Progress Report: Ceridian Makes Good Progress, Basics Done, Now for Next-Gen Capabilities

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 the Ceridian analyst summit held in Hollywood at the beautiful W Hotel.

 

 

Tough to pick the top three takeaways, but here you go - check out the video.

 

 

Ceridian Progress Report

No time to watch - read on:

New User Interface Across Products – The avid reader may know that I have been pointing out to UI modernization and usability issues around the Ceridian products for a while. It was good to see that the vendor has started to address the issue over a year ago, but upgrading user interfaces takes time. Ceridian took the smart route of addressing the high-frequency screens first, starting with employee and manager self-service. The good news is that Ceridian has now brought the new user interface to all products and screens. It looks modern, fresh, 21st century-like, and we know already from customers and prospects that it makes a difference. For those architecturally inclined, the vendor has moved to a declarative UI architecture, which should make future UI renovation and innovation much easier.

Compliance Make the Forte Stronger – Ceridian has never made it a secret that compliance runs deep in the vendor’s DNA. Not only on the traditional payroll DNA but also on the “infused” Workbrain DNA around workforce management (more labor rules, more schedules, etc.). This DNA combined with the integrated architecture of Dayforce puts Ceridian into the attractive position to take compliance further than most other players in the market. Take the omnipresent ACA challenges of enterprises; Ceridian not only offers the reports to understand where compliance is but also populates the statutory forms and reporting for its customers. A good direction - and knowing how much enterprises struggle with compliance, it’s a significant value in the marketplace. The other coin of the compliance equation is Payroll, and we saw promising “Payroll 2.0” capabilities with micro calculations and a well-designed global payroll dashboard.

HCM Anywhere – One of the best-kept but open secrets of the industry is that the bulk of users really do not use the HCM system much. But all people spend (way too) much time in email. Ceridian wants to tackle that system separation by bringing the HCM information and processes to email, more specifically to Outlook. A plug-on not only shows key employee information, but also key HCM information, and it even allows some lightweight information processing. Enterprise software history is literally littered (pun intended) with failed Email / Outlook integration products (anyone remember SAP’s Mendocino project?); however, technology and integration has progressed (OData, more below), making integration easier. And users are still in email, so kudos to Ceridian to trying it again. Equally important is the mobile support with emancipated iOS and Android native apps, something most vendors only manage to tackle over time, given the North American infatuation with iOS devices (in contrast to the rest of the world).

 

Tidbits

• Talent Management - Ceridian released its recruiting product a year ago. Now it is time to extend the functionality – both on the talent acquisition side with offering management and on the onboarding side. It was good to see that Ceridian is also thinking of internal transfers, an employee population generally overseen in regards to onboarding them (this is why I created “transboarding” some time ago – more here).
• Reporting - Ceridian has also spent R&D time on reporting – both on the usability of the report creation, as well as the export / exposure of reporting data through the powerful OData protocol. This opens up analysis options for enterprises using OData-compatible BI tools, e.g., Microsoft PowerBI or Tableau.
• Lifeworks – Ceridian keeps extending capabilities of its Employee Assistance Program product, Lifeworks. Its partnership with UK0based Workangel adds key employee engagement, recognition and rewards to the product, as announced last year at the Ceridian Insights conference (see here for event report).
• Services scaled – Ceridian has spent time to scale its support function better with the creation of a pod model, standardization of roles and a general follow-the-sun model across its locations in the U.S., U.K. and Mauritius. Metrix looks good with overall support trending down, while the number of customers is growing rapidly. On the implementation side, Ceridian has the good but challenging problem to grow fast to avoid an implementation backlog from becoming a problem. It is good that training is ramped up and certifications are in place, but Ceridian will have to sign larger SI partners, such as the existing partnership with TCS. It was very encouraging to see self-service setup capabilities coming to Dayforce; enabling customers to take implementation in their own hands is the right direction. 
   

MyPOV

Good progress at Ceridian on the Dayforce product. In general, the team has a good delivery track record and that shows after three years of significant investment in product. Now the question is where Ceridian will take the product next; more global is already a direction the vendor is executing on.

HCM anywhere is a promising direction but needs more validation and further investment. However, more business user empowerment is always a good “true north” for enterprise software vendors.

Next are advances on the (true) analytics side, big data and machine learning, where Ceridian needs to time investments and formulate its strategy. Another option will be the Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) area, where Ceridian has already millions of real-world data points; exploiting that capability will be a mutual benefit to both vendor and customers.

On the concern side, Ceridian operates its own data-center infrastructure, which is manageable today but with more statutory challenges on the horizon (see Russia, see Safe Harbor invalidation, etc.), partnering with an IaaS leader will give both Ceridian and its customers more peace of mind. To be fair, only a few of the HCM players are there.

