Cisco announce Inter-Cloud; a potential game changer in Cloud Computing

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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I think I have just seen the next generation of cloud technology that brings CIOs and their enterprises closer to their real requirement for not just everything as a service, but as a recognizable business service rather than as technology service. But as with all innovation or radical moves it does mean taking a moment to consciously open your mind to the new and not to start by trying to fit what you hear to what you know. I suspect Cisco knows it has a challenge in this, but sheer necessity is likely to be on their side. You can get the News release facts from Cisco news but let me tell you why I think this is worth some careful reading.

Research report now available: The Foundational Elements for the Internet of Things (IoT)

Compute Power Management, or Application Policy Management?

The challenge in describing Cisco Intercloud is to actually move past the name with its connotations as yet another announcement in the crowded Public, Private Hybrid space and to grasp what it actually does as a sophisticated policy management tool running over the top of compute oriented cloud services.

What does an Enterprise really Value in Technology?

So Let's start with a clean sheet of paper about why an organization has technology, or more correctly wants to use technology; it's for the business outcomes, right? The problem for the CIO is to give this to the business involves investment, technology, risk, and half a dozen other less than desirable factors. All of this is before we get to big challenge the increasing complexity of compliance, made much more difficult by constant change. Oh, and don’t forget, all of this is against a background of a shift in what, who and how the enterprise works in adopting an online digital business model.

Cloud Computing has been the starting point to unload some of this, particularly the expensive investment in the data center, but it's also introduced the means by which users can bypass the CIO if they don't like their very real raising of concerns about the need for security, compliance and other enterprise policy issues.

Right now the technology, and its capability, have been focused almost solely around computational supply with the merits, or problems, revolving around how to use Private, Public or Private Clouds. So it sounds like more of the same when Cisco introduce their 'Intercloud' approach, and perhaps if you fail to take time to delve into it properly, you can let it go as more of the same. In my opinion that would be a big mistake as Cisco may have introduced the next stage of developing true business capabilities together with true service charging from Cloud technology.

Cisco Intercloud recognizes the inevitability that enterprises are already running their operations knowingly, and often unknowingly, across a wide range of clouds in order to support their internal, and, external operations as well as local country issues. However instead of placing the burden on the CIO to try to sort this out Cisco Intercloud adds a layer above this to manage the connectivity between users, applications, and resources, and this is the big breakthrough, according to the enterprises policies.

Why Cisco and not another Cloud Player?

Frankly it look as though cisco is the only player who can do this as it relies on ubiquitous connectivity through a sophisticated networking fabric and a lot of powerful partners who together provide a large number of data centers all round the world. The announcement features 30 well known Cloud Players offering 250 plus data centers in 50 countries, that’s more of an Industry play, than a product play!

So what's the proposition?

Simple really, forget managing Cloud technology elements, and instead define the policies that your enterprise wants to implement in its business based on its people, apps, and applications. That way the enterprise will directly function around what matters, and creates real business values, with the minimum level of technology distraction. An Enterprise gets this by paying a service charge for exactly what your Business function wants, defined by the manner it wants to use it, from your chosen business service provider. Cisco Intercloud isn’t a lock in for the Enterprise as any of the existing, and increasing, range of Cisco Intercloud partners bids, sells and contracts direct wining on the  basis of their own ability to add additional value in the eyes of a customer. Cisco gets paid as a slice of the partners revenues.

It's Cloud Computing in the manner of the picture of the swan on the lake, placid, effortless and beautiful to see, but propelled by the frantic paddling of its feet out of sight under the water! With Cisco Intercloud the CIO offers the beauty and serenity to the enterprise and it users, using Cisco Intercloud to delight the Business view, and to hides the technology part of the swans feet paddling frantically underneath!

Cisco Intercloud brings a lot to the Cloud Computing environment, so there is a lot to take in and understand, as well as the mind shift to grasp the innovation that Cisco InterCloud brings. Cisco has a full strategy as to how Cisco Intercloud under the title of the ‘Next stage of the Internet will evolve’, or if you prefer to see it by video.

