Comments on: Platform Power http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/ New Rules for a New IT World Wed, 25 Aug 2010 01:35:21 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-60026 IT|Redux Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:55:10 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-60026 [...] As mentioned in this past article, Salesforce.com is trying to build a platform, and as such must lower any possible barrier to adoption, especially when trying to get developers on board. Apex and AppSpace are directly targeted at developers, yet the pricing defined for AppSpace makes it look like its actually targeted at the business user who selected Salesforce.com at first place — a Vice President of Sales usually. This might work for Salesforce.com’s larger customers, but for smaller users like myself, it just does not. Note to Marc: please revise your pricing. [...] […] As mentioned in this past article, Salesforce.com is trying to build a platform, and as such must lower any possible barrier to adoption, especially when trying to get developers on board. Apex and AppSpace are directly targeted at developers, yet the pricing defined for AppSpace makes it look like its actually targeted at the business user who selected Salesforce.com at first place — a Vice President of Sales usually. This might work for Salesforce.com’s larger customers, but for smaller users like myself, it just does not. Note to Marc: please revise your pricing. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-52183 IT|Redux Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:12:53 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-52183 [...] Personal Favorites Currently, I am using Koral on a daily basis, and its integration with Salesforce.com was one of the primary motivations for migrating back to this platform. I am also using EchoSign for getting all my contract signed, and I am in the process of choosing between Blinksale and FreshBooks for managing all invoices related to the next edition of the Office 2.0 Conference. [...] […] Personal Favorites Currently, I am using Koral on a daily basis, and its integration with Salesforce.com was one of the primary motivations for migrating back to this platform. I am also using EchoSign for getting all my contract signed, and I am in the process of choosing between Blinksale and FreshBooks for managing all invoices related to the next edition of the Office 2.0 Conference. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-49839 IT|Redux Fri, 23 Feb 2007 00:39:51 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-49839 [...] What is more surprising is that access to 3rd party applications and services is limited to the premier edition. Personally, I think it’s a mistake. Google is trying to build a platform with Google Apps, and the success of a platform is measured by its adoption by developers of 3rd party applications, as discussed in this earlier article. Problem is, developers won’t adopt your platform if they cannot get access to a large community of users. This catch 22 is a very challenging one to get out of, and the only way to solve it is to lower all possible barriers to adoption. This is something that Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com understood very well, and the reason why all Salesforce.com users get access to the vast majority of applications currently offered on the AppExchange, irrespectively of the edition they subscribe to. My advice to Google would be the following: open up your platform to all developers and all users, and share some of your premier services, such as billing and user provisioning, with 3rd party developers. Doing so, you will encourage developers to adopt your platform, and you might even be able to get a cut of their business with your premier customers. [...] […] What is more surprising is that access to 3rd party applications and services is limited to the premier edition. Personally, I think it’s a mistake. Google is trying to build a platform with Google Apps, and the success of a platform is measured by its adoption by developers of 3rd party applications, as discussed in this earlier article. Problem is, developers won’t adopt your platform if they cannot get access to a large community of users. This catch 22 is a very challenging one to get out of, and the only way to solve it is to lower all possible barriers to adoption. This is something that Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com understood very well, and the reason why all Salesforce.com users get access to the vast majority of applications currently offered on the AppExchange, irrespectively of the edition they subscribe to. My advice to Google would be the following: open up your platform to all developers and all users, and share some of your premier services, such as billing and user provisioning, with 3rd party developers. Doing so, you will encourage developers to adopt your platform, and you might even be able to get a cut of their business with your premier customers. […]

]]> By: IT|Redux http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-49169 IT|Redux Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:19:05 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-49169 [...] Alternatives The most basic alternative to an online desktop is simply to use browser tabs, which allows you to open multiple applications all at once. Now that tabs are supported by Internet Explorer, this alternative is available to almost everybody. Another approach is to use what some call a web operating system, suchy as goowy or Zoho Virtual Office. Yet another is to use an online CRM application. As suggested in this previous article, a good CRM application such as Salesforce.com is a very powerful platform that can be used to integrate multiple online services in a data-oriented and workflow-driven way. Finally, if you’re looking for a simple way to aggregate multiple types of content, such as emails and feeds, a simple configuration of your email reader might do the trick—many Gmail users read their feeds directly from Gmail, instead of using a feed reader like Google Reader. [...] […] Alternatives The most basic alternative to an online desktop is simply to use browser tabs, which allows you to open multiple applications all at once. Now that tabs are supported by Internet Explorer, this alternative is available to almost everybody. Another approach is to use what some call a web operating system, suchy as goowy or Zoho Virtual Office. Yet another is to use an online CRM application. As suggested in this previous article, a good CRM application such as Salesforce.com is a very powerful platform that can be used to integrate multiple online services in a data-oriented and workflow-driven way. Finally, if you’re looking for a simple way to aggregate multiple types of content, such as emails and feeds, a simple configuration of your email reader might do the trick—many Gmail users read their feeds directly from Gmail, instead of using a feed reader like Google Reader. […]

]]> By: Francis Ip http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47896 Francis Ip Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:50:58 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47896 Jorge & Ismael, History repeats itself. When a vendor grows to a critical mass, it believes that it can dictate what customers must do. IBM did it many times over in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. For instance, IBM sold its Federal Division and Vertical Market Segment Groups (Hospital, Petroleum, etc.) in the late 80's and early 90's. I met Account Representatives and System Engineers from several IBM groups over the years. They were so arrogant that they told their customers to go IBM's way, or no way. The best example was a National Support SE from IBM telling a Telephone Switch Engineer that the telephone switches must comply with IBM's SDLC, which is a proprietary protocol, not an ISO standard. It sounds like that Salesforce.com is travelling down the same route as IBM did. In other words, you use the APEX scripting language, or else... Your choice! Best regards -Francis Jorge & Ismael,

History repeats itself. When a vendor grows to a critical mass, it believes that it can dictate what customers must do. IBM did it many times over in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. For instance, IBM sold its Federal Division and Vertical Market Segment Groups (Hospital, Petroleum, etc.) in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I met Account Representatives and System Engineers from several IBM groups over the years. They were so arrogant that they told their customers to go IBM’s way, or no way. The best example was a National Support SE from IBM telling a Telephone Switch Engineer that the telephone switches must comply with IBM’s SDLC, which is a proprietary protocol, not an ISO standard. It sounds like that Salesforce.com is travelling down the same route as IBM did. In other words, you use the APEX scripting language, or else… Your choice!

Best regards
 -Francis

]]> By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47417 Ismael Ghalimi Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:43:04 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47417 Jorge, You're making some very valid points. I also was disappointed that Salesforce.com did not adopt a standard language such as Java, JavaScript, or PHP to build custom business logic. I believe that it would have made the platform a lot more attractive to many more developers. Best regards -Ismael Jorge,

You’re making some very valid points. I also was disappointed that Salesforce.com did not adopt a standard language such as Java, JavaScript, or PHP to build custom business logic. I believe that it would have made the platform a lot more attractive to many more developers.

Best regards
 -Ismael

]]> By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47416 Ismael Ghalimi Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:39:01 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47416 Jason, You're right, Salesforce.com is not exactly cheap, but they changed their pricing model a bit, and cheaper editions now support custom objects, which makes it a lot more competitive on that front. Also, I am using Salesforce.com as a single user. If I had to pay for more accounts, my decision might have been different. That being said, we are also using it at <a href="http://www.intalio.com/" rel="nofollow">Intalio</a> for 10 accounts, and we are planning on adding more later this year. Expensive, but worth every penny as far as I am concerned. Best regards -Ismael Jason,

You’re right, Salesforce.com is not exactly cheap, but they changed their pricing model a bit, and cheaper editions now support custom objects, which makes it a lot more competitive on that front. Also, I am using Salesforce.com as a single user. If I had to pay for more accounts, my decision might have been different. That being said, we are also using it at Intalio for 10 accounts, and we are planning on adding more later this year. Expensive, but worth every penny as far as I am concerned.

Best regards
 -Ismael

]]> By: Jorge Fanny http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47407 Jorge Fanny Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:13:52 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47407 Yes, I've looked at Coghead in the past, but from my understanding they are more aligned with the do-it-yourself model, and not really focused on enterprise grade applications. We are interested in building a true enterprise application to be delivered as a service, but are trying to avoid having to worry about the SaaS intricacies that some of the SaaS platform players promise to deliver (multi-tenancy, scalability, etc.). Our biggest problem with Salesforce.com is vendor lock-in. Not only from the hosting perspective, but we would be required to develop the applications using their Apex language, which for us is unacceptable. We wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any of our in-house skills, and we would have to spend time and money training our developers on their language; not to mention that if we are not satisfied with their service for whatever reason, we would have to start writing the applications again from scratch, as the code would not be portable. They definitely have a compelling product when it comes to CRM, but as far as their platform offering is concerned, we are not sold yet. Thanks again -Jorge Yes,

I’ve looked at Coghead in the past, but from my understanding they are more aligned with the do-it-yourself model, and not really focused on enterprise grade applications.

We are interested in building a true enterprise application to be delivered as a service, but are trying to avoid having to worry about the SaaS intricacies that some of the SaaS platform players promise to deliver (multi-tenancy, scalability, etc.).

Our biggest problem with Salesforce.com is vendor lock-in. Not only from the hosting perspective, but we would be required to develop the applications using their Apex language, which for us is unacceptable. We wouldn’t be able to take advantage of any of our in-house skills, and we would have to spend time and money training our developers on their language; not to mention that if we are not satisfied with their service for whatever reason, we would have to start writing the applications again from scratch, as the code would not be portable.

They definitely have a compelling product when it comes to CRM, but as far as their platform offering is concerned, we are not sold yet.

Thanks again
 -Jorge

]]> By: Jason M. Lemkin http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47406 Jason M. Lemkin Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:02:13 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47406 It was interesting to me that you never mentioned price. Many Office 2.0 companies are trying to produce versions of X that is Y% cheaper (or free). Yet Salesforce.com is materially more expensive than Sugar, and I'm guessing you went with the Enterprise Edition. The value was enough that the price issue didn't rise high enough to get mentioned in the piece... It was interesting to me that you never mentioned price. Many Office 2.0 companies are trying to produce versions of X that is Y% cheaper (or free). Yet Salesforce.com is materially more expensive than Sugar, and I’m guessing you went with the Enterprise Edition. The value was enough that the price issue didn’t rise high enough to get mentioned in the piece…

]]> By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47394 Ismael Ghalimi Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:48:27 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47394 Jorge, Thanks! Also, have you looked at <a href="http://www.coghead.com/" rel="nofollow">Coghead</a>? Jorge,

Thanks! Also, have you looked at Coghead?

]]> By: Jorge Fanny http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47393 Jorge Fanny Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:46:26 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47393 Ismael, I agree, I've signed up for their Beta, and I'm also waiting to hear back from them. I've contacted them, and I got to chat with Sinclair about their technology, and some of the things that it promises to do. Unfortunately I haven't seen a full demo, but I can't wait to try it out, as our needs won't be satisfied with what Salesforce.com offers, and Apprenda seems to offer what we are looking for. I'll let you know once I get the real scoop. Thanks for your thoughts -Jorge Ismael,

I agree, I’ve signed up for their Beta, and I’m also waiting to hear back from them. I’ve contacted them, and I got to chat with Sinclair about their technology, and some of the things that it promises to do.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen a full demo, but I can’t wait to try it out, as our needs won’t be satisfied with what Salesforce.com offers, and Apprenda seems to offer what we are looking for. I’ll let you know once I get the real scoop.

Thanks for your thoughts

-Jorge

]]> By: Ismael Ghalimi http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47384 Ismael Ghalimi Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:11:43 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47384 Jorge, I've looked at them a month ago, signed up for the Beta, but have yet to heard back from them. They're making bold claims, but I want to play with it before expressing any opinion. What they are after is not easy, so it will be interesting to see what they can pull off. Best regards -Ismael Jorge,

I’ve looked at them a month ago, signed up for the Beta, but have yet to heard back from them. They’re making bold claims, but I want to play with it before expressing any opinion. What they are after is not easy, so it will be interesting to see what they can pull off.

Best regards
 -Ismael

]]> By: Jorge Fanny http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47330 Jorge Fanny Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:25:25 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47330 Hi Ismael, Interesting that you mention the platform concept. It's hard to go more than a few hours these days without hearing about SaaS platforms or ecosystems. I've been keeping a close eye on these guys at <a href="http://www.apprenda.com">Apprenda</a> as they promise something truly revolutionary, and I'm looking forward to evaluate the platform myself. I'd love to hear what you think of them. Thanks - Jorge Hi Ismael,

Interesting that you mention the platform concept. It’s hard to go more than a few hours these days without hearing about SaaS platforms or ecosystems. I’ve been keeping a close eye on these guys at Apprenda as they promise something truly revolutionary, and I’m looking forward to evaluate the platform myself.

I’d love to hear what you think of them.

Thanks
- Jorge

]]> By: gokubi.com http://itredux.com/2007/02/15/platform-power/comment-page-1/#comment-47178 gokubi.com Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:38:35 +0000 http://itredux.com/blog/2007/02/15/platform-power/#comment-47178 [...] Deep thinker Ismael Ghalimi has done insanely detailed and thoughtful... [...] […] Deep thinker Ismael Ghalimi has done insanely detailed and thoughtful… […]

]]>