Overall good progress with Dayforce at Ceridian, which has to address growth challenges on the services side, but that’s a good problem to have for a software vendor and something that has been done and mastered by every successful enterprise software leader. Now it will be key to invest the headroom gained on the R&D side by truly differentiating and creating long-lasting value propositions. 

More on Ceridian

• Event Report - Ceridian Insights - Momentum and Differentiation Building - read here
• First Take - Ceridian Insights Day #1 Keynote Takeaways - off to a good start - read here
• Progress Report – Ceridian executes on product, next challenge – implementation capacity, then sales … Read here
• Event Report - CeridianINSIGHTS 2014 - Ceridian innovates and adds key functionality - read here
• First Take - Ceridian INSIGHTS Day 1 Keynote - Top 3 Takeaways - read here
• Progress Report - Ceridian makes a lot of progress - but the road(map) is long - read here
• Ceridian transforming itself and with that the game – read here

And unrelated to Ceridian - how important payroll can be for HCM innovation:

• Could the paycheck reinvent HCM - yes it can - read here
• And suddenly... payroll matters again - read here

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

 

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

Distillation Aftershots Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Future of Work Tech Optimization Innovation & Product-led Growth New C-Suite Data to Decisions Next-Generation Customer Experience Revenue & Growth Effectiveness Marketing Transformation Security AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR Chief Information Security Officer Chief Privacy Officer Chief Procurement Officer Chief Customer Officer Chief People Officer Chief Human Resources Officer

Artificial Intelligence, IOT and Design: Building a Next-Generation Services Company: Infosys Orchestrating an Ecosystem Of Start-ups |

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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These are significant times when IT innovation will shape not only our business but the future of our world. Start-ups and new age companies are a leading source of innovation beyond many companies own internal initiatives. In early 2015, as part of Infosys Renew-New strategy they established a $500million Infosys Innovation fund. It was mentioned that the capital will be used to invest in companies across the globe innovating in areas such as AI, Automation, Internet of Things, Collaboration and Design. Infosys said they want to amplify the reach of startup companies,  bring them to market,  help them scale, grow and bring innovation to clients. 

Infosys received the Global Corporate Venturing Rising Stars Awards 2016. The benefits that Infosys offers for the start-ups as they create an ecosystem to bring innovation to our clients are many. Their areas of focus are: 

1. Machine Intelligence
2. Big Data & Analytics
3. Infrastructure & Cloud
4. Collaboration & Design
5. Convergence of Industries
6. Disintermediation of Layers
7. New Business Models

The Benefits to Start-ups: Financial Scale, Technical Scale, Market Scale, Social Impact, Incubation and Customer Validation.

What companies has Infosys invested in?

• Airviz Speck: The indoor air quality monitor empowering you to breathe. Airviz helps to empower everyday citizens to improve the quality of the air they breathe. Speck, a pioneering air particulate sensor can detect PM2.5 particulates and provide insightful analytics on air quality. Airviz is a spinoff from the CREATE Lab at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute.
• ANSR Consulting provides strategy and implementation services to help global companies establish Global In-House Centers (GICs) in India. Global companies are setting up GICs to harness new technologies such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud. India has emerged as a unique destination for GICs due to wide access to technical and business talent at a reasonable cost, and the growing ecosystem of successful GICs. ANSR Consulting, which has helped establish several GICs within India, creates joint ventures with companies such as those in the Fortune 500. ANSR Consulting helps the joint venture provide strategic, technology-driven solutions that drive competitive advantage and incremental revenue for the companies involved. This investment from the fund widens Infosys’ reach in the fast-growing GIC market.
• CloudEndure, a startup that provides Cloud migration and Cloud-based Disaster Recovery (DR) software. Many leading enterprises look to Infosys for guidance and implementation services associated with large-scale infrastructure transformation projects. CloudEndure provides enterprise grade cloud migration and cloud-based Disaster Recovery (DR) software that uniquely supports migration and DR for both on-premise to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud scenarios.
• Nova provides image generation capabilities (platform and toolset) as a service, APIs to allow customers to create film-quality 3D assets, video and static advertising imagery enabling the delivery of highly personalized and interactive videos to customers. Vertex
• Ventures is a new, early-stage fund formed by technology veterans Jonathan Heiliger and In Sik Rhee.
• Waterline Data Science, a leading provider of data discovery and data governance software. Waterline Data Science provides data scientists and business analysts with a self-service data catalog to help discover, understand and provision data, and an automated data inventory that enables agile data governance across metadata, data quality and data lineage
• WHOOP, an early stage company offering a performance optimization system for elite professional sports teams. WHOOP’s system includes a device worn by athletes on their wrist that continuously measures key strain and recovery variables, and actionable analytics powered by proprietary algorithms that generate intensity and recovery scores. This enables athletes and coaches to gain visibility into the drivers of high performance, guide training and make optimal game day decisions.

