Insights for IT Negotiations

Claims that Oracle has misrepresented the nature of some of their cloud sales over the number of years has prompted lawsuits from shareholders. Some of these cloud deals weren’t all brought on by customer demand but instead by duress. In using their audit levers for on-premise licenses, Oracle would offer sweetheart deals to settle their audit claims so long as clients were willing to purchase cloud services even if those cloud services were not needed. UpperEdge’s Oracle Advisory Leader, Jeff Lazarto, highlights events around this case and Oracle’s cloud performance. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3A3vtGZ

In addition to Salesforce reporting its Q4 and full year FY20 earnings, they also announced that they are acquiring Vlocity for $1.3B and that their co-CEO, Keith Block is stepping down. This surprising leadership change could have major implications and raises many questions. Where will Keith Block go next? Will Salesforce alter the way they do business with Marc Benioff going back to the sole CEO?  In this podcast, practice leader, Adam Mansfield shares his perspective on this big news and discusses what it means for Salesforce customers moving forward. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV

In its first earnings announcement since Sundar Pichai took over as CEO, Alphabet broke out both Google Cloud revenue (which includes GCP as well as G Suite revenue) and revenue from YouTube advertising for the first time. Though this is more transparency than we've seen in the past from them, they still refrained from disclosing the revenue tied specifically to GCP and G Suite. They also did not provide more granular details such as their total number of commercial users of G Suite. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares his thoughts on Alphabet's Q4 and full-year FY19 earnings and discusses what you can expect from Google in 2020 as they strive to show accelerated Google Cloud growth and close more large enterprise deals as they compete aggressively with Amazon (AWS) and Microsoft.

Ted Rogers, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, refers to a recent conversation he had with a Project Manager overseeing an application development project for his client. The conversation was a timely one coming on the heels of Ted's recent blog, 5 SOW Essentials to Make You Look Smart. From vendors to clients, it's extremely important to have a solid statement of work in order for all parties to agree upon the project deliverables and when those deliverables are due. Host: Ted Rogers: https://bit.ly/2V7h1z3 Project Execution Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3xlw9px Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2TO7cFl

Accenture recently announced that it is the first partner to achieve SAP-certified integration with SAP Model Company delivered through MyConcerto. Given their plan to deliver together in an integrated and single engagement, customers considering this model should take time to understand the partnership dynamics and how their integration will influence the relationship. In this podcast, Chip Hanna shares three points that customers should keep in mind before engaging SAP and/or Accenture and discusses how customers can take a proactive role in managing risk both commercially and from a scope perspective. Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3C6ovCR

Microsoft had yet another strong quarter, with commercial cloud (which includes Azure, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and commercial aspects of Linkedin) clearly being a key component of Microsoft's successful quarter and the driving force for their future success. Can Microsoft achieve its overarching goal to be known as the only truly comprehensive solution on the market that can enable the sweeping digitization that organizations are striving towards? In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, shares his perspective on this positive earnings call and reads between the lines to reveal the compelling sales pitch that enterprises need to brace themselves for now as their Microsoft relationships continue to evolve. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

ServiceNow reported outstanding Q4 FY19 numbers and growth, beating analyst estimates. New CEO, Bill McDermott's, confidence in ServiceNow was evident as he clearly laid out their key priorities and go-to-market strategy for scaling ServiceNow and ultimately achieving their lofty 2020 goals. Enterprises should prepare to be approached by an aggressive and highly motivated sales force with precise value propositions. UpperEdge's ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, uncovers the implications of this positive earnings call and highlights the most important numbers that enterprises need to be aware of. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ynVYq4

Larry Ellison is trumpeting the huge technological advantage Oracle has in the database market and how this is the only autonomous database in the world. On Oracle’s recent Q2 earnings call, Mr. Ellison elaborated on the Autonomous Database’s benefits and their go-to-market land and expand approach. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2Vvpvjm

Oracle has gone on record multiple times stating that Cloud ERP Applications and Autonomous Database are the two key product areas that will determine Oracle’s success. Larry Ellison has made some bold claims regarding both product categories. Jeff Lazarto discusses Oracle’s perspective of the Cloud ERP market and why they are claiming that they will eventually be the overwhelming winner in this generation of Cloud ERP. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ijctyn

Predicting what this year holds for current ServiceNow enterprise customers is a bit of a challenge with former SAP CEO, Bill McDermott, now at the helm. However, when considering the recent announcements ServiceNow has made and what we know about McDermott, we can see that there are some clear directions they will take and potential changes in store. Being able to anticipate the direction ServiceNow is headed and the potential changes the company may make will allow enterprises to better manage their go-forward relationship with ServiceNow. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares his predictions for what we can expect from ServiceNow in 2020 and ultimately what enterprise customers should start to prepare for now. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt