August 16th, 2009
In January 2009 IDC predicted that two powerful forces will collide in 2009 – a deep and protracted global recession, and an acceleration of hyperdisruptive transformation within the IT industry. Hyperdisruptive industry transformation will accelerate the move to “the Cloud”. Emerging markets and SMBs (predicted by IDC to outperform other markets by a wider margin than 2008) will increase their strategic importance to vendors, touching off a wild scramble (or, in the case of the Megafauna, a ponderous amble) for new feeding grounds.
Left unstated by IDC was precisely how the IT Megafauna, grown fat, aristocratic, arrogant and bureaucratic from many years of largely uncontested domination of the food-chain, will adapt to straightened circumstances and hard-scrabble feeding grounds, especially since those feeding grounds are already occupied by more nimble, lower-cost, regionally-attuned, price-sensitive, and hence more efficient, resilient and survivable operators. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cloud computing, cost cutting, emerging markets, ERP, global economic recession, Google, IBM, IDC, Microsoft, Oracle, SaaS, SAP, software-as-a-service
Posted in Accounting, Business, Economy, Technology | 2 Comments »
June 2nd, 2009
Recently Google, trying to get its channel for Google apps going, hit out at system integrators describing them as dinosaurs, old school and out of touch with real world customers.
Mountain View’s head of EMEA partners at Google Enterprise, Peter Lorant, was speaking at Channel Expo in Birmingham, said that “There’s going to be a full frontal assault on changing that with the new cloud-based paradigm, because you’ve got to focus on simplicity and the user.”
He added that many users loved the likes of Google Apps “because they totally rebel against this ivory tower that it has to be complex and you can’t do anything unless you call your IT administrator. “Cloud computing is more than a recession-proof offering – it’s a way of life,” he said, brushing aside Microsoft’s hefty enterprise marketshare.
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Tags: Blackberry, Cap Gemini, cloud computing, cloud-based platform, EMEA, Google, Google Apps, Google Docs, Linux, Linux Journal, Microsoft, Office 2010, Opensource, OxygenOffice, SaaS, software-as-a-service
Posted in Business, Economy, Technology | No Comments »
May 21st, 2009
From the heap of statistics coming out of every corner of research-dom, it’s good to see that the numbers for SaaS are holding and being confirmed daily.
For instance, last December Gartner made the audacious prediction that nine out of ten companies plan to grow their use of SaaS in the next year, and that more than one third of respondents (37%) plan to replace on-premises software with SaaS to drive down total cost of ownership (TCO).
Then in January, IDC found that:
- The harsh economic climate will actually accelerate the growth prospects for the software as a service (SaaS) model as vendors position offerings as right-sized, zero-CAPEX alternatives to on-premise applications.
- By the end of 2009, 76% of U.S. organizations will use at least one SaaS-delivered application for business use. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cloud computing, cost cutting, ERP, Gartner, global economic recession, Google, SaaS, software-as-a-service, Ubikwiti
Posted in Business, Economy | 1 Comment »
May 14th, 2009
China said that its exports nose-dived 22.6 percent in April from a year earlier, while the Philippines said that its exports in March were down 30.9 percent from a year earlier.
The unusually steep slump in global trade, confirmed by trade statistics announced on Tuesday is confirmed by rising unemployment in the world’s merchant shipping fleet.
More worrisome – the current level of trade does not suggest a recovery soon, many in the shipping business say.
“A lot of the orders for the retail season are being placed now, and compared to recent years, they are weak,” said Chris Woodward, the vice president for container services at Ryder System, the big logistics company.
The cost of shipping a 40-foot steel container full of merchandise from southern China to northern Europe tumbled from $1,400 plus fuel charges a year ago to as little as $150 early this year, before rebounding to around $300, which is still below the cost of providing the service, said Neil Dekker, a container industry forecaster at Drewry Shipping Consultants in London.
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Posted in Business, Economy | No Comments »
May 12th, 2009
Toyota Motor revealed a 766 billion yen (or $US7.7 billion) net loss for the March quarter, a loss that was bigger than General Motor’s $US5.9 billion reported on Thursday.
The Japanese giant also warned that it would remain deep in the red in the current financial year that started April 1 and ends March 31, 2010.
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Posted in Business, Economy | 1 Comment »
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