Its worth taking some time over this because it is a really widely backed Industry play that has some real answers to a number of all too real challenges that CIOs and their Business Colleagues are facing.

Customer Experience Just Keeps Getting Better: Plantronics Announcement

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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Create a Better Customer Experience By Treating Customer Service Agents Better

Plantronics today announced a new family of contact center headset solutions designed for the future and built on experience. Most people who have worked in call / contact centers know how difficult the job of a customer service agent can be. And that there is direct correlation between how the agents feels and the service they provide a company. Part of how they feel is determined by the culture a company creates. It is determined by what types of behaviors get rewarded. And remembering that what gets rewarded, gets repeated.

The Plantronics EncorePro 500 Series is an all-new generation of headsets for customer service centers and offices that deliver greater comfort for all-day wearing, superior noise-canceling for clearer calls, and increased reliability to help manage costs. In addition, the company announced their next-generation DA Series USB digital audio processors for Plantronics headsets that deliver a more complete audio experience by providing context for every call. With these new Plantronics customer service solutions, organizations improve metrics, attract and retain Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) and create a better customer experience.

Smart Phones and Self-service Have Shifted the Balance of Power in the Customer Service Center

when a customer reaches a CSR, they have likely attempted self-service and have much more information than the agent. In these situations, customers want to reach someone immediately and have the issue resolved quickly. They consider their call an escalation putting extraordinary pressure on the agent to perform, even while the customer is likely in a mobile environment with questionable audio quality. Furthermore, businesses are using over-the-phone routes for complex, high-value transactions. In these situations, center managers need to ensure that every call sounds high-quality and customers don’t overhear other callers’ confidential information.

The combination of the Plantronics EncorePro 500 Series, Plantronics digital audio adapters, and Plantronics Hub means that events and metrics occurring during the interaction with the customer are actionable; they are exposed in real-time through the API and made available through an SDK to call routing systems and third party applications.

This makes possible new efficiencies in a range of areas, such as automation of agent status updates, screen-locking for security when a headset is disconnected, dashboard management of headset inventory and warranty status, tracking of agent use of physical call controls and supervisor alerts to conversational conflict between agent and caller. Alliance partner integrations with vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, Interactive Intelligence and additional third-party software application vendors are expected to enter market during 2015

Comprehensive Solutions for Customer Service Superheroes Make Better Experiences for Both the Agent and the Customer

With customer expectations rising, the CSR needs to effectively communicate with the customer to solve their problems. The Plantronics EncorePro 500 Series was built with the CSR in mind. It features a forward-looking, professional grade industrial design that uses new materials and technologies that yield an ergonomic fit that is extraordinarily durable, lightweight, and comfortable for all-day wearing. With fewer reasons to remove the headset throughout the day, CSRs are ready for each call, with the boom being in the right place for a better customer conversation. The noise-canceling technology ensures more focused and private calls, so conversations will be heard clearly with fewer misunderstood words and with reduced background noise from keyboards and close talkers.

The series includes the following models: EncorePro 510/520 (dedicated over-the-head), EncorePro 530 (over-the-ear) and EncorePro 540 (convertible), the latter is unique in its simple design and high-performance audio no matter what the preferred wearing style. All models support wideband audio.

The new Plantronics digital audio processors are designed to connect Plantronics quick disconnect headsets to computers through a USB port. Some incorporate user controls like the ability to answer a call, mute the call and adjust volume. All support Noise @ Work, based on Plantronics SoundGuard® digital technology. Not only are CSRs protected from sounds above 118 dBA, but anti-startle protection detects and eliminates sudden increase in sound and Time Weighted Average (TWA) measurement which manages average daily sound exposure for CSRs.

Smart Headphones Make Smarter Customer Service Agents 

What’s more, these new devices are smart. All are support by Plantronics Hub, and each contains firmware that can generate notifications based on hardware state changes. Some models can also generate notifications based on acoustic events or other telemetry that is important to the service center, but has been previously unavailable. For example, the Plantronics DA-90 will offer acoustic event logging so that customers can be compliant with initiatives like Australia’s G.616 recommendation. These events are exposed through API’s within the Plantronics Spokes suite of software solutions.

