Briefings this week: April 28 - May 2

Here’s who I’m briefing with this week: Tuesday Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud Wednesday Oracle Marketing Cloud   As a reminder, I’m interested in hearing from companies that enable customer experience management, provide marketing services (including agencies and consultancies) and support innovation agenda items. If you are interested in briefing Constellation Research on your marketing technology, visit the Contact Us form. 

Some Thoughts On The Downfall Of Google+

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

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

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It has not been a good week for Google+. Yesterday Vic Gundotra head of the Google+ division announced he was leaving Google, then today TechCrunch is reporting 1000-1200 employees will be moved off of Google+ onto other projects.  

Many of you may not even know what Google+ is, and there in lies the problem. On the surface, the easy explanation is that Google+ is Google's version of Facebook. It's a social network where people create circles of friends, family and colleagues allowing them to share status updates, pictures, videos, etc. with each other.

However, thinking of Google+ as just a social network does not do it justice.  Yes, feature-wise, Google+ is far superior to Facebook. Circles are much better than lists. The Google+ stream has much more functionality than Facebook's news feed. Hangouts are far more advanced than FacebookB Messenger. Google+ photo albums are way better than Facebook's, and the list goes on.  But Google+ is more of a "social layer" that a social network.  The core components of Google+, including your Google ID, circles and +1's together create a framework that ties together not only Google products, but potentially any other website as well.

So why is it not as popular as Facebook?

There are two theories most commonly discussed:

1) The network effect, where the value of a service is dependant on the number of people using it. In this case, it boils down to "Everyone is already on Facebook, so why would anyone ever use Google+"? Still, there are some communities that are very active on Google+, such as photographers and writers. They have taken to Google+ because of some of the features I've mentioned above were important enough for them to move. Well probably not move, but use Google+ as well as Facebook. But for most people, Facebook does enough of what they need, so why would they use both. Essentially Facebook wins because they were there first. Sure other networks such as Pinterest, Instagram, WhatsApp have come along and won over millions of users. But in each case they provided something Facebook did not, not just a better version of it.

2) Google annoys people by pushing Google+ on them. This one is more technical and impacts less people, but if it bothers you... it really bothers you! What Google did was take Google+ and make it the unifying layer across almost all of Google's services. That means Gmail, calendar, Youtube, Piccasa, Hangouts, Drive and many other products all become linked together via Google+. For example, if you're in your Gmail you can sort or send messages by Google+ Circles. If your posting a file to Drive, you can easily share it to Google+. The one that really annoyes people is that comments on Youtube videos became conversations in Google+.

It's this second theory that troubles me the most. As someone with around 20 years of experience in collaboration software, my advice to Google would have been to do exactly what they did, integrate all their services into a more seamless platform. In fact, here's what I wrote back in 2012:

April 16, 2012 - MyPOV: Google should provide integration with Gmail, Google Docs & Google+ to make their upcoming Google Drive file sharing service standout. Imagine sharing files with specific circles. Imagine saving a file in Google Docs and broadcasting that event to your Google+ stream.

Sept 26, 2012 - I imagine a time in the near future (2013ish) where there will no longer be distinctions between Google, Google+, Google Apps, Gmail, Google Chat, etc.  Instead there will just be "Google" which offers many (seamless/integrated) modes of context creation, discovery, communication and collaboration.

I wish I could predict the lottery numbers as accurately.

However, I also wrote
March 10, 2012: I've been asking the non-tech people in my life if they've heard of Google+ and the overwhelming response has been "No. Is that a new search tool?" By no means am I jumping on the "Google+ is a ghost town" bandwagon. I like Google+, but it is clear that it is still FAR from mainstream or a household name the way Facebook and Twitter are.

And that remains true still today.

Yes, Google made several "execution errors" with Google+, starting with the "real name required" scandal up the Youtube comment annoyance, but for me the network effect issue is the main reason I don't spend much time there anymore. It's a shame, because it's a great tool.