Certainly the ways products are developed has really changed. Before companies would hire a bunch of developers, create a strategy and start building. It looks like the question of buy or build is becoming less and less of a question. The answer in developing new products seems to be trending towards developing starts-ups and then acquiring them, partnering with them and  building a more evolved ecosystem.  We have seen that for many years, starting with some of the social media monitoring and listening platforms, as well as customer service and marketing applications. The future looks very bright and interesting!

@DrNatalie Petouhoff, VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research

Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Data to Decisions Future of Work Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Distillation Aftershots Matrix Commerce New C-Suite AI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics Analytics Automation Cloud SaaS PaaS IaaS Quantum Computing Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service developer Metaverse VR Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Product Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Operating Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Experience Officer

Social Cloud Customer Service Has Dismantled the Old Marketing Funnel

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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Old Marketing Funnel Days: In the days before social media, marketers would target key customers and go through an awareness, desire, interest and then action (buying) process; essentially the old marketing function. The marketer would start with a large number of customers at the top of this so called “funnel” and as the customers in the “funnel” were approached, there would become fewer customers, narrowing down to those with the desire, interest and ending up with enough customers that would eventually take action and buy whatever was being offered.

The Way a Company Manages Their Social Media Can Destroy the “Old” Marketing Funnel. Today, we know that social media plays a significant role in the purchase decisions of potential buyers. That’s why the way a company manages their social media can turn consumers from brand advocates to troublesome trolls. And there’s an invisibility of social media that has completely destroyed the marketing funnel.

How Does Social Media #Fail Affect the “Old” Marketing Funnel? What do I mean by this? Let’s say I am a customer who is having issues and I post #fail and the brand’s name. And then let’s say there are 1, or 10 or 100 or 1,000 people who might have been interested in becoming aware of that company’s products and services. But because they saw my #fail, they make a mental note and a decision, unbeknownst to the brand, to never buy from that company. They saw the company didn’t have that customer back when they had a question or need help. And this is essentially why Social Cloud Customer Service is the New Marketing. How customers get treated in Customer Service and when they share that affects the future purchasing power of that pool of customers who might have been interested.

Customers Opt Out Without The Brand Even Knowing They’ve Lost a Customer Because those customers opted out, they will never be in the companies “old” marketing funnel. They may have had the potential to become part of a targeted segment that could have gone through the various stages of awareness, desire, interest and then action. However, because those customers saw the #fail post, they will never be a potential customers. Essentially the pool of customers that company might have drawn upon is now much smaller.

Loosing Customers You Didn’t Know You Lost. The company many not realize they lost those customers. They make still send out marketing messages. But it’s every likely that those customers who made mental note of how another customer was treated, will never respond to any marketing messages and never buy from that brand. And that’s what I mean about the customers disappearing or becoming invisible to a brand. They are no longer available to be marketed to. They will just ignore the marketing messages because they saw when I tried to get help, the company didn’t reach out in social media and try to help. And this is the invisibility that is affecting many companies and they don’t even realize that by poorly managing their social media, they have shrunk their customer base.

Managing Your Social Media Well Can Be a Customer Attractor. On the other hand, let’s say there is a customer who complains in social media and the company is paying attention. They are monitoring, listening and respond quickly and resolve the issue. 1 or 10 or 100 or 1,000 customers will have seen this and as a result, they make mental note of it. They might not be in the market for what the company is offering at that exact moment, but when they are and they have to choose a brand, they are going to choose a brand that has their back or a company that they have seen take care of another customer’s issue quickly and meet the customer expectations.

Not Responding To #Fail Is No Way To Manage Your Current and Future Customers. The failure to meet or exceed those expectations can drive away new and existing customers. This is why I think the old “marketing funnel” has really been dismantled. With more and more companies turning to social media to communicate with consumers, it’s important to manage the channels in a way that builds brand loyalty and converts users into advocates. Today’s consumers turn to social media when they have a question about their purchase. The way your company manages customer service via social media can build brand loyalty & turn users into advocates.

You can get the full infographic from IntelliResponse here.

Where do you stand? Are you monitoring, listening and responding? Or are you not even paying attention to social media?

