Great Plains Software and Navision, Janke said. Compiere's software runs on Linux, Windows, Macintosh and Unix and supports Oracle's database. Janke expects to add support for the open source Apache Derby database in July. Derby is based on the Cloudscape database that IBM made available to the open-source community last year. After Derby, Compiere next plans to support IBM's DB2 and later Microsoft's SQL Server, Janke said.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/06/06/20/79456_HNcompiere_1.html
Cash Cows For The Post-Gates Era - Forbes.com
Forbes - Jun 19, 2006
This should be no surprise: We have already seen the upheavals brought to other industries by the client-server software architecture. Why shouldn't it do the same to packaged software?Google's recent announcement of a collaborative spreadsheet application is a death knell for Microsoft Office in an opening round of a war that will see applications like spreadsheets, word processors and databases becoming free goods. This inevitable shift leaves Microsoft having to reinvent itself but still hold onto its monopoly position. That is surely an almost impossible task. Yet Microsoft does have MSN, truly a net Goliath; so if the company does try to transition to the client-server model, it has the infrastructure, audience and distribution channels available to attempt the revolution. But can it cannibalize its income at a pace to match its competition? And if it does, what would that do to its earnings? Apple Computer (nasdaq:... It is an established path to throw valuation metrics out of the window for new and exciting companies, but this is a risky game--one that most people lost in 2000. However, the Web 2. 0 client-server model does have some interesting established players on the scene. The strange thing is that many belong to pre-dot-com stalwarts.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/06/19/microsoft-google-apple-in_cc_0619soapbox_inl.html
The Vacancy Fit for a King
BusinessWeek - Jun 18, 2006
, can almost visualize the moment. "I think he looked in the mirror one day and said, 'You're fired,'" says Saffo. Hotly debated over the past few years is whether Microsoft is a mature company, with few growth prospects left. What's indisputable is that the software giant is on the decline in terms of power, if not profits, as numerous upstarts, led by Google (GOOG), have proven themselves more nimble and innovative in taking advantage of the Internet. And over the past six difficult years, it's been Gates who has had the role of technical architect for the company's many products. So Gates' decision to leave Microsoft does more than vacate his posts at the software company. It also serves as public notice that the position at the center of the tech industry that Gates and Microsoft have occupied for decades is up for grabs... The spotlight will be on a number of emerging players over the coming years, to see who will step forward and claim the crown. At the top of the list of candidates are an obvious few: Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google; Linus Torvalds, who heads development of the Linux operating systems; Marc Benioff at Salesforce. com (CRM); and even Ray Ozzie, who is taking over Gates’ job as chief software architect at Microsoft and has been instrumental in prodding Microsoft to make some of its software available online (see BusinessWeek. "I'd put Google well in front of the others," says analyst Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology//content/jun2006/tc20060618_856513.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_today's+top+stories
Microsoft seeks greener pastures
Australian IT - Jun 20, 2006
NET model, functionality such as click-to-talk will help to encourage users to see this as a communications extension worthy of a fee-based pricing model," he says. Microsoft maintains a co-opetitive stance with other communications players, but some say its unified communications push will push it more into contention with these players. For example, Cisco Systems and Microsoft recently announced they would work together to help partners integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Cisco's VoIP platform, but both offerings perform similar tasks. "I don't see a concern with Microsoft and Cisco, as these companies are mutually exclusive," ZDSL. com VoIP consultant Peter Macaulay says. "Cisco provides hardware for VoIP, Microsoft provides server operating system software. "As long as Microsoft can convince Cisco to run its server software on the Microsoft platform, it will be a win-win, and hence the partnership.
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,19495163%5E24170%5E%5Enbv%5E24169,00.html
How to catch the bigger fish
VNUNet.com - Jun 19, 2006
“Given that staff in today’s organisations are more mobile than ever, and 38per cent of the workforce typically uses five or more communication devices,collaboration tools are ideal for meeting the needs of today’s workingenvironments by extending workspace beyond the office,” Jones says. Of course, the ability of convergence solutions to improve customer serviceis another major draw for large corporates. Jones adds that improving customer interaction through online communication,and intelligent call routing with CRM desktop integration, can also improvecustomer satisfaction. Roger Jones, convergence business development director at. This is because it allows them to centralise the keytechnologies and applications in their headquarters or a data centre beforedistributing voice and applications out to branches and remote workers over IP,or a mixture of IP and traditional time-division multiplexing connections... Manybusinesses are reluctant to rip out existing technologies to upgrade their ITinfrastructure. Instead, they prefer to have a gradual migration path, runningsystems in tandem before switching to the new technology. Unlike desktop applications where enterprises tend to be a ‘Microsoft shop’or ‘Linux house’, enterprises are less concerned about their core infrastructurecoming from a single vendor, according to Brewer. “[Large corporates] would rather have the best-of-breed systems, providingthat they use open standards and can integrate with the rest of the network,”she says. Many think it is the role of the channel to recommend compatible andcost-effective solutions so that instead of investing in a whole new system,companies can add new applications as they see fit. In this way, businesses willbe able to invest in the best technology available, Brewer claims. While the IP communications market is just reaching its tipping point, theindustry itself has been around for at least 10 years.
http://www.vnunet.com/crn/news/2174197/catch-bigger-fish
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