

Insights for IT Negotiations
UpperEdge
The world's most trusted IT negotiation advisors for innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation strategies
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 22, 2019 • 7min
What to Expect from former SAP CEO Bill McDermott as the New CEO of ServiceNow
Less than a month after his departure from SAP, it was announced that Bill McDermott will join ServiceNow by year-end 2019 as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. He is replacing John Donahoe who is leaving to become Nike’s new CEO. McDermott will now have the chance to lead a cloud-only software company where he will bring not only his years of industry experience but also a large rolodex of connections he has made within enterprises – a space that ServiceNow is trying to penetrate and expand within. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield discusses what this means for ServiceNow and what to expect if you are current ServiceNow customer or considering ServiceNow.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r
ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

Oct 21, 2019 • 8min
5 Risks Of Outsourcing Infrastructure Managed Services + How To Mitigate Them
Outsourcing your Infrastructure Managed Services comes with its own sets of risks. Poor planning and preparation creates undue risks that could have been mitigated upfront. In this podcast, IT Sourcing & Commercial Advisory Practice Director, Greg Hall, shares five common risks that can derail your efforts, break your business case, and start you off on the wrong foot with your chosen provider. He also walks through each one and discusses what you can do to mitigate these risks to position yourself for success.
Host: Greg Hall: https://bit.ly/3CcaELp
IT Services Sourcing and Negotiation Support: https://bit.ly/3A5Hcov

Oct 13, 2019 • 13min
Interview With Java Licensing Expert Answering Top Compliance Questions
There has been much confusion and anxiety around Java use this past year and many organizations are still not sure whether they are required to purchase a commercial license. Concerned about the potential financial exposure that could be tied to Java use in the event of an Oracle audit, many readers and clients sent us questions and comments in response to Senior Advisor, Erwann Couesbot’s blog, The Top 3 Reasons Oracle Java Users are Unknowingly Out-of-Compliance. In this special interview-style podcast, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager asks Erwann some of the most common questions we received including the top question: “How can I ensure my organization is in compliance with regards to our Java use?”.
Host: Erwann Couesbot: https://bit.ly/2WIKJdX
Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3C8PnSR

Oct 9, 2019 • 15min
Head In The Clouds Podcast: How Facebook And Zendesk Are Chasing Enterprise Customers
This podcast is part of our Head in the Clouds series which covers the latest cloud computing news from the perspective of someone who helps enterprises improve their cloud vendor contractual relationships. This week, Adam shares his thoughts on Facebook’s unification of Workplace and Portal to further expand its current customer base of 3 Million paying Workplace users and increase adoption among enterprises. He also discusses how Zendesk continues to roll out new products aimed at landing more enterprise customers by giving them products that they may actually need.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r

Oct 2, 2019 • 7min
The US Department of Interior Moving Back to Office 365 is a Google Cloud Nightmare
The US Department of Interior is moving over 84,000 users back to Office 365 after its previous decision to go with Google despite the many challenges that come with such a massive change. Needless to say, this is clearly a significant loss for Google Cloud as they strive to ramp adoption of G Suite within the government and large enterprises. The optics associated with the government’s decision to move such a large number of users back to Microsoft’s Office 365 will be problematic for Google Cloud unless they can successfully get out in front of it. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield discusses what this all means for Google Cloud and how enterprises considering a possible move from Office 365 to G Suite can avoid facing an undesirable situation like this one.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r

Sep 23, 2019 • 13min
Head In The Clouds Podcast: Zendesk Leans On Partners And Google Cloud Shakes Up Sales Organization
This podcast is part of our Head in the Clouds series which covers the latest cloud computing news from the perspective of someone who helps enterprises improve their cloud vendor contractual relationships. This week, Adam shares his thoughts on Zendesk’s recent moves to land more enterprise customers. He also discusses how Google Cloud restructured its sales organization to better position themselves to grab enterprise market share.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r

Sep 2, 2019 • 14min
Head In The Clouds Podcast: Slack Earnings And Google Cloud Makes Another Hire
This podcast is part of our Head in the Clouds series which covers the latest cloud computing news from the perspective of someone who helps enterprises improve their cloud vendor contractual relationships. This week, Adam shares his thoughts on Slack’s recently released Q2 FY20 earnings – the company’s first earnings since going public. He also discusses Google Cloud’s efforts to land even more enterprise customers by expanding alliances in the partner ecosystem through its recent hiring of SAP veteran, Dave Hutchison, which has not yet been publicly announced.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r

Aug 26, 2019 • 9min
Head in the Clouds Podcast: Salesforce Q2 FY20 and Google Making G Suite Sticky
This podcast is part of our Head in the Clouds series which covers the latest cloud computing news from the perspective of someone who helps enterprises improve their cloud vendor contractual relationships. This week, Adam shares his perspective and insights regarding Salesforce’s recently released Q2 FY20 earnings as well as Google Cloud’s announcement aimed at making G Suite and Hangouts more “sticky”.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r

Aug 20, 2019 • 12min
SFDC Q2 FY20 - Strong Growth and Raised Guidance
Salesforce had another strong quarter and raised FY20 revenue guidance, indicating that they expect even better quarters ahead. Knowing that their customers are focused on digital transformations, Salesforce is aggressively pushing the Customer 360 Platform as the solution that will enable their success. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield discusses the recent acquisitions that are starting to pay off and the actions Salesforce is taking to continue to grow revenue.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r
SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV

Aug 7, 2019 • 6min
Salesforce Buys ClickSoftware – Another Key Acquisition
On the heels of the MapAnything acquisition back in April, Salesforce is buying ClickSoftware, a field service and workflow management software company for $1.35B. Salesforce continues to focus on building out its field service offerings realizing that this space is where its competitors, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP have increased their own investments.
Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r
SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV


