For a safer internet, replace identity with attributes

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Steve Wilson is former VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, leading the business theme Digital Safety and Privacy. His coverage includes digital identity, data protection, data privacy, cryptography, and trust. His advisory services to CIOs, CISOs, CPOs and IT architects include identity product strategy, security practice benchmarking, Privacy by Design (PbD), privacy engineering and Privacy [or Data Protection] Impact Assessments (PIA, DPIA). Coverage Areas: -  Identity management, frameworks & governance-  Digital identity technologies-  Privacy by Design -  Big Data; “Big Privacy”-  Identity & privacy innovation Previous experience: Wilson has worked in ICT innovation, research, development and analysis for over 25 years. With double…...

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On one of the IDAM industry mail lists recently, a contributer noted in passing that:

"I replaced 'identity' throughout the document with 'attribute' and barring a few grammar issues everything still works."

We're getting warm.

Ok, so seriously, when will identity engineers come round and do just that: dispense with the word "identity"? We don't need to change our job descriptions or re-badge the whole "identity management" sector but I do believe we need to stop saying things like "federate identity" or "provide identity".

The writing has been on the wall for some time.

• As Andrew Nash, CEO of Confyrm Inc. said at the Cloud Identity Summit in 2014, "attributes are more interesting than identity". The same goes for relationships: witness the Identity Relationship Management (IRM) movement.
• The leading IDAM industry body, the FIDO Alliance, is conspicuously not/i> doing identity but only authentication (of attributes).
• An identity stack is emerging where relationships and abstract identities are layered on top of concrete attributes and signals.
• The problem we're trying to solve is shifting sharply from "Who are you?" to "What are you?".
• I've been advocating that we drop down a level and try federating attributes instead.

"Identity" is actually a macro for how a Relying Party (RP) knows each of its Subject. Identification is the process by which an RP is satisfied it knows enough about a Subject -- a customer, a trading partner, an employee and so on -- that it can deal with that Subject with acceptable residual risk. Identification is just the surface of the relationship between Subject and RP. The risks of misidentification are ultimately borne by the RP -- even if they can be mitigated to some extent through contracts with third parties that have helped the RP establish identity.

The most interesting work in IDAM (especially the "Vectors of Trust" or VoT, initiated by Justin Richer) is now about better management of the diverse and context-dependent signals, claims and/or attributes that go into a multivariate authentication decision. And that reminds me of the good old APEC definition of authentication -- "the means by which a receiver of an electronic transaction or message makes a decision to accept or reject that transaction or message" -- which notably made no mention of identity at all!

We really should now go the whole way and replace "identity" with "attributes". In particular, we should realise there are no "Identity Providers" -- they're all just Attribute Providers. No third party ever actually "provides" a Subject with their identity; that was a naive industrial sort of metaphor that reduces identity to a commodity, able to be bought and sold. It is always the Relying Party that "identifies" a Subject for their (the RP's) purposes. And therefore it is the Relying Party that bestows identity.

The mangled notion of "Identity Provider" seems to me to have contaminated IDAM models for a decade. Just think how much easier it would be to get banks, DMVs, social networks, professional associations, employers and the rest to set up modest Attribute Providers instead of grandiose and monopolistic Identity Providers!

As Yubico CEO Stina Ehrensvard says, "any organization that has tried to own and control online identity has failed".

There's a simple reason for that: identity is not what we thought it was. As we are beginning to see, if we did a global replace of "identity" with "attribute", all our technical works would still make sense. The name change is not mere word-smithing, for the semantics matter. By using the proper name for what we are federating, we will come a lot closer to the practical truth of the identity management problem, and after reframing the way we talk about the problems, we will solve them.

Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Distillation Aftershots Tech Optimization Future of Work Security Zero Trust Chief Information Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer

Guerrilla Email Marketing

Russell Scibetti

Founding Editor, The Business of Sports
The Business of Sports

My name is Russell Scibetti and I have an extensive background in sports business, including CRM and database marketing, interactive and digital marketing, social media, corporate sponsorships and activation, and applied market research. From 2007 to 2014, I worked for Arizona State Athletics, Comcast-Spectacor (Philadelphia Flyers) and the New York Jets to manage and implement CRM, database marketing, market research and other technology-based sales and marketing initiatives. In 2014, I joined KORE Software as their VP of Product Strategy, where I am responsible for the strategic vision, planning and development of the KORE ProSports Ticketing, Sponsorship and Suites/Premium software products. I earned my MBA in Sports Business from the W.P. Carey…...

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1

If a non-partner brand were to stand outside Citi Field before a World Series game giving away free products to fans, you better believe that their security staff would immediately escort them off the premises. This type of “guerrilla marketing” can often happen around major sporting events and always presents a challenge to the property to enforce.

Well earlier today, I received the following email from California Pizza Kitchen with the subject line “Kids Eat Free On Game Days!” When I opened the email, it features the promotion “In Honor of the Mets, Kids Eat Free” where kids can get a free meal with the purchase of an adult meal.

So what do you think of this tactic? From the brand’s perspective, they technically aren’t doing anything wrong. They aren’t using team marks and don’t claim to be an official sponsor of the Mets, but they are definitely trying to use the team’s success to drive sales, which could be quite effective with the Mets Fever going around the NY metro area.

From the team’s perspective, they can’t simply escort the non-partner off the premises, since this is purely in the digital space. The brand doesn’t appear to be violating any rules, so a cease and desist is probably overkill. Maybe this could provide the team an opportunity to explore a future partnership with CPK. Clearly they see value in using the Mets to drive fans to their restaurants, so imagine how much more effective it could be as an official partner with the backing of the team.

Marketing Transformation Chief Customer Officer

Framework For a Discussion of Cloud Computing (In Less Than One Page)

1

For a little over a year Sameer Patel (a good friend, except for this instance) has been bugging me about defining the cloud in a one-pager.

I have to say, it’s been challenging.  I have written before pages and pages defining the cloud (including my cloud purist e-book – check it out) in many ways.  I have done charts and slides, entire presentations, reams for electronic paper, and more – but defining it in one page was proving nearly impossible.

Until yesterday.

I finally figured out what the problem has been.  It is not a problem of definitions (there are plenty of those going around) but a problem of confusion.

There is a general confusion as to what the cloud is because we use the same word to define three very different things.

1. The cloud as the Internet.  In the old TV commercials that Microsoft sponsored five years ago so support the launch of Windows 7 we used to hear the battle cry “to the cloud” as if it was a place where everything magic happens and exists.  They, of course, meant the Internet (actually, to be more precise the WWW – the subset of the Internet that we operate via browsers).  Movies, data, applications – everything was “in the cloud” – meaning available via a browser from anywhere you could connect to the world wide web.  Needless to say, this is an improper use of the term (I covered a myriad of definitions in my e-book, including the “standard” NIST definition that most people use).
2. The cloud as a delivery model.  This improper definition led to the start of the confusion since it led to the wrong use of the term “cloud” by vendors when offered hosted and SaaS-like solutions.  Ever since the days of ASP (if you remember that far back) and NetScape Application Server (NAS – again, if you remember that far back) we had applications that could be delivered via a browser.  RightNow Technologies and Salesforce.com were pioneers in this movement allowing customers to use applications they ran in a data center in a timeshare model (let’s call it what it is – even if we don’t have mainframes).  This was the way out of the dark ages of client-server architectures and the beginning of embracing the internet in organizations.  The main problem this model has (still today) is that it shares a monolithic server running in a data center instead of leveraging the power of cloud computing architecture (distributed computing, more on this later).
3. The cloud as a computing architecture.  Research on distributed work (later computing) models began in 1939 with earlier models of what became Cloud Computing Architecture.  In this model, each job to be done is divided into smaller possible computational pieces (operational before computers) and distributed to the best resources able to complete them timely.  This was done all at the same time – versus the serial manufacturing model prevalent at the time (that was spawned by the industrial revolution).  Granted, it was impossible to implement in the early days but we have come a long-way since the start of computers and the growth of computing power to the point that we can have a three-tier architecture that supports distributed computing well today.

The above definitions are where vendors (especially Enterprise Software) vendors are stuck (a combination of one and two above) versus where customers want to go (three above).

And the source of the confusion.

I will build the above into a one page, downloadable infographic in the next couple of weeks (be careful what you ask for Sameer :)).  But I wanted to get the conversation going in the right direction.

No definitions, just a way to recognize what each vendor is doing – and a post I will point to as I begin to evaluate where each major vendor is, and where they are going, in the next few weeks.

What do you think? Am I off?

disclaimer: even though I don’t mention any vendors here, some of the major vendors are my clients – some are not.  I will disclose those more as I move forward – but I want to use this little piece of writing to thank Mike Fauscette, Paul Greenberg, and Denis Pombriant for helping me solidify my thinking.  Any interesting or good insight above came from them, any major errors are totally mine and I did not let them talk me out of them.  and for the record, the definitions above are 467 words without good editing done – under a page… :).  more on this will be coming soon, be patient… but this is critical to frame the conversation of what the cloud is and is not.

Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization SaaS PaaS IaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service Chief Customer Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer

Oracle CEO Mark Hurd's OpenWorld Keynote: Highlights and Analysis

Chris Kanaracus

Managing Editor, Constellation Insights
Constellation

Chris Kanaracus is managing editor of Constellation Insights.  Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members.  Prior to joining Constellation, Kanaracus spent seven years covering the enterprise software industry for IDG News Service, where he frequently broke exclusive stories with a focus on end-customer issues. Kanaracus has also held various managerial and reporting roles at newspapers in New England since 1998. Twitter: @chriskanaracus , Title: Big IdeasConstellation Insights Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members. ...

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Oracle CEO Mark Hurd’s OpenWorld keynote on Monday featured the expected heavy sales pitches and claims of Oracle’s leadership in the cloud, but also provided some bold predictions and interesting perspectives from large customers. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

 

The 2025 Vision

Hurd listed five things Oracle believes will be true by 2025: 

1. Eighty percent of production apps will be in deployed in the cloud.

2. Two suite providers will own 80 percent of the SaaS market. Only 20 percent of the SaaS market will be held by point providers.