“We are building on the world’s most successful professional grade headset, the SupraPlus, and this is a challenge we did not take lightly. Our deep understanding of the new business needs and role of Customer Service, and the availability of new materials, design philosophies, manufacturing techniques and core technologies resulted in a new portfolio that is not only state-of-the-art by today’s standards, but also future-proofed to adapt as the landscape changes,” said Bill Loewenthal, vice president, Enterprise Communications Solutions, Plantronics. “It’s no longer just about a first-class audio experience. With our new portfolio, organizations will immediately see the value that we bring by providing equipment and intelligence which enable operations to be more effective, and create a positive experience for both the CSR and the customer.”

The all-new Plantronic’s Customer Service Solutions include:

Cutting-Edge Design

• Brand new, stylish, and ergonomic design

 Custom Noise Canceling Microphones

• Next-generation, noise-canceling microphone
• Flexible boom with positioning guides 

Superb Audio

• Wideband audio with SoundGuard® technology

 Comfort and Convenience

• Adjustable fit with all-day comfort
• Quick Disconnect™ feature provides walkaway convenience

Robust and Reliable

• Proprietary material and construction for unparalleled robustness

Integration with Softphones

• Plantronics technology that captures and reports on key call events

Call Control

• Easy, at-your-fingertips access to call functions (Plantronics DA-80, DA-90 only)

Noise @ Work and antistartle, G616 Compliance

• Help achieve compliance with legislated regulations to protect your CSRs 

Firmware Updates

• Firmware updates that aid in inventory management through Plantronics Hub or in early 2015 through Plantronics Manager Pro

 Extraordinary Service

• Industry-leading global service and support

@drnatalie

VP and Principle Analyst, Covering Marketing, Sales and Customer Service to Create Great Customer Experience

Constellation Research

Teradata Announces A Query Grid Software For Seamless Orchestration of Analytics Processing

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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Teradata, the big data analytics and marketing applications company, today announced thatTeradata® QueryGrid.™  Now seamlessly orchestrates analytic processing of data between Teradata and Oracle databases, enabling Teradata data warehouse users to leverage data sitting in Oracle databases to enhance their analytics.

Teradata QueryGrid software orchestrates the use of multiple analytic engines and file systems, freeing the user to concentrate on their business analysis. Unique in its design, Teradata QueryGrid enables bi-directional data movement and pushdown processing on data where it resides, while minimizing overall data movement and duplication.

As organizations successfully build out their analytical ecosystems, they realize the need to leverage more data. Additional sources of data enable users to ask new questions. However, to be productive users need technology that frees them from spending time moving data from system-to-system, or knowing the mechanics of data movement.

“Teradata QueryGrid allows organizations to focus on getting answers to their business questions, not on moving data or splitting analyses into discrete processes,” said Scott Gnau, president, Teradata Labs. “Teradata QueryGrid can instantly reach into Oracle databases with bi-directional data movement or pushdown processing.”

Teradata QueryGrid, available with Teradata Database 15, supports The Teradata® Unified Data Architecture™. The Teradata Unified Data Architecture helps customers to design architect, implement, and orchestrate multiple best-of-breed engines, tools, and emerging technologies into a cohesive analytical ecosystem. It connects the Teradata Database, Teradata Aster Discovery Platform, Hadoop technology and now Oracle databases to deliver a robust analytical ecosystem.

The Teradata QueryGrid software connection to Oracle databases is now available.

My POV: It’s necessary for all the various software need to work together. And there are so many choices. What I hope is that Marketers, Sales and Customer Service professionals are able to sort though all the various options. What I mean by that is that they are clear about what they have. They are clear about how to optimize what they have. And they are clear what is missing and clear how to fill that gap. Without that kind of analysis, continuous announcements of products is good, but may confuse the marketplace. Vendors MUST differentiate themselves so that buyers and users of technology get the return on the investment.

@drnatalie

VP and Principle Analyst, Covering Marketing, Sales and Customer Service to Create Great, Next Generation Customer Experiences

The Future of Work or Future Staffing?

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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Whilst various aspects of the digitally based society with its impact on new business behaviors, and models, get the attention the really big question is how will the people in enterprises be working. It’s a strange omission given that the digital revolution is seen as being driven by peoples’ use of technology as consumers, arguably the counter balance must be that enterprises changing the working capabilities of their staff to support these new business environments.

A digital enterprise has faced radical change in their business model due to technology and consumer expectations. So using new technology to make the current business model ‘better’ in the manner of the last twenty years isn’t enough. Instead the future of work will be defined by radical shift in the manner in which ‘work’, or more accurately we should perhaps say ‘value creation’ is organized. If we can improve our definitions of what ‘the future of work’ might be in terms of radical change to how an enterprise functions then we can define the skills and cultures that are needed in those staffing an enterprise.

Straight forward enough, but too much of the research on the future of work concentrates on small enterprising units that react and follow markets etc., you know the picture from a thousand sources. However in real life big enterprises are not going away as they have the power, position and assets to re compete in new ways, for them the question is what and they can adopt radical change in working practices. For several years now John Seddon, a British physiologist specializing in service sector industries has been painting a powerful picture of big enterprise reorganization around customer service and flexibility http://vimeo.com/4670102.

Anyone who has seen a John Seddon presentation has never failed to be gripped by the power of his analysis and logical redefinition, (as well as the humor in his explanations of what goes wrong). Amongst the fans for his approach are at least two major technology companies who are developing various tools and capabilities for the new working place. So lets assume John is right, or at least in the right direction and ask the question about ‘working’ skills and culture.

To deliver the capability to own, and resolve, a complex issue is certainly going to call for the technology tools that are high on the list from Big Data insights to Collaboration suites, Apps to Mobility, and yes even Clouds. All these technologies are about people and ‘working’ in new ways that empower people to go beyond the current confines introduced by enterprise applications linked to rigid departments. But this is not a call for technology product training, instead its attitude and capability development of people that we require. John Hagel noted this in a powerful piece on Forbes entitled ‘the empowered employee is the world ready’ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/02/09/the-empowered-employee-is-coming-is-the-world-ready/ and quoting directly from this work he noted;

But what would this require? Well, it makes people the center of the enterprise. Rather than striving to squeeze people into their assigned roles and tasks, it means addressing how the enterprise will need to change in order to help people develop more rapidly and achieve ever higher levels of performance. That’s a powerful combination – people and performance – and it’s the foundation of the post-digital enterprise

In order to achieve our Digital Enterprise there is a need to focus in parallel on the conscious development of a new Working culture and the Workers themselves.  As well as drawing up the technology specifications with product comparisons it means starting to define the ‘working’ capabilities of the people to use these empowering tools in the radical new business models. We need to recognize that enterprise change is driven by the rate at which people can successful work in new ways.

It’s never too soon to start developing new profiles that define personal behaviors that go with abilities to use personal initiative, take responsibility with accountability for complex issues and their resolve, with accompanying personal motivational factors. Start considering how to reward these new workers and their abilities to interact with others as well as individually succeed, as these factors will be as important as their technology capabilities. 

The Rite To Be Forgotten

Steve Wilson

Former Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

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

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• "[The European Court of Justice] said that individuals have the right to ask companies operating search engines to remove links with personal information about them -- under certain conditions. This applies when information is inaccurate, for example, or inadequate, irrelevant, outdated or excessive for the purposes of data processing. The Court explicitly ruled that the right to be forgotten is not absolute, but that it will always need to be balanced against other fundamental rights, such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media -- which, by the way, are not absolute rights either".

For the New Yorker, Toobin interviewed Kent Walker, Google's general counsel. Walker said Google likes to think of itself as a "card catalogue": "We don't create the information. We make it accessible. A decision like [the ECJ's], which makes us decide what goes inside the card catalogue, forces us into a role we don't want."

But there's a great deal more to search than Walker lets on.

Google certainly does create fresh Personal Information, and in stupendous quantities. Their search engine is the bedrock of a hundred billion dollar business, founded on a mission to "organize the world's information". Google search is an incredible machine, the result of one of the world's biggest ever and ongoing software R&D projects. Few of us now can imagine life without Internet search and instant access to limitless information that would otherwise be utterly invisible. Search really is magic - just as Arthur C. Clarke said any sufficiently advanced technology would be.

On its face therefore, no search result is a passive reproduction of data from a "public domain". Google makes the public domain public.

But while search is free, it is hyper profitable, for the whole point of it is to underpin a gigantic advertising business. The search engine might not create the raw facts and figures in response to our queries, but it covertly creates and collects symbiotic metadata, complicating the picture. Google monitors our search histories, interests, reactions and habits, as well as details of the devices we're using, when and where and even how we are using them, all in order to divine our deep predilections. These insights are then provided in various ways to Google's paying customers (advertisers) and are also fed back into the search engine, to continuously tune it. The things we see courtesy of Google are shaped not only by their page ranking metrics but also by the company's knowledge of our preferences (which it forms by watching us across the whole portfolio of search, Gmail, maps, YouTube, and the Google+ social network). When we search for something, Google tries to predict what we really want to know.

In the modern vernacular, Google hacks the public domain.

The collection and monetization of personal metadata is inextricably linked to the machinery of search. The information Google serves up to us is shaped and transformed to such an extent, in the service of Google's business objectives, that it should be regarded as synthetic and therefore the responsibility of the company. Their search algorithms are famously secret, putting them beyond peer review; nevertheless, there is a whole body of academic work now on the subtle and untoward influences that Google exerts as it filters and shapes the version reality it thinks we need to see.

Some objections to the RTBF ruling see it as censorship, or meddling with the "truth". But what exactly is the state of the truth that Google purportedly serves up? Search results are influenced by many arbitrary factors of Google's choosing; we don't know what those factors are, but they are dictated  by Google's business interests.  So in principle, why is an individual's interests in having some influence over search results any less worthy than Google's? The "right to be forgotten" is an unfortunate misnomer: it is really more of a 'limited right to have search results filtered differently'. 

When people frame RTBF as "rewriting history" they seem to regard Googe's search results as a formal public record. But they're not - they are they means to an end for an advertising business.  Search results represent Google's proprietary assessment of what matters.  And they are relative.  Search results are utterly different from one user to another, and from one month to the next.  Why should this customised stream of corporate consciousness not be subject to reasonable editing so as to balance the rights of people that it happens to include? 

If Google's machinery reveals Personal Information that was hitherto impossible to find, then why shouldn't it at least participate in protecting the interests of the people affected? I don't deny that modern technology and hyper-connectivity creates new challenges for the law, and that traditional notions of privacy may be shifting. But it's not a step-change, and in the meantime, we need to tread carefully. There are as many unintended consequences and problems in the new technology as there are in the established laws. The powerful owners of benefactors of these technologies should accept some responsibility for the privacy impacts. With its talents and resources, Google could rise to the challenge of better managing privacy, instead of pleading that it's not their problem.

Related Research:

Big Privacy Rises to the Challenges of Big Data

OpenWorld – A New World of Business Opens Up #OOW14

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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Shift Has Happened

As I listened to the keynotes, the executives – both Oracle and its customers told the stories of how they now realize that IT and the “business” must collaborate, I am refreshed. Oracle is the database backbone of many companies, no doubt. But for Oracle to stay in the current game, it itself has to transform.

Being current is the natural state of being interested in transformation. Most large companies are not “interested in transformation.” I believe it’s not so much because they are stubborn or uninterested in the result. I believe that the resistance is the practical knowledge of what it takes to make meaningful transformation stick. And it takes real guts, commitment from executives and the ability to see it through to the end. And that’s what I am hearing in these stories.

Organization Change Management or “Shift” Requires Reflection

What I found most interesting in the keynote stories today was the genuine reflection of not only Oracle executives but also of their customers. They spoke of looking at what customers were saying on social networks / online and not just looking at it, but using it to inform them of what customers think about their products and services.  And then using that information to make new choices and business decisions. The stories, whether they were B2B or B2C type companies, shared this trend.

They were listening to customers and taking that feedback to make change. And to create real change means that they have to have the courage to be honest with “where things are at” and be able to look into the future to see what “could be” and to work to fill in the gaps. That type of “work” is only for the courageous.  I know, coming from a systems integrator background. It takes a lot of people, going in the same direction to make things happen and happen in a reasonable amount of time to be meaningful.

The Witness Factor™ or Observer Affect

It’s true in science (yes, I used to be a scientist), that something that’s called the Observer Affect refers to changes that “the act of observation” will make on something. What I witnessed over the years is, as the number of #fail ‘s from unmet customer needs were interrupting millions and billions of dollars spent on advertising and marketing campaigns, that social / digital / and what customer were saying online was starting to create permanent and long lasting change. Not sure but, perhaps it’s partially because as these digital remarks will last as or longer than cave paintings…

And The Heisenberg Principle ascribes to the uncertainty in the measurable quantities to the jolt-like disturbance triggered by the act of observation. It seems what has happened in the case of the software world, brands, companies and their relationship with their customer–  is that — the digital disruption has created a jolt-like shift.  The ability of social / digital networks and the conversations that are carried on offline, are triggering new behaviors and new actions.

Is It For Real?

The questions remain are things like, “Are companies really measuring the affect of how they are changing business? What’s the value of those changes? Do they know how to set-up a measurement system to capture the results? Or are they just knee-jerking? Are technology companies really understanding the need to not only change their products, but their own culture, way of doing business and relationship to their employees and their customers?

And only time will tell. Time will tell if this is a fad, a tagline or a key message. It seems though that Oracle has made interesting changes – from the acquisitions which have changed their own technology stack, but also how seriously they take the digital disruption.

I was at the event last May, where Oracle introduced the idea of shifting from an IT focus to a focus on the CMO’s as a buyer. It is interesting to see how the acquisitions Oracle has made have also changed their culture and their seriousness towards using databases in a new way. And their desire to be the company brands trust to– be the one you come to –to make all the changes you need to make -i.e., to integrate the old with the new and drive the newest trends in technology. Changes like this are not easily made. And brands need and want someone to trust.

My take?

Clearly the leadership at Oracle is committed to a change and courageous enough to put the resources behind it to make it happen. Business as usual, is no longer usual. The business has shifted… the future looks bright. Time will tell, but I believe the commitment, the desire and the conviction is there to go the distance.

@drnatalie

VP and Principle Analyst, Covering Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Creating Great Customer Experiences

Quips: Oracle Open World 2014 - Day 1 The Larry Keynote #OOW14

R "Ray" Wang

Principal Analyst and Founder
Constellation Research

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

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Oracle Intends To Dominate Cloud From Silicon To Software

Amidst a packed standing room only crowd at Moscone North, Founder, Executive Chairman, and CTO, Larry Ellison took to the stage to clarify Oracle’s company and cloud strategy.  Key points from his keynote include how Oracle is:

• Committing to full upward compatibility of all its database, middleware, and apps onto the cloud. After jumping into the cloud a bit late (10 years by most counts), Oracle appears determined to win the complete stack from IaaS to SaaS.  Larry noted that Oracle has a one button click upgrade process to the cloud for database.  Multi-tenancy has surfaced as an important feature after years of arguing about comingling databases.
• Promising a one stop shop approach.  Oracle intends to compete for the full stack from silicon to software and serve as the one -stop shop for the cloud.  Oracle claims to be the only software company to open up the same platform used to develop its products to allow partners and customers to build on top of.  New announcements on chips, storage, networking, security, and hardware show how Oracle is commoditizing technologies into the bigger RedStack. Oracle has no qualms going against Amazon on pricing, EMC on storage, and Cisco and HP on networking.
• Using deployment choice and security as a competitive differentiator. Larry made a commitment to be able to offer customers the ability to buy software on-premises, hosted, or in the cloud.  Security is also now “job one” for all Oracle software as he thinks he can do it from the root source at the silicon level all the way to the last mile in software.
• Demonstrating market momentum.  While Oracle was not the first ERP (NetSuite) in the cloud or the first EPM in the cloud (Host Analytics), Larry attempted to make the point that Oracle was gaining market share in all categories in the cloud.  In classic Oracle marketing language, Larry noted that 19/20 of the major cloud vendors run on Oracle.  The only exception was Workday. In any case, Oracle has moved from where they were two years ago in terms of market momentum to greater traction in the market with key wins at the high end of the Fortune 500.  Constellation now sees them more in short lists than in the past.

Figure 1. The Flickr Stream From Oracle Open World 2014

Source: Copyright © 2001 -2014 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC All rights reserved.

A Working Guide To Where To Go For The Mini Tents

• CX Mini Tent: Moscone West
• Engineered Systems Mini Tent: Intercontinental Hotel
• ERP Mini Tent: Westin Market Street
• HCM Mini Tent: Palace Hotel
• JavaOne Event: Hilton San Francisco
• MySQL Mini Tent: Parc 55 Hotel
• SCM Mini Tent: Westin Market Street

The Bottom Line: While Late To The Cloud, Oracle Is Doubling Down On R&D and Enablement

The Day 1 keynote with Larry Ellison shows that Oracle is still heavily investing in R&D to catch up in cloud enablement.  Coming from behind in cloud adoption may not be a bad thing as existing cloud platforms are now over a decade old and cautious adopters and laggards are starting to embrace the cloud.  Oracle has the R&D and tech know how to build a newer generation cloud platform.  Moreover, the focus on owning the silicon to software stack, commoditizing the cost structure of technology, acquiring customer bases and technologies as needed, directly challenging competitors, and providing a one stop shop remain key pillars in Oracle’s strategy.

The shift to the cloud is now top of mind for Oracle and competitors can expect fierce competition.  Meanwhile, prospects, partners, and customers should look to Oracle as a provider that seeks to deliver a one -stop shop. Those that seek best of breed and avoid lock-in will cautiously consume Oracle piecemeal.  In any case, Oracle will continue to be a short list option as they commoditize the marketplace. Why?  Classic Oracle buyers expect simplification, a move to the cloud, and a preference to go w/ a one stop shop that drives down costs.

Dominate Digital Disruption

Join me at Constellation’s Connected Enterprise, an immersive innovation summit for senior business leaders. The theme of this year’s Connected Enterprise is Dominate Digital Disruption. Join 200+ other early adopters at Connected Enterprise to discover and share how digital business can realize brand promises, transform business models, increase revenues, reduce costs, and improve compliance.

This 3-day executive retreat includes mind expanding keynotes from visionaries, interactive best practices panels, deep 1:1 interviews with market makers, new technology demos, The Constellation SuperNova Awards Gala Dinner, a golf outing, and an immersive networking event.

Register before September 30 to take advantage of early bird pricing. Use code BBLG14 for VIP privileges throughout the event.

Your POV.

Ready for Oracle OpenWorld? What do you want to get out of this year’s show? Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org.

Related Research:

• Event Report: Oracle Open World 2014 – Day 1 #OOW14
• Event Report: Day 1 At Oracle Open World 2013: The Quest For Innovation #oow13
• 20130629 News Analysis: Oracle’s Cloud Disruption Webinar Recording
• 20130625 News Analysis: Oracle’s Cloud Strategy – Revisionist History or Cloud Genius?
• 20121231 Market Maker 1:1: Steve Miranda, Oracle Fusion Applications Update – The Inside Story
• 20121001 Event Report: The Day 0 And Day 1 Tweet Stream From OOW12
• Monday’s Musings: Who Gets To Be A Chief Digital Officer?
• Monday’s Musings: The New Engagement Platform Drives The Shift From Transactions
• Monday’s Musings: Insights From GE’s Global Innovation Barometer Show Executives Need To Be Disruption Ready

• Event Report: CRM Evolution 2012 #CRME12
• Trends: The Battle for CMO Mindshare
• Tuesday’s Tip: Why Context Matters – Forget Real-Time, Achieve Right-Time

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Progress Report - Oracle HCM gathers momentum - now it needs to build on that

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 Oracle HCM analyst session that was held before the official start of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Together with almost two handful of analyst colleagues we got a great insight into where Oracle HCM is and what will be announced at OpenWorld.