@DrNatalie Petouhoff, VP and Principal Analyst

Constellation Research, Covering Customer-Facing Applications that Create Awesome Customer Experiences

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The importance of using Final Mile Architecture in an IoT Pilot IoT pilots must be based on the architecture required for full-scale deployments

Andy Mulholland

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Andy Mulholland is Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on cloud business models. Formerly the Global Chief Technology Officer for the Capgemini Group from 2001 to 2011, Mulholland successfully led the organization through a period of mass disruption. Mulholland brings this experience to Constellation’s clients seeking to understand how Digital Business models will be built and deployed in conjunction with existing IT systems. Coverage Areas Consumerization of IT & The New C-Suite: BYOD, Internet of Things, IoT, technology and business use Previous experience: Mulholland co authored four major books that chronicled the change and its impact on Enterprises starting in 2006 with the well-recognised book ‘Mashup Corporations’ with Chris Thomas of Intel. This was followed in…...

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Recently IT vendors seem to have been focused on delivering business benefits from better data analysis, rather than the ‘real-time’ Read and Respond capabilities of IoT. The acquisition of Jasper Technologies by Cisco for $1.4bn is a reminder that the functionality and role of IoT device connections is equally important. Its just as easy to over look that between the connection and the data analysis aspects there a further important group of functions controlling the extraction, collation and flow management of data.

Deploying a limited number of IoT sensors in a pilot is both easy and quick, unfortunately it will not illustrate the architectural requirements of a full-scale enterprise deployment. As the entire business value of IoT is based on the right data, at the right time, from events being made available for processing the so-called ‘Final Mile’ Architecture is critical to successful deployments.

The term ‘final mile’ was coined way back to explain a similar challenge of connecting massive numbers of individual telephone connections into the sophisticated telephony Service model.  The physical connection required a whole architecture to integrate and control a wide variety of functions that make up the sophisticated telephony systems with their many Services in use today. Linking the connections between IoT Devices and Business Services, or Outcomes, is easy enough in directly connected pilots, but with the scale of hundreds rising to thousands of networked IoT Devices and associated Services additional functions must be accommodated in an architectural approach.

Technology architectures are usually defined by a diagram, (see a preceding piece on IoT-A architecture), but all of these seem to work from the better understood direction of IT systems. The definition and requirements of the Final Mile seem to have been over looked, perhaps because there is a lack of experience in larger scale IoT deployments. Illustrating the functional elements and their roles in outline through two use cases might be a better way to address the issues facing large IoT deployments; The first a large office block deploying IoT for Building Management; and the second IoT tracking of large engineering spares stored in the open on a remote site.

Predictions for IoT all point to the huge numbers of sensors that will be deployed, with manufacturers of many items building sensors into their products the result will be in an office facility, or an open storage area, containing hundreds of IoT sensed Devices. The sheer numbers of networked IoT devices deployed to gain and communicate valuable data is the issue that Final Mile architecture must solve.

Ponder on how valuable would the Internet connected Web be without search engines to find and align content at the time of a requirement? The Internet of Things faces a not dissimilar challenge in delivering the necessary aligned data when required.

In the first use case the illustration  below of one floor of an Office block makes clear just how many building sensing points there are per floor in a modern office facility. Everything from CCTV cameras and fire detectors, to the embedded intelligence in air conditioners, photocopiers, even the lift controller, make-up the Building Management IoT network. Taken together the building itself is transformed into an intelligent domain capable of ‘respond and react’ semi autonomous regulation of many aspects. Think of the building continually rebalancing its use of heating, or air conditioning, against the detection of temperatures and impactful events such as a window left open.

The term Smart Building applies to these kinds of ‘reflex’ interactions that occur locally, around small simplistic data interactions that don’t require the processing capacity of remote Cloud service centers. This is not the same challenge as IT folks see in using IoT in a Big Data manner with analyzing the longer-term trends using periodic forwarding of the consolidated data. The case and methods for analyzing ‘big data’ of this type is well known, but IoT introduces two new functions to support successful enablement.  

Even for the simple task of analyzing the effectiveness of heating or cooling in the building using the data from several hundred IoT sensing devices through out the building is difficult without knowing the location of individual sensing devices with the correlation to data on the air conditioning and heating systems.

For a pilot the limited number of locations can be individually mapped into a representative screen based GUI and the data will be handled through one on one direct connection. In real life operational deployments even at numbers as low as one hundred IoT sensing devices the Final Mile Architecture requires inclusion of the functionality for providing a location for each device plus a collated pack of contextually significant data.

In the case of the Air conditioning units, or heating units, the contextual data for individual units would be details such as make, model, capacity, power consumed, etc., plus operating history.  By adding location and context the simple temperature reading data can be  ‘mapped’, or modeled, onto a building to show airflows with resulting temperatures and a link made to the operational efficiency of various air conditioners and heaters.

Big Data from IoT sensing devices is difficult, perhaps even impossible, to meaningfully analysis without knowing location and relevant circumstances. Increasing the numbers of IoT devices to increase data coverage and accuracy results in an increasing challenge to provide context for all individual IoT sensing data sources.