3. All new testing and development will be done in the cloud. Today, 30 to 40 percent of IT spending is on these areas, making them attractive cloud targets thanks to cost savings, according to Hurd.

4. By 2025, virtually all enterprise data will be stored in clouds. The rationales: Better economics, easier access and real-time availability, Hurd said.

5. To that end, enterprise clouds will be the most secure environments in the world. Oracle’s is more secure than anyone, he claimed.

POV: Hurd’s prediction regarding dev and test is the easiest one to agree with, since that segment is fairly mature already with options from many vendors, large and small.

As for a SaaS market dominated by two suite companies, such a scenario probably depends on a lot of consolidation between now and 2025. One key factor for customers would be how well each vendor integrates and harmonizes the pieces into their suites. 

Finally, Hurd didn’t spend a lot of time on the data and security predictions, but both topics will be up for deeper discussion on Tuesday during CTO Larry Ellison’s second OpenWorld keynote. 

General Electric's Journey to the Cloud

Hurd’s keynote featured discussions with high-profile customers, including General Electric CIO Jim Fowler. GE is undergoing a far-reaching move to the cloud as part of a transition into digital lines of business.

Fowler provided a succinct and telling example of the cloud’s multiple benefits. One GE division moved a configurator application off-premises to the cloud and in doing so, the cost to run it went from $65,000 to $6,000. But the real benefits were global scale and the resulting ability to push more orders and quotes through the system, he said.

GE is taking a deliberate approach to what it buys in the cloud, which includes Oracle’s Taleo recruitment software, according to Fowler. “I want to buy things that don’t differentiate me in the market,” he says. It makes more sense to buy those products from specialists like Oracle, and use in-house talent to build out unique IP, Fowler said.

POV: Just a few weeks ago, Fowler appeared at Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent conference and declared the company “all in” with AWS as part of a far-reaching digital transformation. 

GE is planning to move 9,000 application workloads to AWS over the next few years, reducing its data center footprint from 34 to four. 

This subject unsurprisingly didn’t come up during Hurd’s discussion with Fowler. Oracle is touting its ability to offer customers the cloud at all three levels—IaaS, PaaS and SaaS—but it’s got some catching up to do, particularly in the first category. The good news for customers considering both options is that Ellison has publicly stated Oracle will compete aggressively with Amazon on IaaS pricing. 

CONSTELLATION INSIGHTS 
Constellation Insights provides members with daily analysis of breaking news across the enterprise. Insights will be available in November 2015. Learn more about Constellation Insights. 

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Oracle OpenWorld: 3 Takeaways from Day 1 Keynote

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We have the opportunity to attend Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, happening this week. 
 

 

So take a peek:

 

 

If you can't watch here are the Top 3 Takeaways:

 

 

Here is why they matter:

 

• 6 Cloud Qualities - It is good to see Oracle define which qualities it applies to its cloud offerings - no surprises there - usual Oracle qualities - but good and key for customers to know what they are and to be able to measure future offerings with it.
• New SaaS Capabilities - Good to see Oracle plugging the largest gap in the Cloud based suite with SCM. E-Commerce is a similar gap to address on the CRM side. The new HCM Learning, announced in spring 2015 becoming a cross suite capability is good move and to my knowledge a first in enterprise software. A great testament of how important Learning is in the 21st century.
• Multitenant Java - Built on top of WebLogic - a key capability to scale Java better in both design and runtime, expect very good uptake, assuming it works.
• BigData Discovery & Visualization Service - An area where Oracle has been traditionally weaker, good for Oracle customers and prospects to see Oracle add capabilities, very important in the overall race for the business user, with software providing much of the intelligence that is needed for completing these new tasks.

MyPOV

A good start for Oracle OpenWorld, with many more things to come, this was likely merely the appetizer. Too early to tell how well the overall integrated Oracle offering performs, we will keep watching.  


 

 

Don't miss my overall OpenWorld preview here:

 

 

And here is the Storify I used for the video:

 

 

 

More on Oracle:
 

• Event Preview - Oracle Openworld - watch here

Future of Work / HCM / SaaS research:

• Event Report - Oracle HCM World - Full Steam ahead, a Learning surprise and potential growth challenges - read here
• First Take - Oracle HCM World Day #1 Keynote - off to a good start - read here
• Progress Report - Oracle HCM gathers momentum - now it needs to build on that - read here
• Oracle pushes modern HR - there is more than technology - read here. (Takeaways from the recent HCMWorld conference).
• Why Applications Unlimited is good a good strategy for Oracle customers and Oracle - read here.

