Reverse Engineering Force.com’s Approach to the Cloud Computing Market
I’ve been a bit busy recently and so instead of finishing off the complex REPAMA SAS into the “Cloud Computing / Cloud Software / Cloud Management / Application Services Management” study, I decided to produce a rough draft of the much simpler REPAMA into Force.com’s go-to-market strategy instead.
Whilst the segment analysis study only covers Force.com at the moment, I will add additional vendors/providers into the study over the coming weeks. If you have any suggestions who I should compare to/with Force.com, let me know.
I’m quite pleased with the result. Not because of any specific talent on my part but rather as I’ve already said here, Force.com’s marketing is a case study in how to take a… Continue reading
Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, go-to-market, marketing, positioning, product marketing | 
competition, Force.com, go-to-market, market, marketing strategy, paas, platform as a service, REPAMA, Salesforce.com, sas, segment analysis study, usp | 
Leave a commentCloud Computing – Where does one Capability Start and the Other end?
OK so having arrived at the first cut of a segmentation model for the Cloud Computing market, I am now embarking on a series of Reverse Engineered Positioning and Messaging Analysis (REPAMA) studies.
The problem I now face though as I start tp look in detail at various cloud vendors’ marketing propositions is that their products, capabilities and value propositions all appear to blur into one.
I guess this is a symptom of the early market nature of Cloud Computing. I would expect that as the market develops, real prospects will make real decisions based upon their real needs, and real differences will be stressed and perceived between the products and services of different vendors/service providers.
But right… Continue reading
Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, communication, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, differentiation, marketing, Marketing Strategy, positioning | Appistry, cloud computing, competition, Danny Goodall, differentiation, early market, Lustratus, marketing, portfolio, REPAMA, strategy | Leave a commentA Market Landscape/Taxonomy/Segmentation Model for Cloud Computing
I’ve completed the first draft of the cloud computing segmentation model upon which we will build our REPAMA studies.
As I’ve mentioned before along my journey to arrive at this model, I’ve found the cloud computing market to have quickly become crowded and confused. This is largely due to the ease at which “traditional” vendors have re-repositioned themselves to catch the cloud computing wave.
The other issue of course is that over time cloud computing will cease to be a new paradigm and will quickly become the way consumers and businesses avail themselves of computing services. So what I’m seeing here is a market in transition where just about every category in traditional software sales will have an… Continue reading
Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, go-to-market, marketing, Marketing Strategy, research, segmentation, taxonomy | 10Gen MongoDB, 3Tera AppLogic, Aconex, Advologix, Altor Networks, Amazon EBS, Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon SQS, Amitive, Apache CouchDB, Apache HBase, Appian Anywhere, Appistry, AppJet, AppNexus, AppZero, Aptana, Aria Systems, Aster DB, Beam4d, Beowulf, Blink Logic, Boomi, Box.net, brad buck, Bungee Labs Connect, Caspio, Cassandra, Cast Iron, christofer hoff, Clickability, Cloud42, Cloud9 Analytics, CloudFoundry, CloudStatus, ClusterSeven, CohesiveFT, CohesiveFT VPN Cubed, ColdLight Neuron, Collabnet, Concur, CrownPoint, CTERA, CTERA Portal, Danny Goodall, DataSynapse, Desktoptwo, DirectLaw, DocLanding, DropBox, Dynamsoft, Dynect, Elastichosts, Elastra, EMC Atmos, Engine Yard, Enomaly