Using IoT sensing for predictive, or responsive, facilities maintenance reinforces this point as well as adding a further requirement to the IoT Architecture capability. Improving productivity and response times by means of a ‘Fix’ on the first visit means providing the engineer with all the relevant data to achieve this. Location, key holders, make and model, previous service history and other details are critical to ensuring that attendance is made quickly and with the right skills, tools and spares, to the malfunctioning unit.

A final mile IoT Device architecture needs to include single, or multiple, Asset Data and Mapping Engines where this data is held for each sensing device ready to be appended to the event data and forwarded for further processing. Additionally a Data Flow Engine is required to preprocess the in-building events, and make forwarding decisions as to where the event with appended asset data should be sent. As a simple example the air conditioning units Service Contract may be held by a different company than that Servicing the heating units, the Data Flow Engine must determine what type of event should be sent to which company. Data Flow Engines work in tandem with Asset Data and Mapping engines in ensuring that actionable outcomes are made possible from the stream of IoT sensing event data.

Asset Data and Mapping engines and Data Flow Engines are both critical elements to the successful use of scaled up IOT device deployments; yet, as they are also a new emerging technology capability/product their role is often overlooked when planning an IoT project, or pilot.

The second use case shares the need for similar functionality to be provide in the IoT Architecture though the it is a less complex situation in many respects. The storage yard contains a finite number of large pieces of engineering spares stored in an un-serviced open-air environment. Cellular 3 or 4G connected IoT sensors are often used for this type of ‘mobile’ connection with their ability to provide reasonable accuracy of location via cellular triangulation. Cellular connectivity services for mobile assets work in storage, in transit, and field installation linking the location with the data, or event, streams. Cellular connected IoT architecture places more emphasis on the need to manage the connection and its wider range of services, (see Cisco acquisition Jasper Technologies video). The architecture will still need to include an Asset Data and Mapping Engine to assign the contextual data to the individual engineering spare.

Sensor selection dominates a pilot, but rarely to selection criteria include aspects that will be important in full-scale deployment IoT architecture. It is important that pilots reflect this, and include Asset and Data Flow engines to be really representative of the experiences that a pilot should provide in advance of a successful full-scale rollout.

New C-Suite

Sports and Technology Panel at IBM InterConnect

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

On February 23rd, I had the chance to paricipate on a sports and technology discussion panel with Robert Roble (SportsTechie.net) and John Short (IBM) at IBM’s InterConnect conference. We used Periscope to live-stream the panel, so I apologive for the iPhone-style vertical view, but here is the recording of our discussion. We talked about everything from content creation and social media to technology partnerships and daily fantasy sports. I hope you enjoy it!

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-c3Kezn8O8

Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Data to Decisions Future of Work Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Distillation Aftershots Next-Generation Customer Experience Matrix Commerce AI ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI Robotics Analytics Automation Cloud SaaS PaaS IaaS Quantum Computing Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service developer Metaverse VR Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Digital Officer Chief Analytics Officer Chief AI Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Product Officer Chief Financial Officer Chief Operating Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Experience Officer

The Year of On-demand, Personalized Shopping: The Cloud and IOT Abound

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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What’s Happening in the World of Shopping and Customer Experiences? At the National Retail Federation Annual Convention in New York City, Microsoft made announcements with GameStop, Hardee’s, TGI Fridays, Panasonic, HP and FreedomPay, and NCR on efforts to modernize shopping experiences.

How Does IoT, The Cloud and Customer Experience Come Together? Microsoft believes this will be the year when modern shopping experiences come to life. Where retailers create instant, personalized experiences for shoppers on their smartphone, online and in stores. It will be the year that customers return to stores because technology is engaging them in new ways, making them want to buy more and come back. Microsoft shared for the first time several retail innovations using its technology, including a smart shelf and a tablet-enabled shopping cart, and showed how retailers can gather better store analytics. Microsoft also announced how Pandora and Ashley Furniture are working with technology to create more engaging experiences for employees, helping them be more collaborative and support faster product innovation.

Engaging Customers During the Shopping Experience is Essential for Today’s Retailers. GameStop announced it is working with Microsoft to create an interactive, informative and entertaining shopping experience in an immersive environment. In the near future, when customers walk into one of the GameStop pilot stores, they will be connected to the services enabled by the Microsoft Cloud, allowing them to browse product choices, share their shopping cart with salesperson’s tablet running an assisted selling application, and even browse products interactively on a big screen Ultra High Definition TV where they can view video game trailers with pristine clarity. When a customer downloads and opts into the GameStop app on their smartphone, they will be able to interact in a whole new way with GameStop marketplace through the use of Azure. Ultimately, the customer and the salesperson can push the desired products to the point of sale (POS) system for order processing and payment.