Also worth a look for the full picture

• Event Report - Oracle PaaS Event - 6 PaaS Services become available, many more announced - read here
• Progress Report - Oracle Cloud makes progress - but key work remains in the cellar - read here
• News Analysis - Oracle discovers the power of the two socket server - or: A pivot that wasn't one - TCO still rules - read here
• Market Move - Oracle buys Datalogix - moves more into DaaS - read here
• Event Report - Oracle Openworld - Oracle's vision and remaining work become clear - they are both big - read here
• Constellation Research Video Takeaways of Oracle Openworld 2014 - watch here
• Is it all coming together for Oracle in 2014? Read here. 
• From the fences - Oracle AR Meeting takeaways - read here (this was the last analyst meeting in spring 2013)
• Takeaways from Oracle CloudWorld LA - read here (this was one of the first cloud world events overall, in January 2013)

And if you want to read more of my findings on Oracle technology - I suggest:

• Progress Report - Good cloud progress at Oracle and a two step program - read here.
• Oracle integrates products to create its Foundation for Cloud Applications - read here.
• Java grows up to the enterprise - read here.
• 1st take - Oracle in memory option for its database - very organic - read here.
• Oracle 12c makes the database elastic - read here.
• How the cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
• Act I - Oracle and Microsoft partner for the cloud - read here.
• Act II - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Salesforce.com - read here.
• Act III - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Netsuite with a touch of Deloitte - read here. 

Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here. 

2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (C) Holger Mueller - All Rights Reserved

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Oracle Softens Tone In Ongoing Hardware War with IBM

Chris Kanaracus

Managing Editor, Constellation Insights
Constellation

Chris Kanaracus is managing editor of Constellation Insights.  Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members.  Prior to joining Constellation, Kanaracus spent seven years covering the enterprise software industry for IDG News Service, where he frequently broke exclusive stories with a focus on end-customer issues. Kanaracus has also held various managerial and reporting roles at newspapers in New England since 1998. Twitter: @chriskanaracus , Title: Big IdeasConstellation Insights Insights delivers exclusive, daily analysis of breaking news across Constellation’s eight business research themes to Constellation Executive Network members. ...

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If Oracle and its executive chairman Larry Ellison have a favorite competitive target, it's IBM. The latest broadside—delivered in conjunction with Intel—is aimed at luring customers running Oracle database workloads on IBM Power7-based systems to Oracle's Exadata platform, which uses Intel Xeon processors.

From the release issued Sunday at Oracle OpenWorld:

The Exa Your Power program is a free database migration Proof of Concept (PoC) for qualified customers. Oracle will assess the customer’s environment, deliver a customized database migration results report, and show how they may be able to significantly reduce the time and cost required to run critical database workloads.

“CSC has successfully migrated dozens of customers’ enterprise workloads to Oracle Engineered Systems as a part of our Digital Transformation Services. We recently migrated an Oracle Database for a major insurance provider from IBM Power 7 to an Exadata X5 engineered system as a Proof of Concept,” said Ashish Mahadwar, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Emerging Business Group. “Our test results showed their Siebel Application running four-to-ten times faster and their ETL Processes running up to 12-times faster on the Exadata. The customer was very impressed by the scale of the benefits and the ease of migration and is now working with CSC on a major Exadata deployment.”

Oracle and Intel are jointly backing the migration effort. 

Thousands of customers are now running Oracle databases on "large and costly" IBM machines, CEO Mark Hurd said during a keynote at OpenWorld on Sunday. "We think you can do better."

While the program was just announced, it's been going on in some form for a while. Oracle and Intel have already partnered to move more than 1,000 customers from Power7 systems to Exadata, according to a slide Hurd displayed during his talk. One named example was homebuilder Pulte Group, which saw financial application performance improve by a factor of 15, according to Oracle.

"It's sort of on us, Intel and Oracle, to give customers an easy way to see just what the two of us can do together to make life a whole lot better," Hurd said. "We can take some of these workloads and go 10 times, 15 times faster than the legacy system."

The Bottom Line

There's quite a bit to unpack here. First of all, the tone of the sales pitch is much milder than ones Oracle has made in the past against IBM over Exadata. In 2012, Oracle yanked newspaper ads that the National Advertising Board concluded had overreached in their Exadata performance claims over Power Systems.

Hurd carefully refrained from making overly broad claims in his keynote remarks, underscored by the reference to improvements for "some" but not all workloads. 

In addition, there's the matter of making fair, apples-to-apples comparisons. Oracle's press release provides the example of a customer moving from a Power7-based system to an Exadata X5, which is the newest model. But the Power7 architecture dates to 2010 and was succeeded by Power8 last year. 

Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Holger Mueller has a measured perspective on the announcement.

"'Engineered systems' such as Exadata are an area of competition right now, and vendors are trying to trump older architectures or form strong combinations," Mueller says. "Here we see that IBM used to implement a lot of Siebel turnkey systems on Power, and Oracle-Intel now want to go for a larger footprint with these customers. But databases remain sticky and the servers they run on are closely connected to that stickiness. Look at the perennial attempts of SAP to move its customers off Oracle, to very little success."

CONSTELLATION INSIGHTS 
Constellation Insights provides members with daily analysis of breaking news across the enterprise. Insights will be available in November 2015. Learn more about Constellation Insights. 
 

Tech Optimization Chief Information Officer

Event Preview - Oracle Openworld

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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Before making it to Oracle OpenWorld it is time to sort out some thoughts on where Oracle stands overall, where the event will likely take the vendor and what prospects and customers should look into.



 

So take a peek:



 

 

If you didn't have a chance to watch here are the key points

 

• Oracle is in the process of building a massive integrated technology stack - from 'chip to click' - so from the silicon to SaaS. I will be key to check on progress, quality and attractiveness for enterprises.
• Last year the focus was on PaaS, what will it be this year? Expect more SaaS, PaaS and likely more IaaS, which is overdue. Oracle was also one of the first vendors talking DaaS (Data as a Sevice) so will be key to check in on that, too.
• For customers the key thing to watch is if the synergies of the integrated stack work for them. Customers should explore both horizontal and vertical direction for further pieces of the Oracle integration stack. First step needs to be on the validation of the synergies, are they there directionally there, are they there in product, are they there as ROI and customer references.

It will be a wild ride - when you see me, step by to say Hi! - I always love a short chat and catch-up.

 

---------------------

More on Oracle:

Future of Work / HCM / SaaS research:

• Event Report - Oracle HCM World - Full Steam ahead, a Learning surprise and potential growth challenges - read here
• First Take - Oracle HCM World Day #1 Keynote - off to a good start - read here
• Progress Report - Oracle HCM gathers momentum - now it needs to build on that - read here
• Oracle pushes modern HR - there is more than technology - read here. (Takeaways from the recent HCMWorld conference).
• Why Applications Unlimited is good a good strategy for Oracle customers and Oracle - read here.

Also worth a look for the full picture

• Event Report - Oracle PaaS Event - 6 PaaS Services become available, many more announced - read here
• Progress Report - Oracle Cloud makes progress - but key work remains in the cellar - read here
• News Analysis - Oracle discovers the power of the two socket server - or: A pivot that wasn't one - TCO still rules - read here
• Market Move - Oracle buys Datalogix - moves more into DaaS - read here
• Event Report - Oracle Openworld - Oracle's vision and remaining work become clear - they are both big - read here
• Constellation Research Video Takeaways of Oracle Openworld 2014 - watch here
• Is it all coming together for Oracle in 2014? Read here. 
• From the fences - Oracle AR Meeting takeaways - read here (this was the last analyst meeting in spring 2013)
• Takeaways from Oracle CloudWorld LA - read here (this was one of the first cloud world events overall, in January 2013)

And if you want to read more of my findings on Oracle technology - I suggest:

• Progress Report - Good cloud progress at Oracle and a two step program - read here.
• Oracle integrates products to create its Foundation for Cloud Applications - read here.
• Java grows up to the enterprise - read here.
• 1st take - Oracle in memory option for its database - very organic - read here.
• Oracle 12c makes the database elastic - read here.
• How the cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
• Act I - Oracle and Microsoft partner for the cloud - read here.
• Act II - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Salesforce.com - read here.
• Act III - The cloud changes everything - Oracle and Netsuite with a touch of Deloitte - read here. 

Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here. 

2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (C) Holger Mueller - All Rights Reserved

Tech Optimization Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Next-Generation Customer Experience New C-Suite Data to Decisions Openworld Oracle SaaS PaaS IaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Operating Officer

Webinar: Avoiding Cloud Vendor Lock-In

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

R “Ray” Wang is the CEO of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He co-hosts DisrupTV, a weekly enterprise tech and leadership webcast that averages 50,000 views per episode and blogs at www.raywang.org. His ground-breaking best-selling book on digital transformation, Disrupting Digital Business, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2015. Ray's new book about Digital Giants and the future of business, titled, Everybody Wants to Rule The World was released in July 2021. Wang is well-quoted and frequently interviewed by media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, and Bloomberg. Short Bio R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Founder, Chairman, and Principal Analyst of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research Inc. He…...

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Customers Must Hurry To Address The Mistakes From Shadow IT SaaS/Cloud Adoption

Amidst the hey day of the early years for software as a service (SaaS) and Cloud, many line of business executives signed simple month to month, user based contracts without the burdens of IT and scrutiny of vendor procurement.  These edge applications and best of breed point solutions gave the business side massive flexibility in accessing innovation and moving the business forward as IT teams struggled with stabilizing existing landscapes and identifying a strategy to repay technical debt.

Fast forward to 2015, many organizations face challenges unlike the early years of cloud for a few reasons:

1. Best of breed point solutions have evolved to cloud suites. From simple collaboration apps to sales force automation to talent management, successful SaaS vendors have evolved into cloud suites.  The complexity of offerings have introduced mission critical functionality on the cloud that require a more deliberate approach to cloud contracts
2. Average contract has substantially increased in length.  Remember when your SaaS vendor contract was month-to-month with a one year contract being on the long side?  Recent contracts with some HR Tech vendors have averaged from three to five years, with even seven starting to emerge as part of the standard contract.  Longer term commitments impact an organization’s agility which is why contract strategy should be coordinated with overall business strategy.
3. Pricing models shift from simple to increasingly complex.  SaaS vendors started out with simple per user, per month pricing (i.e. PUPM).  Today, models have increased in complexity beyond user based pricing.  Usage based pricing is based on employees, revenue, gigabytes consumed, connections, or other business metrics.
4. Integration remains a complex issue.  Early SaaS integrations were simple.  Customers could leverage point-to-point tools.  With Cloud becoming mainstream, the need to master data sources, address different granularities of process, harmonize workflows, and orchestrate API’s increase complexity of ownership.
5. Pace of innovation begins to plateau.  Many early SaaS startups proudly announced monthly and quarterly updates with substantial improvements in functionality.  Many vendors have now moved from quarterly updates to three a year and even two at some.  Customers will want to understand the impact on road map and adoption.

The Bottom Line: Buyers Face Massive Vendor Lock-In

Cloud apps have dominated new license sales in the enterprise applications market in recent years. Constellation estimates that 93 percent of all new enterprise software license sales offer a cloud deployment option.  In the cloud model, buyers do not own the software license. Instead, the software is leased and accessed, while the purchaser owns the data. As the market shifts from on-premises to cloud deployment, the risk of getting locked into a vendor increases for three main reasons:

1. The access model means users have limited rights and control. Cutting through the hype, buyers do not own the rights to the code in most public cloud models. Buyers pay for the right to access functionality and use the intellectual property, but at the full mercy of the cloud vendor. Should the vendor decide to take a different product direction or find itself bankrupt, users remain at the vendor’s mercy.
2. Costs of switching vendors remain ambiguous at best and expensive at worst. While users have access to and ownership of their data, the hurdle in moving from one cloud vendor to another increases with usage over time. Without rights over the app’s functionality, users face lock-in if they cannot easily export their business processes that are instantiated in the vendor’s functionality. Add in different architectural standards, varying granularity of process flows and complex metadata models, and users face an expensive and daunting challenge switching from one cloud vendor to another. Most migration plans are unclear on how to successfully switch from one vendor to another.
3. Vendors currently eager for business may grow fat and lazy in the future. The rush to earn a customer’s business remains intense. Most cloud vendors have customer-friendly policies. However, the risk of vendor complacency grows with each percentage point shift from on-premises to cloud deployments. Unless rights are stated up front today, buyers will lose leverage over time.

Recommendations: Take Steps From The Original Cloud Bill Of Rights To Protect Your Cloud Investment

Customers should leverage the software ownership life cycle to plan cloud contracts.  The five phases include:

1. Customer experience describes the client expectations of the vendor in the relationship.
2. Selection describes the rights prospects and clients should expect from software vendors as they make their decision on a product and vendor.
3. Deployment describes the rights clients should expect from vendors as they implement and consume the technology.
4. Adoption describes the rights clients should expect from software vendors as they use the solution across the customer organization.
5. Usage optimization describes the rights customers should expect from software vendors as they change how they expand, maintain or contract in their usage of the solution.
6. Renewal describes the rights clients should expect from software vendors as they shift their usage requirements and change how they adopt SaaS solutions.

Use the Customer Bill of Rights in all contract negotiations.  Make sure you protect yourself from the life cycle of technology engagement.

For more customized approaches, feel free to reach out to any member of the Constellation team.

Get All 10 Lessons Learned From Disrupting Digital Business

Here’s everything you need to know from the best selling book – “Disrupting Digital Business” published by Harvard Business Review Press:

Lesson 1 – Transform Business Models And Engagement

Lesson 2 – Keep The Brand Promise

Lesson 3 – Sell The Smallest Unit You Can

Lesson 4 – Know That Data Is The Foundation Of Digital Business

Lesson 5 – Build For Insight Streams

Lesson 6 – Win With Network Economies

Lesson 7 – Humanize Digital With Digital Artisans

Lesson 8 – Democratize Distribution With P2P Networks

Lesson 9 – Deliver Intention Driven, Mass Personalization At Scale

Lesson 10 – Segment by Digital Proficiency Not Age

In fact, the impact is significant and now quantifiable with 52% of the Fortune 500 gone since 2000 and the average age of the S&P 500 company in 1960 is down from 60 years to a little more than 12 projected in 2020.  That is a 500% compression that has changed the market landscape forever in almost every industry.

Your POV.

Are you tired of the arrogant public-IPO startup who’s broken your relationship?  Want to move back to a win-win?

Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Resources

The post Monday’s Musings: Avoiding Cloud Vendor Lock-In appeared first on A Software Insider's Point of View.

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The Hottest Cloud-based Marketing Startups of 2015

1

• Apttus, Booker, Lattice Engines, Segment and Tubular Labs are the five hottest cloud-based marketing startups of 2015.
• 13 of the hottest 34 cloud-based marketing startups are from the Bay Area, followed by Los Angeles with 3, and Bangalore and New York, both with 2.
• 14 are in Pre Series A, 7 in A-Stage, 5 in B-Stage and 3 in C-Stage funding rounds.

These and other insights are from a quick analysis completed today using Mattermark Pro, in response to reader requests for more research on marketing startups.

Mattermark uses a combination of artificial intelligence and data quality analysis to provide insights into over 1 million private companies, over 470,000 with employee data, and over 100,000 funding events. In the interest of full disclosure I’m not today and have never done any consulting work of any kind with Mattermark.

Finding The Hottest Cloud-based Marketing Startups

To find the hottest cloud-based marketing startups, an initial query requesting startups competing in the cloud computing and marketing industries was completed. Next, advanced query tools in Mattermark Pro were used to filter out all startups that had exited as indicated by their stage status in Mattermark’s data. This filtered out startups who had been acquired, completed an IPO or had exited through other means. The table below is the result of an analysis completed today with Mattermark data.  You can download the table here in Microsoft Excel format.

The Mattermark Growth Score shown in the table below and downloadable Excel file is a measure of how quickly a company is gaining traction at a given point in time. It incorporates the Mindshare Score (web traffic, social traction) as well as business growth metrics (e.g. employee count over time, funding). The underlying assumption is that companies who see growth across these signals are shipping product and talking to customers, and are more likely to continue to grow as a result. This score is not meant to provide guidance on which startup to invest in.  Rather it’s a measure of momentum across the metrics and KPIs that Mattermark measures.

Filed under: Analytics, Cloud Computing, Cloud Computing Forecasts 2011, Cloud startups, Louis Columbus' blog, SaaS, SaaS Forecasts Tagged: Apttus, Booker, Cloud Computing, Lattice Engines, Louis Columbus' blog, SaaS, SaaS ERP, Salesforce.com, Social Media Analytics, Software-as-a-Service

Marketing Transformation Chief Marketing Officer

#SAPtd Las Vegas 2015 Report- Analyics, HCP, and Fiori BUILD

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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We had the opportunity to attend SAPtd (aka TechEd / dCode) conference in Las Vegas this week. The event had similar attendance to least year, a vastly expanded (and improved) conference space, compared to a year before - though no SapphireNow style level (which is the best conference floor I have seen in the last 12 months).



 

So take a peek:

 

 

 

No chance to watch - read below (keep in mind this is not from an overall SAP announcement perspective, but for the audience, SAP developers). 

 

• Fiori BUILD - SAP customers have been challenged by suboptimal user interfaces for the longest time. Fiori addresses this, as it turns out the price tag was not really the issue for customers, even now that Fiori is free, way too many SAP users are still working with not so great user interfaces. To make the work of designers more easy, the new Fiori BUILD tool makes it easier for a designer to even take screen layouts out to users and collect feedback on the mochup's usability. We will not see the majority of SAPtd attendees become UI designers, but they may as well use a tool to create applications with a better user interfaces.
   
• HCP and VORA - We saw live usage of tax and translation services in HCP, and the usage of VORA, unfortunately not with any code (relevant for the audience).
   
• Cloud for Analytics - SAP brings together all BI, GRC and newer assets into one product family. Core pillars are for now the Cloud for Planning product and the Digital Boardroom (built with the latter). More to come. 

Analyst Tidbits

• S4/HANA - The biggest news overall for me came in a briefing  meeting where SAP clarified the 'digital core' - more importantly how much substantial functionality will be available in November with 1511 release of S/4HANA release (first on premises, then in the cloud a few weeks later). It is substantial beyond the early S4/HANA scope of Finance. If it all materializes, SAP is showing greater speed in creating S4/HANA than I would have anticipated, so certainly the biggest surprise of the conference, good new for SAP customers. 

 

 

• Co-Innovation - SAP is innovating internally and contributing back to the product, I had the chance to meet with CIO Helen Arnold, building a employee-sourced enabled ticketing system on top of HP is not every CIO's slice of bread, so good to see how HCP enables innovation. 
• SAP Digital - Makes progress, but probably needs to be even more aggressive. A year ago SAP pointed to a marketplace for developers, that has not been yet implemented, not sure whose charter that is - but it vital for developer success.

 

MyPOV

A good SAPtd for SAP, where more of the technical details were in the single sessions than the keynotes. The key product for SAPtd is HCP, and it would have been good to see and and learn more of HCP. It was good to see that Leukert lead with the product, but the real direct value impact from new capabilities came from the new Fiori BUILD capabilities. The message for customers is pretty clear, use HCP, new innovations are coming with micro services, VORA, but it is still early. Cloud for Analyics is a fresh start, Cloud for Planning is a robust planning tool and the new Digital Boardroom is in a maturity state where it makes sense for aggressive enterprises to take an honest look at the product.  

 

On the concern side SAP needs to cater more to the audience of the event. SAPtd is the key event to move the technical experts, and to show them how to excite their enterprise and how to make money in the next 12 months (are many attendees are freelancers or small entrepreneurs) is pivotal. So SAP should not make the mistake to show and announce product progress no matter what the next event is. To a certain point SAP is victim of its own success, as in the past it was Sapphire for the What? and then SAP TechEd for the How?. Now product release cycles are so fast that SAP is looking for the next event... but it will be key for SAP not to forget who the audience is at SAPtd. The Tuesday keynote was more like a Sapphire than a TechEd / dCode keynote. Anybody doubting, compare 2014 (see here) and 2015 Tuesday keynotes, 2014 was the standard to beat and SAP fell short here.

