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- ZDNet Author Biography
Brian is in a unique position to diagnosis the winners and the losers in technology and services. He was the longest running (10 years) and most senior director of Andersen Consulting's (now Accenture's) global Software Intelligence unit -...- more about Brian Sommer »
ZDNet Resources
- Cloud-to-Cloud Integration - Another Big ERP Challenge!
- NetSuite's new Open Connect integration should make ERP buyers and vendors re-think interfaces and integration across application suites. Everyone needs to re-think what cloud-to-cloud integration, in multi-tenant apps, really means. by Brian Sommer
- Tags: ERP, Integration, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Software, Software, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-28
- Sustainability: Hard for business, harder for ERP vendors
- ERP vendors don't get sustainability. They think it's about collecting all of a user's electric and gas bills to determine their carbon footprint. They think it's a reporting exercise. If they can develop a spreadsheet with more rows and columns than the next ERP vendor, then they have achieved some...
- Tags: Sustainability, ERP Vendor, ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Software, Software, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-22
- CEO Interview: Meridian Systems' John Bodrozic on the construction front
- I recently spoke with John Bodrozic, President and co-founder of Meridian Systems, which sells a number of solutions in the project portfolio management and infrastructure lifecycle management space. by Brian Sommer
- Tags: Project Portfolio Management, Project Management, Tools & Techniques, It Operations, It service Management, Management, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-22
- Demand this from software vendors
- I was getting a briefing last week from a software executive. We got to a point in the conversation where the discussion was focusing on existing products. I moved the conversation to a different space, though. If you're getting a pitch from a vendor, you should move the conversation, too!...
- Tags: Software, Vendor, Customer, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Tools & Techniques, Sales, Management, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-20
- Future ERP
- Brian Sommer's provocative post that juxtaposes SAP's technology thinking around the 'old' and 'new' worlds provides insights into something SAP was talking about last year - the two speed world of ERP. At the back end there is still plenty to do, hardening applications, winkling out recurring bugs...
- Tags: Innovation, Salesforce.com Inc., Financial, SAP AG, ERP, Brian Sommer, Brian, S-curve, Cloud Infrastructure, BRP, Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Enterprise Software, Hardware, Software, Dennis Howlett
- Blog posts 2009-10-19
- Two Views of the Software Market
- A Bridge Too Far? In a blogger briefing this week at SAP’s TechEd, SAP CTO, Vishal Sikka, drew a chart of the application software market and what new areas of technology are of interest to the firm. I’ve tried to reproduce his freehand drawing into the following...
- Tags: ERP, Vishal Sikka, S-curve, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Software, Software, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-16
- Customer Intimacy wins in SAP SI's and Channel Partners
- Yesterday, several bloggers at the SAP TechEd conference in Phoenix had an opportunity to speak with Zia Yusuf, EVP, Global Ecosystem & Partner Group of SAP. I asked Zia what characteristics typify the best SAP partners. He rattled off five qualities that the best systems integrators and...
- Tags: Customer, SAP AG, Firm, Channel Partner, Business Services, Strategy, Supply Chain, Product Development, Management, Business Operations, Research & Development, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-14
- What we may/may not hear @ Oracle Open World this week
- Watch for movement on these matters Last night, Oracle’s annual mega event, Oracle Open World, opened. This event draws some 37,000 people to San Francisco to hear, see and speak all things Oracle. With the keynotes starting in mere minutes, I thought I’d offer up my thoughts...
- Tags: Probability, Oracle Corp., MySQL, Sun Microsystems Inc., Oracle Open World, Software As A Service (SaaS), Databases, Managed Hosting, Open Source, Emerging Technologies, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-12
- SMART Selling in the SaaS world
- What we all could learn from Sonar6 Post #3 from the HR Technology show SaaS software as a service is supposed to cost less. At least that’s what all the vendors tell me. It’s also supposed to be easier to use and easier to...
- Tags: Software-as-a-service, Katherine Jones, Software As A Service (SaaS), Managed Hosting, Cloud Computing, Sales Strategy, Emerging Technologies, Sales, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-09
- Selling that Technology: Functions, Features & Fools
- We got a lot of pitches from technology companies at the recent HR Technology show in Chicago. Each of us asked vendors “What are the top 3 things we should remember about your firm?†and often we were met with blank stares; a litany of functions and features; or, that...
