Dennis Howlett analyzing the issues faced by senior business practitioners who work with enterprise software.
Dennis Howlett is a 40 year veteran in enterprise IT, working with companies large and small across many industries. He endeavors to inform buyers in a no-nonsense manner and spares no vendor that comes under his microscope.
One of the niggling questions about SAP's Business ByDesign is just how the heck it is going to reach the numbers it says it wants to achieve. 10,000 new customers a year by 2010, many coming from this market, is ambitious.
The most disappointing aspect of SAPs Business ByDesign launch was the boring interface and lack of AJAX. For several of us, this was an opportunity missed.
As social computing technologies start to make their presence felt in larger enterprises, the ROI question looms large in people's minds. Or rather the CFOs mind.
One of the presumptions about SAPs entry to the mid-market on-demand scene with Business ByDesign is that NetSuite will benefit from the halo effect. I'm not so sure.
A 'first looks' piece about the UK edition of QuickBooks 2008 on the UKs AccountingWeb site has drawn a succession of criticisms and a huge raspberry from professional advisors who are key influencers in the UKs SMB accounting market. Upgrades are seen as potentially tortuous and pricing comes in for criticism, one commenter said:As a user of QuickBooks for the last 14 years and as a QuickBooks Professional Advisor, I have recently received my copy of QuickBooks Accountant 2008 from Intuit.
As the excitement around Business ByDesign dies down, the questions start flowing. While at the event, Brian Sommer and Charlie Wood asked Leo Apotheker two of the most intriguing questions centering on the partnering opportunity.
After a long day and intense series of discussions with SAP executives, the Enterprise Irregulars parsed immediate impressions of Business ByDesign. The general mood was one of quiet approval for a product set that is, as the company claims, a complete on-demand offering.
During the launch of Business ByDesign, SAP said that it expects to achieve a run rate of adding 10,000 BBD customers a year by 2010. This raised questions about whether SAP will reach its previously stated target of 100,000 customers by 2010.
On the one hand, SAP is readying itself for a volume play, looking to ramp up to 'thousands of customers.' On on the other hand, Henning Kagermann is not promising investors Web 2.0 style viral sales miracles. Viewed from an investment analyst position, nothing could be worse
Sage, the UK's largest independent software vendor has become the subject of takeover speculation. Last week, rumors were swirling that Sage was being courted by Infosys.