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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
Premium Research
At a Glance
This case study demonstrates how a leading defense intelligence and analysis firm used Brightspot’s content management solution to significantly overhaul its mature, sophisticated research publishing business.
From Automation to Digital Consumers: How Leaders Are Shaping the Future | DisrupTV Ep. 263
In DisrupTV Episode 263, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with four thought leaders to discuss the changing dynamics of finance, technology, and digital transformation:
Video
A YEAR THAT HAS LED TO THE GREAT REFACTORING
Despite the chaotic pandemic environment, 2021 was an amazing year for enterprise tech IPO's, product launches, and new technologies. CXO's were given the budgets to refactor their business models, add additional talent, and invest towards a digital future. Amidst this backdrop, enterprises changed how they worked, what they sold, how they monetized, why they existed, and who they worked with.
Analyst Blog
Annual List of Hits and Misses Recognize the Innovators and Disruptors Across Enterprise Technology PALO ALTO, Calif. – January 12, 2022 – Adobe has been singled out as the Enterprise Software Vendor of the Year in Constellation Research’s annual 2021 Enterprise Awards. The distinguished list of technology hits and misses was announced today highlighting the best accomplishments and biggest mishaps from the past year. This is the third annual release of the Enterprise Awards, decided solely by Constellation Research’s industry analysts and experts.
Press Release
Bottom Line: Professional services (PS) organizations need to close the gaps in their CPQ selling strategies to win more deals, capture more revenue and protect margins from ongoing price pressure.
Why Services CPQ Is Too Slow Today
Analyst Blog
Navigating the Future of Operations, Innovation, and Digital Transformation | DisrupTV Ep. 262
In DisrupTV Episode 262, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar engage with three thought leaders to discuss the changing dynamics of operations, innovation, and digital transformation:
Video
This blog is based on a new Constellation Research report Preparing for the New Age of Cloud Security, Dec 7, 2021, by Liz Miller and me,
Analyst Blog
On CRTV Episode 24, Constellation analysts Liz Miller and Holger Mueller close out the year with news updates & interviews with Steve Forcum of Avaya and Sridhar Vembu of Zoho.
Video
Monday's Musings: Prepping for Digital Transformation In ERP rwang0 Mon, 01/03/2022 - 00:00
Market Forces And Modernization Drive Digital Transformation Initiatives In ERP
Enterprises must navigate the constant demand for change and the growing pressures for transformation. Existing ERP systems designed for the last century meet post-pandemic requirements built on agility and decentralization. A perfect storm emerges for ERP modernization. Consequently, digital transformation and modernization of existing ERPs provide leaders with opportunities to:
Unlock opportunities for growth and differentiation. The pandemic has show how digital channels must connect with digital business models and new monetization methods. Digital transformation also enables differentiated service offerings and improved value exchange with stakeholders.
Optimize operations. Connected services and supply chains can be optimized with analytics, automation, and AI. Every business process will be evaluated to determine how to fully automate, augment the machine with a human, augment the human with a machine, and introduce a human touch. Process optimization meets reduced errors and greater efficiency.
Mitigate risk. New approaches to digital transformation allow the creation of business graphs. Decisions made over time evolve into a knowledge graph which helps identity, mitigate, and prevent risks to the organization.
Drive sustainability. New approaches will improve the measuring and management of sustainability reporting. The capturing of this information over time will provide the foundation for end to end monitoring of ESGs.
Design With The End In Mind
Success will require a technology strategy that anticipates needs in the future and understands why every design must be built for continuous change and adaptation. ERP systems must support a future of analytics, automation, and AI. If anything, the Great Refactoring impacts the future of ERP. Design criteria must include attributes such as resiliency, continuous integration footprints, and cloud based analytics in real-time. Leaders should consider:
Work backwards. Define the future state and how the organization will achieve these goals. Digital transformation requires form following function. Hence, requirements must be defined. Outcomes must be specified. Once the design has been established, modernization plans can begin.
Take a technology platform approach. ERP modernization must be driven by a multi-sided platform approach. Future network models support a wide range of interactions among stakeholders such as customers, partners, suppliers, and employees. These platforms must be automated and support greater resiliency.
Address new security realities. How data is acquired, stored, updated, managed, and removed must be considered from both a privacy and a security perspective. Data encryption and security models must be designed with the highest level of safety.
The Bottom Line: Get Ready For The Great Refactoring
Massive changes in purchasing behavior, supply chain disruptions, inflation, new regulatory onslaught, and shifting work-life priorities all create a backdrop for a great refactoring ahead. These pressures will test existing legacy systems and create business and technology opportunities for upgrades. The move to the right ERP platform will mitigate future risk and create growth opportunities for leaders who proactively design, build, manage, and operate a path forward for Digital Transformation and ERP modernization.
Your POV
Are you ready to modernize your ERP? Do you have a digital transformation agenda that needs to address the Great Refactoring?
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 quantum 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
Leading with Purpose: Sustainability & Business Innovation | DisrupTV Ep. 261
In DisrupTV Episode 261, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar sit down with three trailblazers who fuse purpose and sustainability with strategic leadership:
Video
Premium Research
At a Glance
Ultimately, this month's substantial Amazon outage will be seen as a watershed event in the evolution of the cloud. The outage itself was just the right kind -- due to its length, breadth, and visibility -- that will ensure it that will have substantial, long term ramifications for how businesses rely on a single cloud provider going forward.
Analyst Blog
Customer experience is a funny thing. Organizations can dream up any number of amazing, captivating, creative and “delightful” moments in time. We can map and track how these moments are delivered through an increasingly expansive network of digital and traditional engagement channels. We can orchestrate how a series of moments can string together into robust journeys across which our customers can turn and weave at their own speed. We can dream and do a LOT of things. We just can’t “control” or “manage” a customer’s experience.
Analyst Blog
AWS always used to come across as a landing place to attract the digital innovators to experiment, innovate and then productionize. They always had a good story at re:Invent attracting the bleeding edge innovators. This time I felt they missed that beat a little. Overall, it came across as less innovative and more incremental to what they already have. No earth-shattering new initiatives that blew me away. It could be because they wanted to play it safe with the change at the helm. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Analyst Blog
Innovation, Ethics & Future-Ready Strategy | DisrupTV Ep. 260
In DisrupTV Episode 260, hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar convene a powerhouse panel to explore themes of innovation, adaptability, ethics, and strategy:
Video
Achieve Reliable Observability: Bolster Cloud-Native Observability
Modified and updated from an originally published article in DevOps.com on March 30, 2021
Analyst Blog
It has been quiet on the global payroll front in general – the biggest news of the year has been incremental addition of countries by practically all major global HCM vendors (see here for the Market Overview).
The faster path – basically not playing the country-by-country monopoly game – is an acquisition - and that is what Ceridian just has done, with the acquisition of ADAM HCM. Let’s dissect the press release in my custom style, it can be found here.
Analyst Blog