Enomalism, enStratus, Etelos, Eucalyptus, eVapt, FathomDB, Fios, Flexiscale, Force.com, Gemstore Gemfire, Gigaspaces, Globus Toolkit, gnip, Google App Engine, Google Apps, Google BigTable, GridLayer, Hadoop, Hosting.com CloudNine, HubSpan, Hyperic, Hypertable, iaas, IBM Lotus Live, iCIMS, InfoBright, Informatica iTRICITY, Joyent Accelerators, JungleDisk, K2 Analytics, Kaavo, Knowledge TreeLive, LayeredTech, LiveOps, LoadStorm, LogiXML, LongJump, LucidEra, lustatus, Lustratus, market landscape, marketing strategy, memcached, Mercury, mezeo software, Microsoft BizTalk Services, Microsoft SDS, Mosso Cloud Files, Mosso Cloud Servers, Mosso Cloud Sites, Mozy, MS Azure Services Platform, MSDynamics, MuleSource Mule OnDemand, NetDocuments, NetSuite, NewRelic, Ning, Nirvanix, NIST, Oco, on-demand, OneNetwork, Open.ControlTier, OpenCloud, opencrowd, OpenNebula, OpenQRM, OpenRSM, OpSource, OpSource Connect, Oracle Coherence, Oracle On Demand, paas, Panaroma, Parallels, ParaScale, Parature, peter laird, Peter Mell, PingIdentity, PivotLink, Platform, professional services, Qrimp, Quantivo, Questys, rackspacecloud, Redi2, Reductive Labs Puppet, REPAMA, Responsys, Rightnow, RightScale, Rollbase, rPath, saas, Salesforce.com, Scalr, segmentation, Sertifi, Serve Path GoGrid, SkyTap, SnapLogic, SnapLogic SaaS Solution Packs, SOASTA, SpringCM, SpringSource, Sterna, Strategic Marketing, StreetSmarts, Success Metrics, Sun Grid Engine, Symplified, Syncplicity, Taleo, taxonomy, tendril inc., TerraCotta, Terremark, TIBCO Silver, Tim Grance, Tokyo Cabinet, Trigence, Vaultscape, Vertica, VMWare vSphere, Vordel, Workday, Workxpress, Xactly, Xero, Xeround, Xythos, Ylastic, Zembly, Zmanda, Zmanda Cloud Backup, Zoho, Zuora | 11 CommentsIt took Cordys 8 days to turn into a cloud computing vendor!
Attempting to classify and compare the various vendors in the various technical segments of the cloud computing market is tough.
And if I’m honest I’m struggling with the shear volume of vendors that apparently have cloud propositions. I find it amazing that so many vendors/service providers have apparently architected and built specific solutions for this space.
But between you and me, I’m not sure that every vendor/service provider now positioned in the cloud computing market has been beavering away producing a specialised solution. Some I’m sure have done that but others have just changed a name or added an adjective or modifier to a product name.
But one thing is for sure, they’ve all changed their marketing!
Cloud Computing Wordle REV 4 – A list of Cloud Computing Vendors
Continuing the research I’ve documented in these pages…
…I’ve either stumbled across, been gently reminded or have been actively asked to include specific vendors in the list of cloud computing vendors.
So here’s REV 4.
The actual list of vendors is shown in the tag list below. Also included in the Wordle is a list of the categories and classifications from DRAFT 1 of our market segmentation model which I will post here soon.
Danny Goodall
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Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, marketing, segmentation | 10Gen MongoDB, 3Tera AppLogic, Aconex, Advologix, Altor Networks, Amazon EBS, Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon SQS, Amitive, Apache CouchDB, Apache HBase, Appian Anywhere, Appistry, AppJet, AppNexus, AppZero, Aptana, Aria Systems, Aster DB, Beam4d, Beowulf, Billing, Blink Logic, Boomi, Box.net, Bungee Labs Connect, Caspio, Cassandra, Cast Iron, Clickability, cloud computing, Cloud Management, Cloud42, Cloud9 Analytics, CloudFoundry, CloudStatus, ClusterSeven, CohesiveFT, CohesiveFT VPN Cubed, ColdLight Neuron, Collabnet, Compute, Concur, CRM, CrownPoint, CTERA, CTERA Portal, Danny Goodall, DataSynapse, Desktoptwo, DirectLaw, DocLanding, DropBox, Dynamsoft, Dynect, Elastichosts, Elastra, EMC Atmos, Engine Yard, Enomaly Enomalism, enStratus, Etelos, Eucalyptus, eVapt, FathomDB, Financials, Fios, Flexiscale, Force.com, Gemstore Gemfire, Gigaspaces, Globus Toolkit, gnip, Google App Engine, Google Apps, Google BigTable, GridLayer, Hadoop, Hosting.com CloudNine, HubSpan, Hyperic, Hypertable, IBM Lotus Live, iCIMS, InfoBright, Informatica On-Demand, iTRICITY, Joyent Accelerators, JungleDisk, K2 Analytics, Kaavo, Knowledge TreeLive, LayeredTech, Legal, LiveOps, LoadStorm, LogiXML, LongJump, LucidEra, Lustratus, marketing strategy, memcached, Mercury, mezeo software, Microsoft BizTalk Services, Microsoft SDS, Mosso Cloud Files, Mosso Cloud Servers, Mosso Cloud Sites, Mozy, MS Azure Services Platform, MSDynamics, MuleSource Mule OnDemand, NetDocuments, NetSuite, NewRelic, Ning, Nirvanix, Oco, Open.ControlTier, OpenCloud, opencrowd, OpenNebula, OpenQRM, OpenRSM, OpSource, OpSource Connect, Oracle Coherence, Oracle On Demand, Panaroma, Parallels, ParaScale, Parature, PingIdentity, PivotLink, Platform, Qrimp, Quantivo, Questys, rackspacecloud, Redi2, Reductive Labs Puppet, REPAMA, Responsys, Rightnow, RightScale, Rollbase, rPath, Sales, Salesforce.com, Scalr, Sertifi, Serve Path GoGrid, SkyTap, SnapLogic, SnapLogic SaaS Solution Packs, SOASTA, Software Services, SpringCM, Sterna, Strategic Marketing, StreetSmarts, Success Metrics, Sun Grid Engine, Symplified, Syncplicity, Taleo, TerraCotta, Terremark, TIBCO Silver, Tokyo Cabinet, Trigence, Vertica, VMWare vSphere, Vordel, wordle, Workday, Workxpress, Xactly, Xero, Xeround, Xythos, Ylastic, Zembly, Zmanda, Zmanda Cloud Backup, Zoho, Zuora | Leave a commentCloud Computing Market Segmentation – What is the role of the Channel? – Part 4
Continuing my quest to segment the cloud computing market, I’m now looking at the role a channel might play in cloud computing…
…and I’m struggling a little to map the traditional channel role onto cloud. But here are my current thoughts.
There are some obvious areas in the cloud taxonomy/segmentation that look like a good old fashioned software sales model. So first let’s start with my draft / work in progress taxonomy/segmentation to help anchor the discussions in something solid. BTW draft/work in progress means that it will change.
Cloud Software
So the Cloud Software segment looks like a traditional software business. Using Brad Buck’s definition for this segment:
Cloud Software is off-the-shelf software that can be used to… Continue reading
Cloud Computing Taxonomy – A Nice Definition With a Little Structure too – Part 3
As mentioned earlier in these pages I’m documenting my quest to arrive at a market segmentation model of the cloud computing market. This will allow me to perform a series of REPAMA competitive marketing studies into various vendors in the cloud computing space. I’m uncovering more and more interesting research as I go and one such piece is described below.
The smart people at NIST (The US Governmental agency responsible for something or other – standards I think) have released some interesting work on cloud computing. Aimed at reaching a common set of definitions around cloud computing and its use cases, but recognising that these will change over time, their work can be found here.
I’ve reproduced some sections… Continue reading
Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, go-to-market, marketing, Marketing Strategy, product marketing, segmentation, taxonomy | cloud computing, competitive, Danny Goodall, definitions, Lustratus, market taxonomy, marketing strategy, NIST, Peter Mell, product marketing, proposition segmentation, REPAMA, Strategic Marketing, Tim Grance | Leave a commentCloud Computing REPAMA – Taxonomy and the Role of Professional Services – Part 2
I’m continuing the REPAMA Segment Analysis Study into the Cloud Computing market attempting to arrive at a solid market segmentation and two things have become very clear.