What’s Another Great Example of How Microsoft is Working With Retailers to Improve Customer Engagement and Customer Experience? One example is Hardee’s new way to make ordering a meal fast and fun. Hardee’s is currently deploying self-ordering kiosks for ordering meals, using Windows 8 devices. These in-store kiosks are being tested currently in 30 restaurants with plans to extend that test to additional restaurants soon. Each kiosk allows customers to review the menu and order food and lets managers run sales and shift reports, while dramatically reducing wait times. Check out the video and read more here.

Another Example is TGI Fridays Who Has Plans to Transform the Way People Order Food by Equipping Servers with 8-inch Tablets Armed with Payment Sleeves. With the Fridays’ Service Style technology the customer’s order is processed right at the table, the device also helps manage the waiting list and queue. The solution helps ensure orders are correct, reduces training time, and streamlines waitlists.

Modern Points of Sale Connect Retailers and Customers in New Ways.  As the shopping experience becomes more modern, so does the POS. Modern POS devices are allowing retailers to better understand their customers, provide more customized service, and help them achieve compliance with new security measures being implemented in 2015.  In partnership with Panasonic, HP and FreedomPay Microsoft is demonstrating how the modern POS can create personalized retail experiences, in real-time, through smart and secure devices. With new security regulations on the horizon, retailers need to upgrade their POS devices, not only to ensure their customer data is safe, but to also be able to provide a more personalized and seamless experience at check-out. Read more about modern POS devices here.

Innovation that helps retailers understand buying behavior and customers make informed decisions.  One of the challenges in retail is to create an in-store experience that engages customers in unique ways, entices them to come in to stores, and keep them coming back. Creating those connections creates better experiences and ultimately increases sales. With the help of a Kinect sensor, AVAretail’s SmartShelf technology allows every interaction of a shelf in a store to be monitored and recorded in real-time, providing insight into which products are most selected and picked up by customers. Another form of technology, Path Tracker, gives retailers real-time detection and analysis of a customer’s shopping path.  This provides counts of people in the store, areas visited, dwell time and shopping path, acting as a heat map of where customers are spending the most time in the store.

The NEC Biometric interface with Kinect Camera System Provides Demographic and Face Recognition Services to a Kinectically Enabled Application. Retailers can use this information for analysis and for providing the customer with a more personal selling experience. MediaCart will change the shopping cart as we know it. Adding a location-aware tablet to the cart allows a retailer to present a personal and relevant shopping experience to its customer.  This allows context sensitive ads and promotions when in front of various products along with a barcode scanning capability for price lookups and basket totals.

Retailers Are Predicting Consumer Behavior With Machine Learning. As technology advances, consumers have more tools at their disposal during the buying process. This trend seems to be growing exponentially, especially as the Internet of Things (IoT) matures. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for retailers looking to capitalize on a whole new base of consumers. Competitive pressure, combined with ubiquitous connectivity, smart devices and an intelligent cloud platform is causing a shift to a new retail reality. Food delivery company JJ Food Service uses machine learning to make product recommendations as customers are shopping for food. This provides insights, saves on costs, and ensures their customers have the food they need, when they need it.

Customer Behavior Can Be Predicted. Auckland, New Zealand-based VMob runs a mobile engagement platform on Microsoft Azure which predicts likely customer behavior based on historic and live data streams. The platform currently delivers personalized content to millions of consumers around the world, including customers of McDonald’s across several European markets. The VMob platform collects real time data from multiple sources including mobile devices, wearables, location temperature sensors, WiFi transmitters, beacons, digital signage, and POS systems to personalize engagement with the customer. The VMob platform uses Azure Machine Learning to harness the Internet of Things to predict future customer behavior – transforming live and historical data streams into actionable insights McDonald’s can employ to individualize its marketing efforts. See more information about VMob’s work here.

You Want to Reach Your Customers Where They Are. For retailers to succeed, they need to reach their customers where they are.  Because of this, we are pleased to be announcing Sitecore Commerce, powered by Microsoft Dynamics. This solution integrates the experience management capabilities of the Sitecore Experience Platform with the omni-channel commerce capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail. The result is a product that allows enterprises to bridge the gap between in-store and digital experiences. We are also announcing a combined effort with Toshiba to form the Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions with Microsoft Dynamics to help retailers deliver leading customer experiences through true omni-channel customer engagements. This effort includes Toshiba delivering software and implementation services on the Dynamics platform as well as plans for the global availability of a combined solution – TCxGravity powered by Microsoft Dynamics – specifically tailored to deliver omni-channel transformation on the customer’s terms, helping it provide seamless brand experiences to build lasting loyalty.

What’s The Future of Retail? Retailers are changing the game through connected stores, empowered employees, digital engagement and ambient intelligence all geared toward delighting the modern shopper. By gathering and ingesting insight from myriad data sources, retailers can create a comprehensive understanding of each customer, its store’s inventory and the capabilities of its business to seamlessly match people with the products and services they desire.