 

Nonetheless attendees were forgiving and just went to the sessions (after all they are used to Sapphires) to learn more details, but the opportunity to move 5000+ developers as a group was missed. For me the major takeaway was how far S4/HANA seems to have come, more to check in the next weeks. 

More on overall SAP strategy and products:

 

• Event Preview - SAP TechEd 2015 - watch / read here
• Event Report - SAP SuccessFactors SuccessConnect - Good Progress sprinkled with innovative ideas and challenging the status quo - read here
• News Analysis - WorkForce Software Announces Global Reseller Agreement with SAP - read here
• First Take - SAP SuccessFactors SuccessConnect - Day #1 Keynote Top 3 Takeaways - read here
• News Analysis - SAP SuccessFactors introduces Next Generation of HCM software - read here
• News Analysis - SAP delivers next release of SAP HANA - SPS 10 - Ready for BigData and IoT - read here
• Event Report - SAP Sapphire - Top 3 Positives and Concerns - read here
• First Take - Bernd Leukert and Steve Singh Day #2 Keynote - read here
• News Analysis - SAP and IBM join forces ... read here
• First Take - SAP Sapphire Bill McDermott Day #1 Keynote - read here
• In Depth - S/4HANA qualities as presented by Plattner - play for play - read here
• First Take - SAP Cloud for Planning - the next spreadsheet killer is off to a good start - read here
• Progress Report - SAP HCM makes progress and consolidates - a lot of moving parts - read here
• First Take - SAP launches S/4HANA - The good, the challenge and the concern - read here

 

• First Take - SAP's IoT strategy becomes clearer - read here
• SAP appoints a CTO - some musings - read here
• Event Report - SAP's SAPtd - (Finally) more talk on PaaS, good progress and aligning with IBM and Oracle - read here
• News Analysis - SAP and IBM partner for cloud success - good news - read here
• Market Move - SAP strikes again - this time it is Concur and the spend into spend management - read here
• Event Report - SAP SuccessFactors picks up speed - but there remains work to be done - read here
• First Take - SAP SuccessFactors SuccessConnect - Top 3 Takeaways Day 1 Keynote - read here.
• Event Report - Sapphire - SAP finds its (unique) path to cloud - read here
• What I would like SAP to address this Sapphire - read here
• News Analysis - SAP becomes more about applications - again - read here
• Market Move - SAP acquires Fieldglass - off to the contingent workforce - early move or reaction? Read here.
• SAP's startup program keep rolling – read here.
• Why SAP acquired KXEN? Getting serious about Analytics – read here.
• SAP steamlines organization further – the Danes are leaving – read here.
• Reading between the lines… SAP Q2 Earnings – cloudy with potential structural changes – read here.
• SAP wants to be a technology company, really – read here
• Why SAP acquired hybris software – read here.
• SAP gets serious about the cloud – organizationally – read here.
• Taking stock – what SAP answered and it didn’t answer this Sapphire [2013] – read here.
• Act III & Final Day – A tale of two conference – Sapphire & SuiteWorld13 – read here.
• The middle day – 2 keynotes and press releases – Sapphire & SuiteWorld – read here.
• A tale of 2 keynotes and press releases – Sapphire & SuiteWorld – read here.
• What I would like SAP to address this Sapphire – read here.
• Why 3rd party maintenance is key to SAP’s and Oracle’s success – read here.
• Why SAP acquired Camillion – read here.
• Why SAP acquired SmartOps – read here.
• Next in your mall – SAP and Oracle? Read here.

 

And more about SAP technology:

• News Analysis - SAP Unveils New Cloud Platform Services and In-Memory Innovation on Hadoop to Accelerate Digital Transformation – A key milestone for SAP read here
• HANA Cloud Platform - Revisited - Improvements ahead and turning into a real PaaS - read here
• News Analysis - SAP commits to CloudFoundry and OpenSource - key steps - but what is the direction? - Read here.
• News Analysis - SAP moves Ariba Spend Visibility to HANA - Interesting first step in a long journey - read here
• Launch Report - When BW 7.4 meets HANA it is like 2 + 2 = 5 - but is 5 enough - read here
• Event Report - BI 2014 and HANA 2014 takeaways - it is all about HANA and Lumira - but is that enough? Read here.
• News Analysis – SAP slices and dices into more Cloud, and of course more HANA – read here.
• SAP gets serious about open source and courts developers – about time – read here.
• My top 3 takeaways from the SAP TechEd keynote – read here.
• SAP discovers elasticity for HANA – kind of – read here.
• Can HANA Cloud be elastic? Tough – read here.
• SAP’s Cloud plans get more cloudy – read here.
• HANA Enterprise Cloud helps SAP discover the cloud (benefits) – read here.

Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here. 

 

 

2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (C) Holger Mueller - All Rights Reserved

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