Firstly, every vendor with a remotely related proposition appears to have added the word “cloud” to their product name, presumably in an attempt to bask in the reflected glory that cloud computing provides, perhaps in an effort to appease their investors. This means that there are a large number of vendors claiming to be part of specific segments that may or may not have legitimate claims. This makes the process I’m going through confusing and messy. And if I, as a marketing analyst am having problems, I wonder what sort of success a… Continue reading
Posted in All Blog Categories, cloud computing, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, marketing, Marketing Strategy, product category, product marketing, segmentation, taxonomy | brad buck, channel, cloud computing, competition, Danny Goodall, early market, Lustratus, marketing strategy, opencrowd, peter laird, positioning, product marketing, professional services, proposition segmentation, REPAMA, segmentation, Strategic Marketing, taxonomy, tendril inc. | Leave a commentUpdated Lustratus REPAMA Guide
Just a quick note to say that I’ve updated the Lustratus REPAMA Guide to version 1.1. I’ve added three more studies that have been part of our analysis for some time but hadn’t quite found their way into the guide.
These are:
- Depositioning focus
- Differentiation strategy
- Perceived threat
All of these studies are concerned with interpreting how the vendors under scrutiny approach competitive differentiation in one way or another and are now explained in the guide.
The Lustratus REPAMA guide is available for download, and for the first time in HTML format. Click here for more information.
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Posted in All Blog Categories, communication, Competition and Competitive Intelligence, go-to-market, marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tactics, positioning, product management, research | Competition and Competitive Intelligence, competitive, Danny Goodall, Lustratus, marketing strategy, product marketing, REPAMA, research, Strategic Marketing | Leave a commentTIBCO acquires DataSynapse
Well, well, well. TIBCO announced an interesting move yesterday. It has acquired DataSynapse in a cash transaction valuing DataSynapse at $28M.
TIBCO calims that this will strengthen and compliment its distributed and cloud computing initiatives. We work for a lot of high-tech vendors and you get to know a lot of people and I have to say that the DataSynapse crowd are/were amongst the best. Not just good human beings but incredibly bright and innovative engineers.
The problem DataSynapse had was the tsunami that hit their customer base in the shape of the world-wide financial crisis. Almost overnight their remaining prospect base stopped spending while they took stock and a significant proportion of their existing customers either ceased to exist… Continue reading
- On Informatica, Evangelism, Audience Strata and BIG-DATA
- The marketing strategies of open source versus closed source ESBs
- Part 2 – First output from REPAMATron – WSO2 versus FuseSource versus Talend versus the ESB market
- First output from REPAMATron – WSO2 versus FuseSource versus Talend versus the ESB market
- WSO2 – Fits in between Talend and FuseSource…
- WSO2, or rather one of its competitors, has thrown its hat into the ring
- Wordcount.org – it counts words…
Recent Comments
May 12, 2011 (12:01) The Goodall Technology Reading Ease Index - How Complex is Your Marketing Copy? Hmm. I really do like the name Sarah but what about my ego? If I were to call the index 'GoodRead...
May 12, 2011 (11:36) The Goodall Technology Reading Ease Index - How Complex is Your Marketing Copy? I suggest calling it the GoodRead Index. Maybe it's over-reaching a bit, but you'll just have to ...
October 14, 2010 (4:19) Truth Denied? The Software Appliance Revisited. I hope you could tell that I was being more than a little flippant here Jacques. Perhaps I should...
October 13, 2010 (1:56) Truth Denied? The Software Appliance Revisited. Allow me to disagrre. At a customer, we have used Datapower for years to process XML (BTW, it is ...
June 7, 2010 (4:38) New Report From Lustratus Research: A Competitive Review of SOA Appliances Pete,Thanks for your comments, and those of your colleague. I think Danny has answered the 'mar...
June 4, 2010 (4:03) New Report From Lustratus Research: A Competitive Review of SOA Appliances Hi,I'd very much like to develop a point made in the report where it is asserted that software ...
May 6, 2010 (12:35) New Report From Lustratus Research: A Competitive Review of SOA Appliances Thanks for your comment Blake. This is a marketing-focused blog that looks at different vendors' ...
May 5, 2010 (1:23) New Report From Lustratus Research: A Competitive Review of SOA Appliances Hello There - It seems that this is a very provocative report, especially with respect to the sta...
April 14, 2010 (2:57) The Decision Making Unit for Cloud Computing Nice Technology Related Blog. Will visit again.
October 16, 2009 (5:56) The Decision Making Unit for Cloud Computing Very interesting point of discussion. I would be very interested to hear your results.