SuperNova Award 2016 Application Tips

Answers to frequently asked SuperNova Award questions and a few tips to improve your chances of winning a 2016 SuperNova Award.

Don't forget: the deadline for the 2016 SuperNova Awards is ~~August 8~~ August 22, 2016.

SuperNova Award Application Tips

Download the application here. Submit your completed application here.

Nominate your customers - the Awards recognize the leadership of end users of technology.
Make a strong case - tell us about how the nominee won buy-in, led the implementation, drove adoption, and achieved positive ROI
Provide strong metrics - judges want proof that the project was successful. Provide before and after implementation results.
Results v. Metrics - results are a verbal explanation of how your project created a disruption; metrics are numbers that provide evidence of your results.
"Disruptiveness" may mean creating an internal or external disruption OR using disruptive technology to change business models
Ensure your application is not bound by an NDA - All applications should be web ready. Do not include any information that can not be made public.

FAQs

Can we submit our application for more than one category? Yes! Tailor your application for relevancy, and resubmit your application.
I work for a vendor/PR firm, and want to submit a client for an award, how can I ensure the application isn't disqualified? Nominate your client. Ensure the contact information on the application belongs to the client; not you. We will disqualify any applications in which the contact information and applicant information do not match. You may add your contact information alongside your client's information.
Can I nominate a client? Yes, but you must provide client contact information. Any applications without client contact information will be disqualified.
What should I write about? The SuperNova Awards use a set application designed to highlight innovative adoption practices, the effect of disruptive technology, and the leadership of the nominee. You should do your best to emphasize unique adoption hurdles, resulting change in business model as a result of the implementation, and provide strong metrics to show the business value of the project to the organization. Download a sample application.
Any insight into what you're looking for? We're looking for end users who are utilizing technology in an innovative way. We understand the trials of disruptive technology adoption, and we want to honor those who are making it happen within their organizations.
What are the elements of the Awards application? Preview a copy of the awards application here: http://constellationr.com/content/what-expect-when-applying-supernova-award. Download a sample application by clicking here. Review applications of previous SuperNova Award winners here: https://www.constellationr.com/content/supernova-award-winners
Are there fees to enter the awards? Nope.
Portions of my submission are under NDA. Will you honor NDAs? You should not submit any information that is under NDA. The information in the application will be published to the Constellation website for public voting should you advance to the finalist round.
What is the difference between the "Metrics" and the "Results" section of the application? The "Results" are the results of your project--before and after results work well here. We're looking for an explanation of how your project changed your organization, company, or industry. The "Metrics" are essentially the numbers to back the "Results" section of the application. We want to see numbers in the Metrics section.
Can international applicants apply for the Awards? Yes! We accept international and domestic applications. The SuperNova Awards is a global search for the most innovative technology projects!
When will the SuperNova Award finalists be announced? Finalists will be announced on September 7, 2016. All finalists are invited to attend Constellation's Connected Enterprise innovation summit. Constellation's Connected Enterprise | October 26-28, 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area
When will the SuperNova Award winners be announced? The SuperNova Award winners will be announced live, on stage at the SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner - on the first night of Constellation's Connected Enterprise on October 27, 2016.

How to Apply for a SuperNova Award:

1. Download the SuperNova Award application. Click here. Once completed, copy the text directly from this application into the webform in step #3.

2. Create a Constellation Research account

3. Submit your application by August 22, 2016. Submit applications here.

More resources

About the 2016 SuperNova Awards

Last year's winners

Questions? contact [email protected]

Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Future of Work Marketing Transformation Matrix Commerce New C-Suite Next-Generation Customer Experience Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth Supernova Awards AR Executive Events

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DisrupTV: Take the Past and Present to Make the Future

Aubrey Coggins

Constellation Research

Aubrey (Levinstone) Coggins manages Constellation's marketing and communications programs and is the producer of DisrupTV, a weekly Web series on innovation and the enterprise.  She previously served as a senior manager of corporate communications at Egnyte and held account roles at Access Communications and The Hoffman Agency. Born and raised in Texas, she received a bachelor's degree in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin – Hook ‘em!   ...