A lot of information – but here are my Top 3 takeaways

• Oracle makes UI progress - We got a preview of the next generation user interface that Oracle is using first for Benefits and Performance Management. The new user interface uses more visual approaches to e.g. work through a performance review, using a lot of drag and drop. It looks clean and easy to use and with the graphical elements, I almost had a Sonar6 deja-vu. The new UI will certainly help more visual thinking managers, if it will make performance review fun – remains to be seen. But it’s good to see that Oracle keeps innovating on the UI front, while being aware of the transition customers need to go through when changing basic UI mechanics. 

New Performance Management UI

• Good Housekeeping on Unification - We spend a longer session on a theme Oracle calls ‘unification’ – what is really meant by it is to bring the different Oracle products – both in house developed and acquired - on a common platform, integration layer and user interface. Kudos to Oracle for both sharing accomplishments of this major undertaking and the next steps for this project.
  

  What became clear in the conversation was that Oracle is well underway and achieving unification of its Recruiting and Learning Cloud to the overall HCM Cloud. Customer Benefits include a common user interface, common data model, and the ability to leverage processes never before available in a common platform. For example, organizations will now be able to have a common competency framework across all processes, build succession plans with both external and internal talent, link learning opportunities to career plans, and have a holistic view of their workforce.

  Behind the scenes Oracle is retaining the over 12 years of intellectual capital acquired from Taleo, and instead of starting from “scratch” is leveraging this by unifying the product with the overall Oracle HCM Cloud.

  We are excited to see future traction in this endeavor during the next HCM World event early in 2015. This will be a highly welcomed step for customers so they can align their roll out plans and purchasing decisions. 

The HCM Unification Roadmap

• PaaS comes to HCM - Oracle shared how it will bring the new Oracle PaaS (Platform as a Service) capabilities (more to be announced later at OpenWorld, probably by Larry Ellison in his keynote later on Sunday) - will help to change its Oracle HCM product. Already today Oracle HCM has a number of extension options - all the way to a single user level. Now Oracle brings its stand-alone PaaS offering to the HCM community. As a marketplace for HCM exists already, this will not only give customers a chance to find deeper ways of configuring and extending the Oracle HCM apps, but also partners to build complimentary offerings on the same platform. We will need to spend some more time at OpenWorld to understand these new PaaS capabilities and assess its opportunity for HCM. 

Oracle's HCM + PaaS view with a capital 'P'

Tidits

• Customer traction - Oracle shared significant customer traction for Oracle HCM, for instance the number of HR core customers has doubled, as well as the number of live HR core customers. Kudos to Oracle to be frank that they had to scramble with customer references and session in 2013, this year Oracle was able to pick and choose the more interesting customers for 1 to 1 meetings and presentations. Looking forward to my scheduled meetings.
   
• Vertical plans - Oracle shared its vertical capabilities and plans for Healthcare and Higher Education, and both are comprehensive. But we will have to dig a little deeper on how Oracle will move existing and expanding new functionality giving the new PaaS announcements. Always hard to build vertical functionality when the platform evolves.
   
• Roadmap - Kudos to Oracle to share again their roadmap for current release +2 and further along roadmap - a key information for customers and partners to plan their Oracle HCM rollouts. 

MyPOV

A very helpful event, giving analysts insights before the main Oracle OpenWorld event – remarkably without any NDA flags. Oracle is making good progress on its vast HCM automation portfolio – it is good to see that there is more customer uptake in 2014, but much more of that has to come. Likewise Oracle has improved its partner enablement and fine-tuned some of the deliverables in this area. Enhancements in UI and good housekeeping are always welcome and a good sign for customers and prospects. It is also key to see that Oracle is looking into building new and more recruiting capabilities that are key for enterprises in the next 5-10 years, especially given the retirement scenarios in much of the first world.