SAP and Enterprise 3.0

Over numerous articles in the past, I have talked about some emerging players, which are redefining the enterprise software landscape. These players are working on cutting-edge applications, which bring vital, but non-core entities like vendors, suppliers, and even customers within the folds of the enterprise. And these applications are being delivered on-demand without the baggage of legacy systems or lengthy and cumbersome implementation phases.

Any evaluation of key players in the Extended Enterprise and on-demand trends will be incomplete without analyzing the leaders in enterprise applications—SAP and Oracle. In this piece, we look at the former. >>>

Featured Videos

Citrix: Acquisition Target for SAP, Oracle

I have recently written several pieces on the Enterprise 3.0 and the Extended Enterprise trend. In this article, I am going to cover a company that aligns well with the trends of collaboration and the Extended Enterprise, a space that has really heated up of late, following Cisco’s acquisition of Webex.

Today, businesses are no longer limited to one location or office. Employees need to access data while on the move or even while working from home. More and more work is being outsourced and there is a need to share and access data and applications throughout the extended e(n/x)terprise. >>>

Taleo and the Extended Enterprise

I have written several pieces on the Enterprise 3.0 and the Extended Enterprise trends. In this article, I am going to cover a company that aligns the Extended Enterprise phenomenon with its Talent Management services.

(Nasdaq: TLEO) is a leading provider of on-demand (SaaS) solutions for talent management. It helps organizations align talent management with their business objectives. Candidates are also notified in real-time whenever a position is available that matches their skills. Taleo essentially brings candidates, hiring managers, and recruiters together across the walls of the enterprise, a characteristic of the Extended Enterprise trend. >>>

SaaS: RightNow & the Extended Enterprise

I have written several pieces on the Enterprise 3.0 and the Extended Enterprise trend, covering aspects like Collaboration, CRM and PLM. While Salesforce.com is the undisputed leader in OnDemand CRM, Rightnow is attempting to become a challenger in the space.

RightNow Technologies (RNOW) provides on-demand customer service solutions. It has won many awards for its quality products including CRM magazine’s Service Leader in 2005, 2006, and 2007 as well as SearchCRM.com’s 2006 Product of the Year awards for Sales Force Automation in the Enterprise and Hosted Call Center.

RightNow has a host of CRM services designed to provide a rich customer experience. These include RightNow Sales, Retail, Service, and Marketing. Through these services, it provides each integral part of the CRM workflow with need-based access to relevant system data. Sales, Marketing, Customer Support Representatives are often outside the firewall. Call Centers are often outsourced. I therefore believe that RightNow aligns well with the Extended Enterprise trend. Its move to reinvent itself in the OnDemand, Software-as-a-Service mode will likely pay-off in the next 2 years. >>>

Concur Set to Conquer Enterprise Travel

I have written a few framework articles recently, defining Web 3.0 and Enterprise 3.0. In this article, I am going to cover a company that touches on these concepts, and aligns with the trends of where the Internet is heading.

Concur Technologies (Nasdaq: CNQR) is an on-demand, Software-as-a-Service SaaS provider that brings together travel and expense management for employees of an enterprise. It basically provides a system to reimburse employees’ expenses as well as pay invoices from vendors. Through the Concur Vendor Payment system, vendors can access a web-based platform to submit their invoices.

Another popular solution from the company is Cliqbook, a travel expense management solution.

Let me take you through this service through a scenario. >>>

Saas: Omniture and the Extended Enterprise

Omniture (OMTR) provides on-demand (SaaS) Web analytics solutions that if used effectively can be seen catering to the Enterprise 3.0 trend we discussed earlier.

It provides online business optimization software that can help capture, analyze, and manage data about marketing and sales in businesses that have both offline and online retail stores. Consider this scenario. A customer finds something of interest on an online store and buys it at their brick and mortar store. So the offline and online channels of a store are not independent.

As the boundaries between begin to blur, businesses find it important to measure and analyze cross-channel buying behavior. Omniture provides the analytics on data about customers across different channels. They help in providing this data across all levels in the organization so that informed decisions could be taken about marketing, pricing, product development, supply chain and inventory management. >>>