Everything starts with an idea.

Where we sit, how we travel, how we work or relax - all of these things started with someone’s idea. Recently on DisrupTV, we caught up with leaders changing the way we think and plan for the future of our businesses, our technologies and ourselves.

Looking into the Future

Many companies I’ve worked for over the years always seem to be under “fire!!!” mode. Let’s just get this launch done now and hope it makes an impact! Anne Lise Kjaer, futurist and author, shared the importance of why teams should take the time to think about where they want to be in five, 10 or 15 years. Her approach to the world starts with thinking about your future state. As author of the "Trend Management Toolkit," she recommends writing down five ideas every day on how to improve your business. Companies and organizations often underestimate the value of giving their teams the time to think and innovate, alongside their daily tasks. Success is really about working smarter with a clear vision, rather than working longer hours.

She also explained that “without the past and the present, the future doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Just think about something as mundane as expense reports.

Taking Something Old and Making it New

The CEO of Expensify, David Barrett, expressed that if you are “traveling for work and stick a receipt in your pocket, you are doing it wrong.” Even everyday tasks, such as expense reports, have come a long way. His company created a solution to this problem that allows you to snap a photo and never think about the receipt or getting reimbursed again. But he explains that his company is planning beyond this…

What happens when you book a meeting with a client in New York City? What if your virtual assistant is able to use your data from past purchases and trips to quickly book airline tickets, a car rental, and a hotel room based on location and past preferences. All you have to click is “yes.” Same thing for that lunch meeting; the assistant can help pick the type of food you prefer, with high-rated restaurants in the area, close to your client’s office, and book a table at 2 p.m. for four people with just another click of a button. From phone calls, to the internet, to aggregation sites, to eliminating your research altogether - this is the future of business travel, David explains.

Disrupting Before Being Disrupted

When looking for the next big idea within your organization or branching out to start a company, remember to think long-term. Suki Fuller, competitive and strategic intelligence advisor, explained that she helps startups and large companies organize and analyze the mass amounts of data or “big data” they have to determine the possibilities of what they can do or where they shouldn’t go before implementing programs. She emphasized that entrepreneurs should remember:

1. Know your product.
2. Know your audience.
3. Everybody has competitors.
4. Know your finances, and don't over value yourself.
5. If you are a woman, own it. Be comfortable with being you.

Great advice for planning out your ideas to make something new and exciting or even just commonplace in the future. For the full interviews, watch the video below, and be sure to watch DisrupTV on Fridays at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m. ET on blab.

DisrupTV Episode 0024: Anne Lise Kjaer, David Barrett, Suki Fuller 7.15.16 from Constellation Research on Vimeo.

Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Future of Work Data to Decisions New C-Suite DisrupTV Leadership ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics AI Analytics Automation B2B B2C CX EX Employee Experience HR HCM business Marketing Metaverse developer SaaS PaaS IaaS Supply Chain Quantum Computing Growth Cloud Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology eCommerce Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP finance Social Healthcare VR CCaaS UCaaS Customer Service Content Management Collaboration M&A 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 Chief Financial Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Revenue Officer

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Pivotal SpringOne Platform - Event Report

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…...

We have the opportunity to attend Pivotal’s SpringOne Platform conference in Las Vegas, held from August 1st till 4th 2016. The conference is well attended with over 2000 participants, a record for a Spring conference. But then no surprise as Spring is the framework that works probably best with Pivotal’s PaaS product, CloudFoundry, so a large part of the attendees are building applications on CloudFoundry.

So take a look at my musings on the event here: (if the video doesn’t show up, check here)

No time to watch – here is the 1-2 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):

Event Report - Pivotal SpringOne Platform 2016 from Holger Mueller

Want to read on?

Here you go: Always tough to pick the takeaways – but here are my Top 3:

Full SDLC support coming – Pivotal wants more pieces of the overall SDLC, or at least what Pivotal throughout the event showed as a 6 step from idea to software delivery cycle. With Tracker, Concourse and PCF Metrics there is no more support for requirements management and tracking, CI and well, metrics. Enterprises will appreciate more integrated tools coming out of one hand, as the last thing a project team needs is integration issues along the software delivery cycle.

