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The following video is the third episode in a series of conversations about cloud technology between Holger Mueller, Constellation VP & Principal Analyst, and Thomas Saueressig, SAP Executive Board Member. In this segment, Thomas answers the question, "How does SAP offer cloud today?"
Video
Research Report: Trends - Inside The MIndset Of The Midmarket Buyer rwang0 Tue, 02/22/2022 - 07:58
Data Shows Priority Shifts From Pre-Pandemic To Post-Pandemic
Midmarket executives have always been challenged by a culture of scarcity. Limited access to funds, talent, and innovation has often created a barrier to entry into and exit from new markets, industries, and ecosystems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these leaders have made shifts in their buying behaviors and technology investments. Constellation’s latest midmarket analysis chronicles these findings and identifies the shifts during the 2020-to-2022 budget cycles. This emerging postpandemic strategy signifies the first steps to the Great Refactoring ahead.
Tech Budgets Shifting From Peak Operational Efficenty To Revenue And Growth
Prior to the pandemic, midmarket leaders invested tech budgets primarily in operational efficiency and cost. During the pandemic, both operational efficiency and cost (41.6%) and regulatory compliance (31.5%) saw higher-than-normal investment. The shift to a focus on revenue and growth (24.0%) in 2022 comes as reductions in investment for operational efficiency and cost (31.5%) and regulatory compliance (25.8%) drop from 2021 peak highs (see Figure 1).
This budget shift to revenue and growth and strategic differentiation indicates an optimism for those enterprise that survived the economic onslaught of the pandemic. Winners and survivors have seen the impact of digital channels, digital business models, and digital monetization. Constellation believes this frameshift from old models to new models built on analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) will play out in continued investments in technology and platforms.
Figure 1. Operational Efficiency Drives Budget Decisions As Revenue And Growth Gain Steam
To access the report: go to the Constellation website
Your POV
Trying to understand the mindset of the mid market buyer? Wondering how peers are prioritizing tech budgets?
Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org. Please let us know if you need help with your strategy efforts. Here’s how we can assist:
Developing your metaverse and digital business strategy
Connecting with other pioneers
Sharing best practices
Vendor selection
Implementation partner selection
Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support
Demystifying software licensing
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact Sales.
Disclosures
Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us. For the full disclosure policy,stay tuned for the full client list on the Constellation Research website. * Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions. However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.
Constellation Research recommends that readers consult a stock professional for their investment guidance. Investors should understand the potential conflicts of interest analysts might face. Constellation does not underwrite or own the securities of the companies the analysts cover. Analysts themselves sometimes own stocks in the companies they cover—either directly or indirectly, such as through employee stock-purchase pools in which they and their colleagues participate. As a general matter, investors should not rely solely on an analyst’s recommendation when deciding whether to buy, hold, or sell a stock. Instead, they should also do their own research—such as reading the prospectus for new companies or for public companies, the quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC—to confirm whether a particular investment is appropriate for them in light of their individual financial circumstances.
Copyright © 2001 – 2022 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC All rights reserved.
Contact the Sales team to purchase this report on a a la carte basis or join the Constellation Executive Network
Analyst Blog
My recent best practices report on AIOps titled “A CIO’s guide to AIOps” just got published. What started out as an AIOps use cases document morphed into an AIOps emerging trends document. However, when feedback was sought from CIOs and CTOs in our research panel, they suggested best practices and how to strategize AI and IT Operations in a broader sense to be included in
Analyst Blog
Today, we launched the final set of updates to our Constellation ShortList™ portfolio, including 26 new and updated lists.
Each technology vendor on this list has been chosen based on their products and services offering. Our analysts consider technology investment, use cases, strategic vision, customer value, executive leadership and price when anointing a vendor to the ShortList™.
Check out the 26 new and updated lists:
Analyst Blog
DisrupTV Episode 267: Securing Healthcare & Enhancing Customer Loyalty
In DisrupTV Episode 267, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with four thought leaders to discuss the intersection of cybersecurity, healthcare, and customer experience:
Video
The unfortunate reality of today’s highly digitized and cloud-powered organizations is that most continue to struggle to reach anything close to the full potential value of their data. Yet for most companies, their data remains the single most under-leveraged, high value asset they have.