- Tags: Function, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-08
- Two Perspectives of the HR Technology show
- Some positive surprises - strong attendance Last week, Dr. Katherine Jones and I attended the HR Technology show. Katherine is one the best known HR analysts out there and covered the space for Aberdeen Group for a number of years. Together, we sat down with 21...
- Tags: Human Resources Inc., Katherine, Herewith, HR Tech, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-07
- Novel/Inadvertent way to promote a tech conference
- Gremlins can sometimes be good Yesterday, gremlins either stomped my blog page or they laid waste to a ZDNet advertiser see below. [caption id="attachment_650" align="alignnone" width="462" caption="An Ad I Actually Read"][/caption] I remember some old Marketing sage telling me in college...
- Tags: Advertisement, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-06
- The troubling thoughts re: outsourcing
- Watch this space for future problems! There’s a lot going on in the outsourcing world lately. Things like: - Perot Data Systems being acquired by Dell - ACS getting bought by Xerox Add to these deals,...
- Tags: Solution, BPO, Outsourcing Company, Customer, BPO Deal, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Outsourcing, It Services, Managed Hosting, It Operations, Business Operations, Outsourcing & Subcontracting, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-10-05
- Perks for all workers: remote/metro, small/large firms, etc.
- Leveling the playing field for workers' perks I’m on the board of a firm with operations throughout the United States. About half of their workforce and plants are in major metropolitan areas while the other half are in some pretty remote areas. Management is challenged to find...
- Tags: Employee, Worker, Next Jump, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-25
- Shouldnââ¬â¢t services firms have their own ERP?
- I caught up this week with Morris Panner, CEO of OpenAir now part of NetSuite. One aspect of our wide-ranging conversation concerned the continuing evolution of businesses, the economy, etc. towards a greater services orientation. Drawing on that, we discussed how services firms need their own version of ERP. ...
- Tags: Staffing, ERP, Services Firm, Service Firm, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Sales Strategy, Enterprise Software, Software, Sales, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-25
- JobVite's new thing: sourcing passive candidates
- I recently wrote about JobVite and how it permits employers to tap into the social networks of its employees to find quality recruits. JobVite permits employers to create eVites that employees, colleagues, etc. can pass around via email or publish to social networks like Facebook. It must be working as...
- Tags: Sourcing, Network, JobVite, Purchasing & Procurement, Social Networking, Strategy, Business Operations, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Management, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-24
- Dell and Perot: What this means
- Look at more than the upside to any acquisition Dell and Perot are getting married. This acquisition puts approximately 23,000 Perot services employees in with Dell. (see Larry Dignan's detailed post on the transaction ) (here's an InfoWorld post, too) From the macro view,...
- Tags: Acquisition, Dell Computer Corp., Perot, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Law, Investment, Finance, Business Operations, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-21
- Interview with Microsoftââ¬â¢s Seth Patton
- More from the Project Conference Seth Patton is the senior marketing director for Microsoft Project. I got thirty minutes alone with Seth at the Microsoft Project Conference 2009 show this afternoon. We discussed several topics impacting the PSA professional services automation and PPM...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., PPM, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-16
- More on Microsoft Project 2010
- The Completeness of the PPM Solution Grows (More from the Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix) As the demonstrations of Project 2010 continue, I noted the following: 1) Microsoft has added a lot of functionality in its Resource Management and Time Entry...
- Tags: Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Corp., Capability, Collaboration, Content Management, Groupware, Microsoft Project, Team Management, Enterprise Software, Software, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Management, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-16
- Microsoftââ¬â¢s Project 2010
- The conference announcements so far... I just watched Microsoft executives demonstrate the upcoming Project 2010 product here in Phoenix at the Project Conference 2009. Here are my first blush comments/observations: 1) The product has matured significantly as a PPM solution....
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., PPM, Portfolio Management Function, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, Brian Sommer
- Blog posts 2009-09-16
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