Spring is in its 2nd spring – The almost venerable Spring network has found its second spring and has become the tool of choice for enterprises building on top of Pivotal CloudFoundry. It is almost like Pokémon is the success of PokemonGo – a well-established and known brand from the past making a comeback in a new settings. Most developers are familiar with and have heard of Spring, around 10 years ago. Then it got a little quieter and now, well it’s in its 2nd spring…

Attractive CloudFoundry investment themes – Pivotal shared the CloudFoundry investment themes and they were welcomed well by the attendants. Needless to list them all but appropriate for the event it is all about making CloudFoundry the best platform for… spring. The focus on multi-cloud has paid of very handsomely for CloudFoundry, and the focus on containers and microservices is high on the agenda for enterprises that plan to build – or are building – next generation applications.

MyPOV

A good event for Pivotal and the SpringOne Platform community that is growing and adding more capabilities…. Always a good ‘flywheel’ situation for a platform and its framework. The investment direction seems right and was approved well, owning more pieces of the SDLC is a good strategy for Pivotal.

On the concern side it is really what the next steps after the immediate and announced ones will be. Adoption remains a challenge for all players, it is one thing to select a tool, a totally different challenge to become a software producer for almost every enterprise. Breaking with the best practice of using standard software and starting to build you own next generation applications is a major internal transformation. From a product capability it will be interesting to see what Pivotal can / will do to make its platform more strategic, e.g. Machine Learning, out of the box capabilities, industry support and more mobile functionality are my bets.

Overall a very good event for Pivotal. It is a good problem to have for a software vendor when there are no to very few immediate problems what is next looks attractive and the only concern is – what comes after next. We will be watching, stay tuned.

Want to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).

Find more coverage on theWant to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below.

More on Pivotal / Cloud Foundry

Event Report - Cloud Foundry Cloud Foundry Summit - It's good to be king of PaaS - read here
News Analysis - Pivotal makes Cloud Foundry more about multi-cloud - read here
News Analysis - Pivotal pivots to OpenSource and Hortonworks - Or: OpenSource keeps winning - read here
New Analysis: Pivotal Now Makes It Easier Than Ever to Take Software from Idea to Production - read here

SuperNova Award Deadline Approaching - Nominate Disruptive Tech Leaders Soon!

The deadline for the 2016 SuperNova Awards is August 8, 2016. In its sixth year, the Constellation SuperNova Awards will recognize nine individuals who demonstrate true leadership in digital business through their application of new and emerging technologies.

We’re searching for leaders and teams who used disruptive technolgies to transform their organizations. Special recognition will be given to projects that seek to redefine how the enterprise uses technology on a large scale.

3 Steps to Apply for a SuperNova Award:

1. Download the SuperNova Award application. Click here. Once completed, copy the text directly from this application into the webform in step #3.

2. Create a Constellation Research account

3. Submit your application by August 8, 2016. Submit applications here.

More resources

Application tips

About the 2016 SuperNova Awards

Last year's winners

Questions? contact [email protected]

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Microsoft News July 2016 Enhancing Office and Outlook

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

In the video below I review several recent annoucements from Microsoft around Office and Outlook.

Future of Work

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Break down the barrier - Stop measuring Marketing vs Sales generated leads

Cindy Zhou

CMO
Level Access

Cindy Zhou is a practicing CMO.  Prviously, she was Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research covering Digital Marketing Transformation and Sales Effectiveness. With over 18 years of practitioner experience in corporate marketing, product marketing, product management, and sales operations, Zhou has spearheaded marketing transformation at multiple technology companies. She advised Constellation’s clients on strategies to light-up demand generation, prove revenue contribution, and maximize sales productivity. Prior to joining Constellation, Zhou was Global Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales Operations at BackOffice Associates, a global provider of data quality and information governance solutions to the Fortune 1000 and SAP SolEx partner. Before…...

I was asked recently on a briefing call how to effectively track Marketing versus Sales generated leads. My response - stop separating them! The key is facilitating buyer engagement, and not create division over who gets “credit" for the lead. To manage this effectively, companies need to first understand the differences between lead source and contact source.