The end result of these technologies and services, and of Microsoft’s work with retailers, is an increased focus on solutions that help grow sales and profits, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, bring products to market faster, and create a more effective business.

If you want more information, visit the Retail Newsroom, The Windows for Your Business Blog, and The Dynamics Blog.

MyPOV: I Love to shop and I love technology. So this is gonna be a great year! I can’t wait to see how cloud computing, IoT and customer experience emerge as the top competitive advantage to lead conversion rates, higher revenues and awesome customer experiences!

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IoT In the Auto Industry: Automakers Choose Microsoft as Connected Car Partner

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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What Does Mobility Mean? To Microsoft mobility means the mobility of the person, not of any single device. People now want their technology experience to move with them, from place to place and device to device, at home, at work, and on the move. And this is also true in the automotive industry and in today’s connected cars. People expect their car’s computing power to match its horsepower. And automakers are leading the way, bringing mobility solutions to their cars to meet drivers’ changing expectations, as well as enhance safety. These automakers see their cars as technology platforms, and they are choosing Microsoft as their partner.

Why are Are Automotive Giants Choosing Microsoft for IoT and Cloud? They are choosing Microsoft because we uniquely deliver end-to-end solutions from the cloud, to the device, to predictive analytics, and do so in a way that allows all our partners to innovate on top of their existing systems. Nobody else offers this breadth and depth to the auto industry.

Which Car Companies Have Chosen Microsoft for Cloud and IoT? Volvo Cars, Nissan, Harman and IAV announced  details about their partnerships with Microsoft to enhance their connected car strategies. They join Toyota, Ford, Qoros, Delphi, and other companies already working with Microsoft to bring their cars into the mobile-first, cloud-first world.

What’s the Future of The customer’s Relationship and Experience with These Connected Cars? In the near future, the car will be connected to the Internet, as well as to other cars, your mobile phone and your home computer. The car becomes a companion and an assistant to your digital life. And so our strategy is to be the ultimate platform for all intelligent cars.

At CES there were many demonstrations of a variety of mobility solutions available today and reveal new prototypes. They showed ways people can be more productive in their cars, how cars can monitor what’s happening in their surroundings to improve safety, and how cars can adapt to unique users to deliver a more personal driving experience.

• Volvo Cars showcased new concepts that integrate Microsoft Band 2 with a Windows 10 smartphone and the Volvo on Call Universal App, creating new ways for customers to interact with their vehicles. From the new Microsoft Band, a Volvo owner can press and hold the action button and say, “Volvo, start the heater of my car,” among many other options.
• Harman announced a collaboration with Microsoft that will integrate Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite capabilities into Harman infotainment systems. Drivers will be able to access Office 365 services and interact with them through intelligent personal assistant software to schedule meetings, hear and respond to important emails, and make Skype calls when in park, or when on the road in autonomous vehicles.
• IAV will use Windows 10 Continuum to stream Windows 10 via a mobile device directly to a car’s dashboard, giving drivers access to Windows 10 features and apps such as Cortana, Skype for Business, Calendar, Outlook and Groove Music while the vehicle is in autonomous driving mode or parked. This integration allows drivers to use the devices they already own. Microsoft and IAV will also demo how to use Cortana Analytics and data from a vehicle’s surroundings to improve safety by anticipating and mitigating potential vehicle and pedestrian accidents.

In addition, Nissan Motor Company and Microsoft announced that all Nissan LEAF and Infiniti models in Europe will have Connect Telematics Systems (CTS) powered by Microsoft Azure.

Why Is Microsoft A Good Partner for the Auto Industry, IoT, Cloud Computing and Awesome Customer Experiences? Automakers are choosing Microsoft as their connected car partner to help them transform the consumer experience with a platform for intelligent cars that complements their own strategies and ambitions. With this partner focus, they are able to leverage their cloud-based intelligence technologies, productivity services and tools, and even personal assistant technologies like Cortana in a neutral manner.

They are able to strike the right balance between using data to create both intelligent and personal experiences, while helping maintain privacy and security. They are also able to create more natural, human computing interfaces. And, they are able to develop and deploy secure platforms and infrastructure to enable innovation on top of existing systems.

My POV: Why Are Partnerships The Path to Innovation? It’s simply that when we collaborate we are a better we, than a single me. At least that’s my saying. I am always a better me when I collaborate. With respect to Microsoft and the auto industry they are partnering to build mutual value, not to compete. The value of a true partnership comes when one is able to help automakers accelerate their mobile and cloud strategies and unlock new experiences for consumers, like no one else can.

