Insights for IT Negotiations

It is very clear that, after attending the various product keynotes (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Einstein Analytics..etc), Salesforce is going to be aggressively pushing the Customer Success Platform (Customer 360) and all the products it includes into as many customers’ ecosystems as they can and as quickly as they can.

Beyond the announcement of the new partnership with Apple and coverage of Einstein Voice, It is very clear that Salesforce wanted it to be known that they are completely focused on their Customer Success Platform. This focus will bring an aggressive sales organization pushing its customers to adopt more of the products and solutions that it encompasses.

With Oracle OpenWorld 2018 just weeks away, Oracle has posted Q1 FY19 earnings that lack luster and have missed Wall Street's expectations. In Q4 Oracle stopped breaking out its revenue streams so it's hard to tell where the company may be struggling with their various products and services. Oracle users aren't seeing a business case to migrate to their cloud solutions.

It is an understatement to say that enterprises are severely impacted when their subscribed to cloud solutions are down and not available. Downtime issues can be disastrous and costly. While Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are a standard in cloud subscription agreements, they are often boilerplate that simply don’t cut it. Regardless of which cloud vendor your enterprise is relying on (Salesforce, Microsoft, Workday, ServiceNow, etc.), having the proper SLA structure in place with proper remedies for failure is critical.

Oracle’s Thomas Kurian has taken a leave of absence from his role as Senior VP President of Product Strategy. It seems Kurian wants to make more of Oracle’s cloud software run on other cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS, where as Ellison wants everything to run on Oracle. Clients need to be aware of Oracle’s eventual strategy as they become accustomed to using Azure and AWS; they may or may not work with Oracle's software in the near future.

Workday had a very good Q2, their subscription revenue is up 30% YoY with record highs for renewals—in relation to original contract values. Customers should be prepared for Workday to up-sell you with new products and services come your renewal—in an effort to expand their footprint across your enterprise. More detail can be heard in this podcast.

Thomas Kurian, President of Product Development at Oracle is taking a leave of absence. Kurian has been at Oracle since 1996, in his email address to employees his leave hints at being more permanent than temporary, and with Oracle OpenWorld just weeks away, it can be assumed he will be absent for the event. Kurian was responsible for Oracle's move to the Cloud and with poor Cloud financials last quarter it could be speculated there's a correlation.

When defining what a business case is, consensus says it’s the reason for initiating a project or task. But UpperEdge’s Shawn Stamp says the real value of your business case goes far beyond project launch. A great business case should guide design decisions, manage scope, sustain alignment & momentum, and measure success.

Microsoft’s pricing and licensing changes will go into effect in October 2018 and many customers will be hit with significant price increases as a result. Microsoft claims these changes will “help customers compare solutions based on their organization’s need, not just price, accelerating their journey to modern commerce” but do they really have the customers’ best interest in mind? Here is a look at the real motivation behind these changes and how customers will be affected.

Though many companies have short-term needs or a current project in mind when selecting a vendor, the long-term viability of the cloud service provider (CSP) cannot be overlooked. While the CSP selected a few years ago may have been an economical or strategic decision at the time, that same CSP could be a challenge to integrate into your future environment and ultimately be a burden.