Lead Source - The action or activity taken by the customer or prospect that results in the qualification of the lead and subsequent engagement in an opportunity. It has multiple touch points and attributed as such. Example, registering for a webinar, downloading an ebook, etc.
Contact Source - How the buyer contact information was obtained. Example, a sales rep's list of contacts, partner referrals, a purchased list, etc.

Many companies use the term “lead source” as a catchall for both, and measure it as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to determine Marketing or Sales effectiveness. Unfortunately, this method often leads to more confusion around what specific program/tactic actually resulted in the qualification and unproductive credit claims on “who" provided the contact information. With the digital era, buyers don’t become interested or qualified through how their information was obtained, so why measure that way?

Throughout my career working with sales and marketing teams, I've recommended separating contact source from lead source. What has become more important, and how companies should measure program ROI, is looking at the quality and quantity of buyer engagement. Whether that was an article that captured their interest, attended a webinar after receiving an invite, or an inside sales follow-up phone call after a booth visit (see my prior article on the importance of follow-up). Effective engagement requires marketing and sales to partner to create an experience along every point of the buyer’s interaction. The contact source simply doesn’t provide the insight needed to truly determine interest level. It’s at this point that I’ll usually get the question from sales, “Why should I give up my personal contact list if I don’t get any credit for it?” Of course the sales rep should. Create a separate field to track contact source as your company could tie other incentives like rewards or contests for adding the most contacts, the most amount of buyer engagement, etc.

If your company leverages Marketing Automation or CRM systems, this process is simple to implement:

Create a new field separate from Lead Source titled “Contact Source”.
If the lead is from a sales rep's contact database, sync to this new field with a list title of “ Contacts”.
Setup reports or dashboards in CRM for your sales rep to include this field to track contact engagement.

Turn your sales team into partners by giving them visibility into their contact engagement and progress. The benefit to sales is by knowing the areas of interest, they can discuss the relevant solutions with the buyers and keep them engaged.

Begin the Marketing and Sales alignment dialog by looking at engagement and not creating division with lead credit claims. Look at buyer action together and re-direct the conversation on how marketing can help sales with better data on buyer engagement to qualify and progress leads. Alignment of Marketing and Sales is a sensitive topic at many companies, but starting small with ideas like separating lead and contact sources can help kick-start the broader conversation. Consistent, ongoing dialog between the two departments is a critical success factor for implementing Account Based Marketing (ABM) and targeted selling approaches. I’ll have more on those topics in the future.

Marketing Transformation Chief Marketing Officer

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Salesforce Acquires Quip: Document Collaboration and Team Chat

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Today Salesforce announced they are acquiring document collaboration and group chat vendor Quip for $582M USD.

In the video below I discuss why this is a great move for Salesforce, as it will add richer content creation to Chatter and Communities, leverage Salesforce business objects, embed Salesforce Files, and provide Salesforce customers with persistent chat.

Summary:

Future of Work Chief Digital Officer

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5 Ways Brexit Is Accelerating AWS And Public Cloud Adoption

Deutsche Bank estimates AWS derives about 15% of its total revenue mix or has attained a $1.5B revenue run rate in Europe.
AWS is now approximately 6x the size of Microsoft Azure globally according to Deutsche Bank.

These and other insights are from the research note published earlier this month by Deutsche Bank Markets Research titled AWS/Cloud Adoption in Europe and the Brexit Impact written by Karl Keirstead, Alex Tout, Ross Sandler, Taylor McGinnis and Jobin Mathew. The research note is based on discussions the research team had with 20 Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers and partners at the recent AWS user conference held in London earlier this month, combined with their accumulated research on public cloud adoption globally.

These are the five ways Brexit will accelerate AWS and public cloud adoption:

The proliferation of European-based data centers is bringing public cloud stability to regions experiencing political instability. AWS currently has active regions in Dublin and Frankfurt, with the former often being used by AWS’ European customers due to the broader base of services offered there. An AWS Region is a physical geographic location where there is a cluster of data centers. Each region is made up of isolated locations known as availability zones. AWS is adding a third European Union (EU) region in the UK with a go-live date of late 2016 or early 2017. Microsoft has 2 of its 26 global regions in Europe, with two more planned in the UK. Google’s Cloud Platform (GCP) has just one region active in Europe. The following Data Center Map provides an overview of data centers AWS, Microsoft Azure and GCP have in Europe today and planned for the future.

Brexit is making data sovereignty king. European-based enterprises have long been cautious about using cloud platforms to store their many forms of data. Brexit is accelerating the needs European enterprises have for greater control over their data, especially those based in the UK. Amazon’s planned third EU region based in London scheduled to go live in late 2016 or early 2017 is well-timed to capitalize on this trend.

Up-front costs of utilizing AWS are much lower and increasingly trusted relative to more expensive on-premise IT platforms. Brexit is having the immediate effect of slowing down sales cycles for managed hosting, enterprise-wide hardware and software maintenance agreements. The research team found that the uncertainty of just how significant the economic impact Brexit will have on the European economies is making companies tighten capital expense (CAPEX) budgets and trim expensive maintenance agreements. UK enterprises are reverting to OPEX spending that is already budgeted.

CEOs are pushing CIOs to get out of high-cost hardware and on-premise software agreements to better predict operating costs faster thanks to Brexit. The continual pressure on CIOs to reduce the high hardware and software maintenance costs is accelerating thanks to Brexit. Because no one can quantify with precision just how Brexit will impact European economies, CEOs, and senior management teams want to minimize downside risk now. Because of this, the cloud is becoming a more viable option according to Deutsche Bank. One reseller said that public cloud computing platforms are a great answer to a recession, and their clients see Brexit as a catalyst to move more workloads to the cloud.

Brexit will impact AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) revenues, forcing a greater focus on incentives for low-end and mid-tier services. Deutsche Bank Markets Research team reports that AWS has this special program in place for its very largest customers. Under an EDP, AWS will give price discounts to large customers that commit to a full year (or more) and pay upfront, in many cases with minimum volume increases. One AWS partner told Deutsche Bank that they’re aware of one EDP payment of $25 million. In the event of a recession in Europe, it’s possible that such payments could be at risk. These market dynamics will drive AWS to promote further low- and mid-tier services to attract new business to balance out these larger deals.

Tech Optimization amazon 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 Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer

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Workday Plans for Platfora Revealed

Doug Henschen

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Doug Henschen is former Vice President and Principal Analyst where he focused on data-driven decision making. Henschen’s Data-to-Decisions research examines how organizations employ data analysis to reimagine their business models and gain a deeper understanding of their customers. Henschen's research acknowledges the fact that innovative applications of data analysis requires a multi-disciplinary approach starting with information and orchestration technologies, continuing through business intelligence, data-visualization, and analytics, and moving into NoSQL and big-data analysis, third-party data enrichment, and decision-management technologies. Insight-driven business models are of interest to the entire C-suite, but most particularly chief executive officers, chief digital officers,…...

Workday HR and financial analyses stand to benefit, but Platfora customers will lose the on-premises software option in the wake of the pending acquisition.

Workday customers stand to gain a deeper understanding of employees, recruits, customers, suppliers, business units and locations, but existing Platfora customers will soon lose the on-premises and public cloud software deployment option.

That’s the upshot of Workday’s planned acquisition of Platfora, a deal announced last week that left questions about the fit between the two companies and the future of the acquired big data analysis vendor. To answer some of the lingering questions, Workday executive Mike Frandsen, EVP of Products, Support & Delivery, and Platfora executive Peter Schlampp, VP of Products, briefed Constellation Research on what the deal will bring. Here are a few of the highlights:

Platfora Joins Workday

On Platfora’s future: Platfora’s current version will be the last to be offered as on-premises software, said Frandsen. Workday will continue to support Platfora’s existing software on all currently supported versions of Hadoop and Spark into 2018 and will honor all contracts. A future product based on Platfora’s technology will be a SaaS service on Workday’s cloud platform. That offering will not be marketed as a stand-alone big data analysis service; rather, it will enhance Workday’s current analytical capabilities, as detailed below.

On blending Workday and Platfora capabilities: Workday has more than 40 customers using its Hadoop-based Workday Big Data Analytics Platform, introduced in 2013 and based on Datameer technology. That service enables customers to import and analyze third-party data in aggregate alongside Workday data, but the company says it does not give them the ability to drill down or slice into that data. Tapping Platfora’s in-memory Data Lenses, “non-Workday data will be a first class citizen” and users will be able to “drill down and slice that data into different pivots or dimensions.”

Platfora self-service data-prep and data visualization capabilities will also figure in Workday’s enhanced offering, said Schlampp. But it won’t be a complete “reboot” of Workday Big Data Analytics, said Frandsen. Rather, Workday will rationalize functionality for different user personas drawing from “an abundance of great tools” for preparation and analysis of data on Hadoop.

On supporting deeper Workday analyses: Platfora’s expertise in behavioral analysis is not limited to customer analysis. That has been a focus area for the company, but behavior analysis will be equally applicable to HR and financial analyses. For example, in the HR arena, behavioral analysis will help companies understand the behaviors, strengths, motivations and likelihood to retain employees and potential employees. Further, Workday said it’s contemplating cohort analysis of employees based on hire date, compensation, manager, organization, work location, or any combination of these attributes.

On the finance side Platfora will help Workday better understand the profitability and value of customers and prospective customers, their satisfaction, their likelihood to remain customers and their likelihood to pay their bills in a timely way. Current and potential partners and suppliers might be evaluated in the same way, and all of the above would advance insights on the profitability of business units and locations.

MyPOV on the Workday-Platfora Plans

I stand by my initial take on this deal in seeing it as a boon for Workday customers, but it’s now clear that change is ahead for existing Platfora customers. Schlampp said he expects customers will continue to use Platfora “for many years to come,” but I think that’s optimistic. I expect customers to look to competing products as their subscription-based licenses to use Platfora expire (whether it’s used on-premises or with cloud-based Hadoop deployments on AWS, Google or Azure).

About one third of Platfora customers (I don’t have an exact count, but it’s said to be “dozens”) are also Workday customers. I would expect few if any of these customers to abandon existing Hadoop deployments and move all their data and analyses onto Workday. That said, these joint customers may well use and appreciate Workday’s Platfora-enhanced HR and financial analyses. And if that’s the case, they would surely load more HR- and finance-relevant data and third-party data onto Workday’s platform as a result.

Data to Decisions Chief Information Officer Chief Digital Officer

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Oracle acquires NetSuite - consolidation means more options for customers

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Earlier today Oracle announced its intent to acquire NetSuite… rumors of the acquisition are almost as old that if they were humans, they would attend middle school, but there was a recent pickup, and they have no materialized…

Let’s first take a look at the press release in our customary style, it can be found here:

Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite (NYSE: N), the very first cloud company. The transaction is valued at $109.00 per share in cash, or approximately $9.3 billion.

MyPOV – Now we know why Oracle likes to grow cash reserves, it makes it Oracle’s second largest acquisition (after PeopleSoft in 2004, which turned out to be ‘just’ 1 billion more.

“Oracle and NetSuite cloud applications are complementary, and will coexist in the marketplace forever,” said Mark Hurd, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle. “We intend to invest heavily in both products—engineering and distribution.”
“We expect this acquisition to be immediately accretive to Oracle’s earnings on a non-GAAP basis in the first full fiscal year after closing,” said Safra Catz, Chief Executive Officer, Oracle.
“NetSuite has been working for 18 years to develop a single system for running a business in the cloud,” said Evan Goldberg, Founder, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman, NetSuite. “This combination is a winner for NetSuite’s customers, employees and partners.”
“NetSuite will benefit from Oracle’s global scale and reach to accelerate the availability of our cloud solutions in more industries and more countries,” said Zach Nelson, Chief Executive Officer, NetSuite. “We are excited to join Oracle and accelerate our pace of innovation.”