Analyst Blog
We are thrilled to reveal the latest updates to the Constellation ShortList™ portfolio.
The Constellation ShortList™ portfolio highlights the key players when considering investments across all of our coverage areas, including HR tech, healthcare, AI, marketing, customer experience, analytics, machine learning, and more. We update the lists once per year to every six months depending on the category. Our goal is to match the rapidly changing requirements with customer needs and demand.
Analyst Blog
The following video is an interview between Holger Mueller, Constellation VP & Principal Analyst, and Gerald Venzl, Distinguished Product Manager at Oracle, on the new API for MongoDB.
Video
Scaling Companies and Shaping the Future: Lessons from DisrupTV Ep. 266
In DisrupTV Episode 266, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with four thought leaders to discuss the evolving landscape of leadership and technology:
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Transforming Work, Customer Experience & Sustainability | DisrupTV Ep. 265
In DisrupTV Episode 265, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with four thought leaders to discuss the changing dynamics of work, customer experience, and sustainability:
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Sanjeev Mohan, Principal @ SanjMo; Tony Baer, Principal @ dbinsight; Carl Olofson, Research VP @ IDC; Dave Menninger, SVP & Research Director @ Ventana Research; Brad Shimmin, Chief Analyst, AI platforms, Analytics and Data Management @ Omdia; Doug Henschen, VP & Principal Analyst @ Constellation Research, all sit down with Siliconangle Media's Dave Vellante for a CUBE Conversation around Analyst Predictions 2022: The Future of Data Management.
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Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash
What happened?
Analyst Blog
Game-Changing Insights: Sports, Entertainment & Digital Transformation | DisrupTV Ep. 264
In DisrupTV Episode 264, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with three thought leaders to discuss the changing dynamics of sports, entertainment, and digital transformation:
Video
Numerous use cases and business imperatives have been outlined for those willing to be the early disruptors shaping the metaverse economy. The truth is many will not have the willpower to be part of this advance party. Much like the early trailblazers in the Age of Digital Innocence or the Age of Digital Giants, those willing to take the leaps and chances will serve as aspirational landmarks on the road into the metaverse.
Analyst Blog
Is this what a battle line looks like in the metaverse?
Is this a play to dominate and reshape the gaming industry? Is this a play for cloud dominance? Did Microsoft and its CEO known for empathy actually smell blood in the water after headline making employee misconduct charges chased other takers from the table?
No matter how you slice it, the $68.7 billion deal just made the whole metaverse conversation a WHOLE lot more interesting.
Analyst Blog
News Analysis: MIcrosoft Doubles Down On The Metaverse With $68.7 B Offer For Activision rwang0 Wed, 01/19/2022 - 06:31
Microsoft's Biggest Acquisition Is All About Moving To Metaverse
On January 18th, 2022, MIcrosoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in an all cash offer. As the metaverse economy heats up, this move gives MIcrosoft several advantages including:
Beefed up market presence in the gaming industry and a base in the creation of metaverse worlds. Constellation estimates that the combined deal will give MIcrosoft more than 10% of the gaming market. Activision titles such as Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush join Microsoft's Xbox game pass and PC Game pass. The massive collection of titles and digital assets can be leveraged to grow the 25 million subscribers on XBox Game Pass.
POV: Gaming software companies along with movie studios are a great place to build a platform for future worlds. The acquisition is a bet on building a metaverse platform to rival Apple, Epic, Meta, Niantic, Roblox, and Unity. In 2021, MIcrosoft added to its gaming library with its acquisition of Bethesda for $7.5 billion. While this may seem aggressive, MIcrosoft has had to compete with Tencent and Sony's buying sprees.
Pressure to improve Hololens hardware and retain metaverse talent. Microsoft has had the hardware aspects of the metaverse stack and a significant gaming library. While Hololens was innovative when launched in 2015, the pace of development has been slow and competitors such as Meta's Ocuclus, Sony, HTC, and Valve have run rings around Microsoft's Hololens 2 in quality, battery life, speed, and price.
POV: The doubling down on gaming and metaverse should give Microsoft's gaming chief, Phil Spencer, new ammo to make the improvements in Hololens 3 that will take the hardware to the next level and drive cross-sell. Hopefully these actions will stem the defections of metaverse talent from Microsoft as the Wall Street Journal has reported a brain drain to Meta. Recruiters have confirmed key talent headed to Apple, Epic, Nviidia, Unity and others.
Win over Google Cloud for gaming workloads and loss to YouTube Ad revenue. Blizzard's origiinal footprint included 10 AT&T data centers for hosting World of Warcraft. At some point, AWS played a role in the hosting but over time Jacques Erasmus, CIO of Activision Blizzard, consolidated the sprawling network of data centers and colocation contracts. Candy Crush was an origiinal Google Cloud customer. Eventually, Google won the Activision Blizzard account in 2020 amidst much fan fare. Google even paid Activision Blizzard $160 million over three years for exclusive streaming rights for events and eSports leagues on Google's YouTube properties.
POV: The win puts MIcrosoft Azure in a great position for hosting the significant gaming workloads. With a handover expected in 2023, Google Cloud will lose a key tenant and ad driver for YouTube. Microsoft will gain valuable experience in hosting metaverse worlds and attempt to bring more users onto Microsoft platforms.
The Bottom Line: Expect More Partnerships And Mergers As Vendors Rush Into The Metaverse
Constellation predicts that advances in the metaverse economy will provide a critical element of the “Great Refactoring” ahead and a $21.7 trillion market by 2030. Massive consolidation ahead will come as metaverse players seek to gain proficiency across the five layers of the Metaverse Economy (see Figure 1). There will be an arms race for all aspects of the metaverse economy which includes the interfaces (hardware), the metaverse worlds, the DAOs, the value exchanges in crypto, tokens and coins, and the Web 30 infrastructure.
Figure 1. The Five Layers Of The Metaverse Economy
Enterprises interested in the metaverse economy can start by applying the 43 enterprise use cases that focus on engagement and experiences to support the future of work, employee experience, customer experience, and commerce.
To access the report: go to the Constellation website
Your POV
Are you ready to monetize the metaverse? Do you have a digital transformation agenda that needs to address the Great Refactoring? Do you know the 43 use cases to get started with?
Add your comments to the blog or reach me via email: R (at) ConstellationR (dot) com or R (at) SoftwareInsider (dot) org. Please let us know if you need help with your strategy efforts. Here’s how we can assist:
Developing your metaverse and digital business strategy
Connecting with other pioneers
Sharing best practices
Vendor selection
Implementation partner selection
Providing contract negotiations and software licensing support
Demystifying software licensing
Reprints can be purchased through Constellation Research, Inc. To request official reprints in PDF format, please contact Sales.
Disclosures
Although we work closely with many mega software vendors, we want you to trust us. For the full disclosure policy,stay tuned for the full client list on the Constellation Research website. * Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions. However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.
Constellation Research recommends that readers consult a stock professional for their investment guidance. Investors should understand the potential conflicts of interest analysts might face. Constellation does not underwrite or own the securities of the companies the analysts cover. Analysts themselves sometimes own stocks in the companies they cover—either directly or indirectly, such as through employee stock-purchase pools in which they and their colleagues participate. As a general matter, investors should not rely solely on an analyst’s recommendation when deciding whether to buy, hold, or sell a stock. Instead, they should also do their own research—such as reading the prospectus for new companies or for public companies, the quarterly and annual reports filed with the SEC—to confirm whether a particular investment is appropriate for them in light of their individual financial circumstances.
Copyright © 2001 – 2022 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC All rights reserved.
Contact the Sales team to purchase this report on a a la carte basis or join the Constellation Executive Network
Analyst Blog