Tech Optimization

Market Move - Oracle acquires Ravello Systems - makes good on nested hypervisor roadmap

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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Earlier this week we learnt that Oracle has acquired Ravello Systems, a hybrid cloud vendor that has specialized in moving mostly VMware and KVM based loads from on premises into the public cloud. 

 

 

Take a look at the video for my quick takeaway:
 

If you don’t have a chance to watch – read on:

Oracle shared the vision of supporting a nested hypervisor for the Oracle Cloud back at Oracle OpenWorld 2015, and re-iterated the direction at the recent Cloud Analyst Summit (see links on these and more takeaways below). Now Oracle pushes further and along those lines – with the acquisition of Ravello Systems the vendor gets access to technology that has been in the market place moving loads to and from public clouds (mostly AWS and Google).

MyPOV

Always got to see vendors delivering on their stated direction and road maps, this is an example of Oracle delivering in the direction of nested hypervisor in the Oracle cloud. This allows Oracle to tackle more load to move to its cloud, without customers having to change and modify the way how their systems run. This is attraction for many enterprises who are not looking at expanding their data center capacity, or move other / often older loads to the public cloud. And for Oracle this means more load, which means better economies of scale for its cloud offering, which means better TCO, which means better prices for customers.

We will be watching how Oracle moved forward getting heterogeneous hypervisor load into its cloud. Stay tuned.


 

 

 

Recent blog posts on Oracle:

• Progress Report - Oracle Cloud - More ready than ever, now needs adoption read here
• Event Report - Oracle Openworld 2015 - Top 3 Takeaways, Top 3 Positives & Concerns - read here
• News Analysis - Quick Take on all 22 press releases of Oracle OpenWorld Day #1 - #3 - read here
• First Take - Oracle OpenWorld - Day 1 Keynote - Top 3 Takeaways - read here
• 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. 

Finally 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 Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Innovation & Product-led Growth Future of Work Next-Generation Customer Experience 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 Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer

Capgemini Acquires Innovation and Design Consultancy Fahrenheit 212 to Drive Digital Innovation Offerings

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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IoT Leadership Forum Helps Customers Digitally Transform Their Business

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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Is IoT Relevant to Today’s Companies? Today’s enterprises span a spectrum of engagement when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT). Some are beginning an exploration around IoT, some are actively implementing new capabilities to build for the future and some are well along in their deployments with expansive plans for transforming their business. Wherever an enterprise is with their use of IoT, they can benefit from expert insight to help them accomplish their goals.

How Can Companies Learn About IoT, Cloud Computing and Creating Awesome Customer Experiences? For large enterprise customers with complex environments, IoT implementations bring both challenges and an abundance of opportunities to transform their business. To help customers on their journey, we began hosting the Azure IoT Leadership Forum on our Redmond campus last May. The forum is part of their broader approach to partnering with customers on IoT, and is a great place to both learn from Microsoft experts and hear from other leading companies on how to realize the value of IoT.

Who Attends These Forums? At the second IoT Leadership Forum they  welcomed significant leaders in the IoT space. More than a dozen Azure IoT customers from several industries attended the two-day session to learn from special guests and the executive team. Participants included 3M, Caterpillar, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Mitsubishi Electric, Rockwell Automation, Rolls Royce, Sandvik, Schlumberger, Schneider Electric, ThyssenKrupp, Weir Group and Grundfos.

What Were The Sessions About? The sessions covered numerous topics but shared a common goal: Helping customers with best practices in making IoT solutions a reality, looking past the hype and learning from right-sized examples. They spoke about the new Azure IoT Suite and how it dramatically accelerates time to value in IoT. Tim Mallalieu described how the Azure Customer Advisory Team (AzureCAT) takes a hands-on approach to helping companies in their IoT journeys and offered best practice advice. There were also expert consultants, including Geoffrey Moore Consulting, The Boston Consulting Group and The York Group. Kurt DelBene who joined the sessions along with other Microsoft execs, all of whom shared insights and lessons learned in IoT.

What is the Most Prevalent Theme in the IoT Forums? Throughout the event, one of the most prevalent themes that emerged was the disruptive role IoT is playing in business already. Whether it is dramatic increases in operational efficiencies, big reductions in costs or enabling entirely new business models, it’s clear that organizations across industries must “disrupt or be disrupted” as IoT technology continues to create new waves of innovation.

Though each customer who participated is in a different phase of its own IoT journey, they all shared a common goal of unlocking new business value through this exciting new technology wave. As entire industries use IoT to transform themselves, they will continue to provide collaborative two-day sessions to arm customers with the best-in-class technology, deep insights and best practices to help them succeed.

Where Can You Learn More? Check out the IoT home page to learn more about Microsoft’s vision and how IoT is already transforming business for their customers.

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