MyPOV – 2 CEOs, two quotes, 1 CEO and 1 founder, also two quotes. Hurd’s quote is important in regards of stopping all rumors that Oracle may discontinue NetSuite products and stating the opposite in regards of Oracle planning to invest into product and go to market. Catz quote is all about CFO, nota bene the first full fiscal year (after expected closing in this CY) is June 1st 2017 till May 30th 2018 – so quite a bit out. Goldberg’s quote is the usual positive one on the merger, ok and Nelson’s is all along Hurd’s line of further investment in product and broader reach for the NetSuite products courtesy of Oracle.

The evaluation and negotiation of the transaction was led by a Special Committee of Oracle’s Board of Directors consisting solely of independent directors. The Special Committee unanimously approved the transaction on behalf of Oracle and its Board of Directors.

MyPOV – Key to mention... because of the double ownership of Ellison in both Oracle and NetSuite.

The transaction is expected to close in 2016. The closing of the transaction is subject to receiving certain regulatory approvals and satisfying other closing conditions including NetSuite stockholders tendering a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares in the tender offer. In addition, the closing is subject to a condition that a majority of NetSuite’s outstanding shares not owned by executive officers or directors of NetSuite, or persons affiliated with Larry Ellison, his family members and any affiliated entities, be tendered in the tender offer.

MyPOV – Another key piece of information, making sure that this transaction is not turning into a management or Ellison ‘left pocket to right pocket’ transaction. It is certainly unusual to find in a press release, but then there are no other software vendors out there where double ownership of that scale is part of a transaction (at least that I know of).

Implications, Implications, ….

Let’s look at the implications that this acquisition has for the different constituents of the ERP market:

Implications for Oracle customers

This is likely not going to affect Oracle Cloud customers. Oracle has been a serial acquirer, the company knows how to do acquisitions, though this is the second- largest acquisition Oracle has done. And NetSuite has more overlap with many Oracle products than PeopleSoft had – e.g. NetSuite brings working CRM and Manufacturing applications to Oracle (something PeopleSoft did to a lesser extend). So Oracle will have to be very clear on where it sees the sweet spot for either product and what customers can expect to use depending on their size and use case. Oracle customers should also press Oracle to clarify and share the roadmap for any plans of 2 tier ERP (where Oracle Cloud products run at HQ and large subsidiaries, and NetSuite may run in smaller subsidiaries) – something that has worked well for customers of other ERP vendors.

Implications for NetSuite customers

As always with acquisitions, Constellation Research recommends to get any assurances, promises, roadmap items reconfirmed, best in written form. These are always difficult, but even more in an acquisition scenario. Overall this should be good news. NetSuite has been e.g. slow at rolling out to European data centers, something that Oracle will be able to accelerate – not just for Europe but other regions. It is likely that Oracle will put NetSuite under the ‘Applications Unlimited’ umbrella program – in the worst case – and there Oracle has a pretty good track record of keeping acquired applications maintained, the posterchild being the last century acquisition of RdB from DEC.

Implications for Partners

Oracle has already stated that it will keep all partnerships in place that NetSuite has put in place. A wise move but we will see if there is more partner consolidation over time. For Oracle partners that are not NetSuite partners – this maybe an alley to become a NetSuite partner. Conversely, for a NetSuite partner that is not an Oracle partner – it may be the option to become an Oracle partner. It will be interesting to see what it means for one of the best running partnerships in the industry -the NetSuite and Ultimate partnership for HCM, that like all other partnerships is in place and keeps going.

Implications for Competitors

We don’t see the acquisition making Oracle Cloud products more competitive – in the next quarters. At best there may be some ecommerce and manufacturing capabilities that Oracle may leverage from NetSuite. Changing store APIs is easy if done correctly. The most direct impact for Oracle customers is likely going to be that Oracle could put in place a similar two tier ERP strategy, that Oracle rival SAP has been running for a while with byDesign playing the role that NetSuite could play for large multinational Oracle customers. And certainly NetSuite is in a better shape and state than byDesign. In the NetSuite market it may create openings for all other players, assuming distraction on the NetSuite side, something the competition cannot count on, but certainly will try. Who will be – with NetSuite being part of Oracle – the largest independent SMB targeted ERP suite? We will see.