MSPmentor

A few weeks ago I noted that Salesforce.com plans to make a major announcement on April 14. I wasn’t sure what the news was, but there are growing indications that it includes Salesforce.com gaining closer hooks to Google Apps. If true, this could be a defining moment for the software as a service industry. Read More >

Salesforce.com  delivered the goods today. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company announced particularly strong quarterly profits and raised its rest-of-year financial guidance. That’s great news for SaaS and its close cousin, managed services. But let’s not get too giddy.

I told readers a few weeks ago to get ready for SalesForce.com’s results. After all, the company is a true bell weather for the SaaS industry. In its latest quarter, Salesforce.com’s revenue grew 50.4 percent to $216.9 million and net income rose to $7.4 million from about $500,000 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Still, let’s keep things in perspective: Assuming all of today’s SaaS and managed services companies will thrive in 2008 is akin to expecting all PC companies to thrive in the early 1980s. Yes, it’s great to compete in growing, dynamic markets. But long-term tech success requires great business execution, regardless of your core market.

Some pundits say managed services will become a commodity. I disagree. Managed services are not a single technology. Rather, managed service provider (MSP) platforms are a way to continually deliver new solutions to customers.

Think of it this way: As one managed service matures (for instance, managed storage) a new managed service will emerge (for instance, video surveillance). In order to show this visually, let’s take a look at Gartner’s famed Hype Cycle chart.

Now stick with me, and I’l quickly explain how I see the MSP market evolving.

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Sometimes, managed service providers ignore deep, informative, free information about their industry and the overall economy. One of the easiest ways to gather valuable information is to listen to investor conference calls. As a case in point: Salesforce.com is scheduled to announce quarterly results on February 28. The news will surely give Wall Street — and solutions providers — a much-needed software-as-a-service (SaaS) reality check. Read More >

Generally speaking, software as a service (SaaS) is a great business model for tech companies and their customers. But a flood of press coverage has suggested that SaaS specialists are immune to an economic slowdown or recession.

Once again, MSPmentor wants to go on the record stating that this just isn’t true. The latest example: RightNow, a leading SaaS provider, has delivered a disappointing financial forecast. Here’s a quick look at the situation at RightNow, and some big-picture thoughts on SaaS. Read More >

Talk about a short honeymoon on Wall Street. When NetSuite, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) darling, went public a few weeks ago the stock skyrocketed. Now, Citi is telling investors to sell the stock. So what’s behind Citi’s recommendation? Read More >

Can software as a service (SaaS) and managed services keep you afloat during a sinking economy? That continues to be the buzz on Wall Street and across the blogosphere. I’m not predicting a recession — I’ve always been a glass-half-full type of guy — and I also don’t want to hype SaaS and managed services as a cure-all for economic wounds. With all of those caveats in mind, I do believe solutions providers should focus on SaaS, managed services and open source as their three cornerstones in 2008. Here’s why. Read More >

During the dot-com boom, I received weekly pitches from Jamcracker — one of the leading “e-services” companies of the time. Like so many other companies, Jamcracker imploded when the dot-com boom went bust. But now the company is back, this time emphasizing software as a service (SaaS) opportunities and evangelizing Cisco’s WebEx collaboration platform to partners.

Are Jamcracker and WebEx a winning combo for managed service providers? It’s too early to say, but here are a few interesting tidbits about Jamcracker’s strategy. Read More >