Enterprise Grade...But Not Your Father's Enterprise Software Company
Posted by Greg Arnette on Thu, Dec 01, 2011 @ 09:09 AM
SaaS beget Web 2.0, which quickly spawned Enterprise 2.0, which in turn paved the way for enterprise cloud computing adoption.“Enterprise software,” to some, sends shivers up the spine. The phrase conjures images of year-long sales cycles, complicated installations, and more hassles for IT departments. Many enterprise software projects are consumed by delays and miss their objectives. CxO types scratch their heads and look for a better way to spend their IT budget dollars. Cloud-powered enterprise software, in the form of SaaS, is defining a new form of “enterprise software” that takes a few plays from the consumer web playbook, but packaged and supported for a business audience. SaaS and the cloud are now married. The cloud got its start by initially supporting consumer web apps that managed our photos and our social networks. As 2012 approaches, the cloud is now playing a larger role supporting enterprise web apps. But each type of audience, business and consumer, needs very different company structures to support their respective needs. Enterprise audiences expect to pay for a service and in return, receive a level of customer support attention in the form of “around-the-clock” hand-holding...basically, having a real person to answer their inbound telephone plea for help. When a business has a problem, they expect their IT vendors (cloud or non-cloud) to step up and fix the problem ASAP. Consumer audiences, on the other hand, have been conditioned to expect a lesser support experience from their cloud app vendors. This is because most consumer cloud apps use a “freemium” monetization scheme to generate revenue. A consumer cloud app vendor can’t afford to staff a support organization based on the revenues of a freemium stream. Support is typically email only and there are no published phone numbers to call in an emergency.There has been much written in the technology industry pundit blogs about the “consumerization of IT.” The theme of these posts is that enterprises will eventually buy all their IT needs from companies that started in the consumer space. But consumer companies are ill-equipped to service the needs of a business. If I were a consumer and couldn't get to my photo sharing site for a few hours a year, no big deal. But if were a business executive and couldn't get to my online documents for a few hours out of the year, that’s a disruption to normal operating procedures that many will not tolerate. There is an axiom within our industry - that it’s easier for a technology company to sell to a consumer, perfect that consumer offering, and then transition to selling to an upgraded version to an enterprise audience. This is in comparison to an enterprise focused company trying to move to a consumer audience. It’s a panacea to think movement in either direction is easy, or should even be attempted in the first place. The negative attitudes of the past toward “enterprise software” are being turnned to positives by a new class of enterprise software cloud vendors. Sonian is an example of a new wave of enterprise cloud vendors that are changing the rules for the next decade of cloud penetration into enterprise IT. We’re focused on a “business class” audience, and catering to the needs of a demanding customer base that pay for a service and get superior value for their IT budget dollars. The 5 Pillars of the New Era in Enterprise Cloud Software1. Cloud Applications Designed for the CloudBeware of existing SaaS apps that suddenly re-appear with a “cloud theme.” Unless the software was written in the last few years to specifically work in a cloud environment, then the vendor is purporting a scam.The cloud needs “cloud orientated architectures” to simultaneously be cost efficient and reliable. The two goals go hand in hand. Striving for cost efficiencies does not mean sacrificing reliability.Ask your cloud app vendor how they “game the cloud” to lower their costs, and pass the savings to you.2. Easy to Buy, Easy to UseTrue cloud-powered SaaS applications should be easy to buy and have simple price structures. This means “pay as you go” with minimal up-front costs and a price list that a five year old could understand. 3. A Real Support Person to Answer Your QuestionsEnterprise-class cloud applications need to be supported by a professional technical support organization that goes beyond basic email-only assistance. What may work for the consumer cloud will not work for the enterprise cloud. 4. Better Data Security than your On-Premises Data CenterData security means protect privacy and ensure resiliency. The enterprise cloud can offer more data security than 99% of the on-premises data centers owned and managed by small to medium-sized enterprises. Cloud data centers are SAS-70 and ISO27001 certified. Cloud application vendors can use strong encryption to guarantee privacy, and at the same time, take advantage of cloud storage replication to deliver “eleven-nines” SLA of data integrity.
5. Accelerating Innovation
We’re witnessing something truly remarkable in terms of enterprise IT. The cloud is allowing application vendors to increase their innovation cadence and deliver new features faster than ever. Gone are the old installed software days of 24-month release cycles. Gone are the old SaaS days of quarterly updates. With the enterprise cloud, we are now seeing new functions released every few weeks. This means the cloud vendors can listen to their customer audiences and turn the feedback into new features in time-frames that were not possible to meet prior to the advent of the enterprise cloud.
Sonian is at the leading edge of technology and customer engagement for the new “business class” cloud.