What do you think?

***********************

Some other posts of mine that provide supporting information about Google+ as a "social layer"

March 11, 2012 

Google 1.0 was a new company that changed the way we search for content on the internet and it became a household name.
Google 2.0 developed a set of consumer services like email, apps, maps, YouTube, etc.
Google 2.5 started to provide those services to the Enterprise and Education markets
Google 3.0 built a revenue model to layer onto #2 via advertising. The majority of non-techies probably have no idea that this is their core business
Google 4.0 is about building a new "social DNA" across all Google properties as well as across the web. This will try together people and content, and provide even more context for Google's Ad business.

June 27, 2012 
I think Google is creating an incredible foundation for collaboration with circles and +1's. They are showing what's possible by building UI instances of this DNA with things like Google+, Hangouts, Events and are adding integration with Picassa, YouTube, Google Docs, Gmail and more

March 10, 2012
A private and integrated offering composed of Google Dashboard (iGoogle + Google+'s stream), Google People (Google+'s profile + a nice directory + Circles for groups), a combined version of Google Apps (email, calendar, doc, spreadsheet, presentation) and Google Sites (where circles provide access), Google Media (Video + Picassa) and Google Communications (chat + Hangouts) all wrapped with Google Search, Google Analytics and +1s would be an awesome enterprise collaboration platform.

No BS! The Reality Versus Hype of Working Social

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

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

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Often enterprise social networking platforms are touted as the solution to every communication and collaboration problem that organizations experience. While it's true "working social" has many benefits, it's naive to think it does not have its own set of challenges. Don't worry though, there are solutions to these challenges. 

This presentation cuts through the "fluffy" industry hype and provides a realistic look at social networking. The slides may be hard to follow with the words though, so feel free to contact me for more details and stay tuned for a written report on this topic.

Request For Case Studies – High Level Marketing Optimization Capabilities

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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As the application for the Constellation Research Super Nova Awards are coming up soon (and winners revealed at the Constellation Research Conference, The Connected Enterprise, I am listening very closely for companies that are actually implementing their marketing automation capabilities fully. What I mean by that is that often software can offer quite a lot but are companies really taking advantage of all the capabilities? How well have they integrated the application to deliver on business results.

And the other part of that is does the staff have the skills to use the software? So take a look at the marketing optimization report – the 5 levels and see where you think your company is. If you are at level 3, 4, or 5 – I’d love to hear from you! How are you using your marketing automation software to drive innovation, revenue, new markets, etc…? Here’s the link to a snapshot of the report! And below is the diagram that shows the progression of Marketing-Decision Making vs Innovation Capabilities:

Progression of Marketing Decision Making to Innovation and Revenue Creation

Twitter: @drnatalie 

SAVE THE DATE!
Constellation’s 4th Annual Connected Enterprise 
The Executive Innovation Conference | October 29th-31st 
Half Moon Bay, CA | Ritz Carlton

Infor, The Teenager

I attended the Infor Innovation Summit in NYC last week.

It was a good event, headlined by Infor CEO’s Charles Phillips and most of his senior staff.  There were lots of presentations – but also oodles of conversations and questions with the ~60 analysts in attendance (from all walks of like, independent to large research house).  Anyone who has a say in the world of Enterprise Software was there (and, yes – the agenda was a cute attempt at civility, we were behind schedule just 10 minutes into it).

My attention was piqued in the last couple of years as I saw Infor progress from a collection of acquisitions to putting a credible story together.  I wanted to see what was the glue holding all this together, how it fared as built, and how it compares to the rest of the market.  I was not disappointed, Infor delivered all the information needed to make this assessment.

What? The title you say?

I thought you’d never ask…

I am in the middle of my oldest daughter’s awakening into a teenager.  Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment – as I hear, it passes in another 15-20 years.

I may be biased coming into this, but I am seeing similar behaviors and issues with Infor as I see in my daughter: all the elements that would make them a great vendor are there – just not all in the final form or matured enough.  Let me explain.

Infor has in my opinion the most advanced architecture for cloud I’ve seen among large #EnSw vendors.  It can support any “model” of cloud their customers throw at them – but this is mostly because they had the good fortune / foresight of re-architecting in the past few years from a non-existent platform that held it all together to a great three-tier, metadata-based (and this is the key, btw), public cloud that can also bastardize itself to be private or hybrid if their customers are not yet that advanced in the cloud world (something that will be solved in the next 2-3 years more or less).

Further, their ION EAI layer is one of the best answers I’ve seen from vendors to bring legacy solutions into the new world of cloud; it does the job well and the clients I chatted with like it and see it as a great interim step to move forward into the world of cloud.

They really thought about it, and the platform is well built and being adopted at a good pace by existing customers migrating from the old products into the new platform; we shall continue to see this if all my conversations are any indication.

They also distinguish themselves from other vendors by their UX (uber friend Paul Greenberg discussed this in detail in his post last year about this, read more there as I won’t be as detailed).

Using their Hook-and-Loop (I am a brand-killer, I am sure they don’t use the name that way, but works better for me – sorry) agency they have some of the most amazing UI I have seen for Enterprise Software in many years if not ever.  Mobile, desktop, tablet – all well covered and retaining the main attributes of the interfaces.  The ability to build and modify interfaces easily also supports the move to adopt mobile as the leading platform by most organizations.  All in all, definitely a key differentiator for them if not the best.

This to me is the equivalent of a teenager that takes care of their appearance (starts working out, stops eating junk food, buys more fashionable clothes, spends 2 hours every morning doing their hair – I mean, seriously? at 11? — sorry, I digress), begins to understand their likes and dislikes, their preferences, and puts a good amount of time into deciding what their looks are and how the world should see them.

And this is who I see Infor today: a teenager.  All the elements are there, they are lean, buff, and decided.  They have all the components that make up who they are – but are not yet ready to use them all together in critical situations.  They are learning (And having great successes in areas like Public Sector and Healthcare) what they have and how to use it, how to learn from the early mistakes and how to get better.

Infor, the teenager, has a great future as an adult if they continue on this path.  Will continue to watch them over the next few years to see where it goes.

I just hope they don’t spent 2 hours each day doing their hair…

Report: State of Community Management

The Community Roundtable, founded in 2009 by Jim Storer and Rachel Happe, has deep expertise in advancing the business of community. This week The Community Roundtable has released the 2014 State of Community Management report, with three key findings:

1. Community maturity delivers business value.
2. Advocacy programs increase engagement.
3. Executive participation impacts success.

To download the full report, click here.

Startup Hacks: 10 Ways to Increase Your Startup's Valuation When Pitching VCs

Being on either the pitching or receiving end of over 200 venture capital presentations has left me examples of a long list of things that do not work. Unfortunately however, rarely do I get asked what does not work, more frequently I get asked what works.

And precisely, I get asked, what works in supporting valuations. Thank you to all those who have pitched me, or listened to me pitch enabling the 10 items below.
 

1. Have a killer brand and image before you pitch -- investors know that commerce happens because of influence, influence is the currency of customers making a decision to buy. A good brand and a killer visual identity help investors "see the cognitive leap" customers will take to drive sales. I learned this from Chris Walsh in 2001.
    
2. Do not overstate your total addressable market (TAM) -- overstating TAM is the easiest way to say to an investor, "I barely know anything about how businesses work, and will not spend your capital wisely." Pick a TAM that you can nail, and show an evolution to an increasing TAM, this way your valuation is solid and difficult to negotiate down, instead of inflated and a target for negotiation.
    
3. Have a well-documented sales process in your pitch -- most investors ran businesses before and know that no matter what you build customers will not come rushing to your doors. You must demonstrate a well thought out sales process, one that shows you already understand customer's objections, resistance to your value proposition, and a commitment to making customers satisfied.
    
4. Know where you are on the hype cycles -- nothing says to an investor "invest in me the founder" like a founder demonstrating deep and immersive understanding of their invention on the Gartner Hype Cycle, and an appreciation for how adoption of their invention will perform under the lenses of the theory of diffusion of innovation.
    
5. Show that you prioritize with a focus -- while cash is king, focus is queen (thank you for teaching me this). Investors want to know that you will prioritize a client meeting over an investor meeting, or you will prioritize a partner/reseller meeting over a press opportunity. Don't chase the shiny objects, show focus and investors will believe in your value.
    
6. Leave the CEO role open -- investors value companies that will grow to be successful over companies that have great ideas but may never get out of the gates. When an investor sees the CEO role open and vacant, they know that the founders will be willing to bring in talent to "grow the business" and hence they respect the valuation. If the CEO seat is filled, investors see a "battle ahead" of replacing the CEO, which says "RISK" and the default reaction is to negotiate the value of the company down to reflect the risk of the "battle ahead". This lesson came from Atul Chowdhry recently.
    
7. Have a list of "BTDT" advisers -- I learned the phrase BTDT from the Irish Angels, a VC group in South Bend Indiana associated with Notre Dame in 2002. Been There, Done That; investors want to see advisers that have built successful companies before on your advisory board. Pick them wisely.
    
8. Get more than press relations -- Companies succeed because influential people want them to. Show investors that influencers and analysts (this is your influencer relations and analyst relations) believe in our concept enough to write about it, and hence you have "IR and AR" credibility. PR, is not the same as IR and AR.
    
9. Plan for pivots -- the best businesses in the word learn to pivot as a part of the plan. Investors want to invest in companies that will "pivot into the opportunity" instead of staying the course on ego. You pitch should show to investors that you have thought through alternative pivots, and... you are willing to spend their money wisely on opportunistic pivots over staying the course of your ego. This lesson came from Ray Wang, one of the best in advising pivots.
    
10. React like a pro -- the last thing that helps your valuation is the way you react when an investor says "I think your valuation is too high." Don't defend your valuation, and for heaven's sake don't ask them why they think so; just keep a poker face and wait in silence. You will know the numbers better than any investor being pitched, let them voluntarily go down the dangerous road of trying to poke holes into your valuation. You have the upper hand in this debate because if your immersion in the numbers; don't give that away by speaking first.

Go raise money, and don't sabotage your valuation by not thinking through the 10 items above.

-- Richie

Musings - What is the future of recruiting?

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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With one of the leading recruiting conferences starting this week, it was time to spend some thought cycles on the future of recruiting. And the purpose of this blog post is purposefully slanted in the direction of provoking some new thoughts on the subject – more than nailing what will happen in 2015 or even easier what is today’s state of the industry.


 

If you step away for a moment from the rush of multiple releases per year and look over the last decades on what has happened in enterprise applications overall, a major trend becomes pretty clear: 

Transitioning Your Marketing and Customer Experience Strategies to Digital Webinar Recording

"Marketing is the first line of customer engagement." What does that even mean? Watch this webinar to find out.

It's no secret that the proliferation of digital consumer and enterprise technology is driving dramatic disruption of traditional business models. Roles are changing, responsibilities are changing, and expectations are changing. Position yourself and your organization to take advantage of these technology-driven paradigm shifts.  

Speakers:

• R "Ray" Wang
• Paul Greenberg
• Natalie Petouhoff
• Peter Kim

Transitioning Your Marketing and Customer Experience Strategies to Digital

Discussed in this webinar:

• digital is disrupting traditional customer experience and marketing
• customer departments and marketing are becoming more interconnected--we discuss the changes your organization needs to make now
• how revelations at Adobe Summit 2014 impact customer experience, digital marketing, and matrix commerce
• lightning round: how Adobe's positioning will affect CX and marketing

Digital Transformation advice from our speakers: