Perspectives on the Cloud

"The Cloud" - everyone is talking about it, and as more and more vendors pile on using the term, it seems to have become a double entendre; definitions are as hazy and varied as ever. We have been discussing this phenomena since our inception almost a decade ago, and recently have tried to shed some light and clarity through this collection of articles in the brief.

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• Collaborative Demand Planning Technology -- Everybody wants to collaborate. But is this actually done – technically?
• Manufacturing in the Cloud -- What true cloud-based manufacturing systems are out there, what can they do, and what types of manufacturers are they good for?
• Build It! Beyond the Application -- How solution providers create platform-centric universes.
• Big Trends for Business 2013 -- Forecast and Priorities for 2013. Slowing globalization, but increasing IT spend in most sectors. Preview of business priorities for 2013, sector-specific technology trends, and more.
• Technology Adoption - Rethinking the Model -- ChainLink's Technology Adoption Model offers fresh perspectives on how technology matures and why some solutions are adopted, while others languish. Existing models generally focus on the point of view of the technology provider, rather than the customer/adopter's perspective. They also have not been updated to explain the growth of community-oriented supply chain solutions. Based on extensive research and commentary from end-users, we have developed a technology adoption model that encompasses end user viewpoints and supply chain/network-community solutions.
• The Face of Things to Come - Beyond the UI -- More than a pretty face: ICE, ION, and Engage.
• Technology Integration Can Transform the Hospital and Patient Care Experience -- Better care, patient safety at lower cost. Sounds like a goal we have been hearing for decades. Yet so far the US healthcare industry has been going in the opposite direction. Greater cost, more paperwork, and confusing models for compliance and care for the future. And yet...
• Omni-Channel Inventory: Getting the Big Picture -- Retailers want to provide a great omni-channel experience. This requires a foundation of precise, real-time inventory visibility all the way from the supplier to the end consumer and everywhere in between.
• Plex Systems -- Cloud-based ERP for Manufacturing.
• UNIT4's Multiple Platform Offerings -- Multi-tenant, hosting, on premise, plus the ability to share work processes among tenants make UNIT4 a unique player in the ERP market.
• BizSlate Targets Apparel and Retail Markets -- Young ERP may have the edge . . .
• SuiteWorld 2012 -- At this year's SuiteWorld, NetSuite announced key architectural changes, their version of an omni-channel strategy, many new capabilities by vertical industry, and a new IDE for their SuiteCloud platform. In addition, I discuss NetSuite's approach to getting deeper vertical functionality for their customers.
• SuiteWorld Customer Stories - Growing Small Manufacturing and Retail Businesses: Part 1 -- NetSuite's success can be traced in no small part to the customizability of their solution. Here are some short customer stories, mostly in Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution, highlighting their appeal to small and medium businesses.
• SuiteWorld Customer Stories - Growing Small Manufacturing and Retail Businesses: Part 2 -- How some hot new innovative manufacturers and retailers are making NetSuite's cloud ERP and ecommerce work for them.
• JDA Focus 2012: Cloud Strategy, 3D, and Condoleezza -- 'Cloud' dominates JDA's latest strategy announced at Focus 2012. But it is more about selling their expertise than a different software delivery model. Here we discuss what their cloud strategy actually means, as well as JDA's way cool 3D store planning product, their earnings restatement, and tidbits from the keynote address by Condoleezza Rice.
• EDI and MFT Solution Providers Positioned -- Solution providers are all over the map.
• Big Data -- The data may be big, but is the information important?
• SaaS Pricing - Insanity or Good Deal for Users? -- This two-part series discusses the current pricing models for SaaS vs. On Premise.
• WMS Cloud Solutions Take More than a Cloud -- The real world of successfully operating Warehouse solutions in the cloud has many technical and business components.
• Supply Chain Finance Networked Platforms: Financing Services - Supply Chain Platform Series: Part 2C -- Various forms of supply chain financing have been around for centuries. The use of networked platforms is a much more recent trend that enables dramatic reductions in the cost of capital compared with traditional approaches.
• Enterprise Social Networking: The Final Brick in the Supply Chain Platform Foundation -- Social networking in the enterprise is on the rise in surprising and obvious places.
• Platforms - Journey to Achieving the Supply Chain Vision. Part One: Supply Chain Cohesion -- The web has become the dominant force in supply chain operation and technology. In this series we will discuss how it's evolving.
• Food for Thought - Challenges in the Produce Supply Chain -- So you think you have supply chain challenges? How about daily price volatility and losses in transportation of up to 20%? Discussions with FoodLink Online, InfinityQS, AFS and Intelleflex.
• Collaboration vs. Transactions -- Lessons from eBay, Facebook, LinkedIn and other Social Networks - What traditional business management can learn from Social Networks.
• Collaboration Frameworks 2011 - On Creating a Global Workspace: Part One of Two -- Social Networks, Teleconferencing, and anywhere that technology opens new challenges in Collaberation.
• Happy New Year - Converged, Collaborative, Telepresent Communities in the Second Decade: What's happening in 2011? - Convergence - Unified Applications and Devices for the Second Decade.
• It's Seventeen Shopping Days to Christmas! - * * * On the First Mobile Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me . . .* * *
• Does Cloud Equal On Demand? -- Cloud, SaaS, On Premise, On Demand, Managed Service, a mélange of technical terms is flooding the market. This article explains the differences.
• Cloud Economics Part One - Cost Drivers -- Cloud cost drivers provide insights on how Total Cost of Ownership for users will change.
• Cloud Economics Part Two - The End of the Entourage -- Marketing and Selling On-Demand vs. License: An uncomfortable truth.
• Cloud Economics Part Three - The Cloud of Clouds -- Connected Communities cross industries.
• as-a-Service Framework -- Here we discuss the broader framework for the "as-a-Service" offerings (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and where Microsoft fits. Insights from a talk at MIT by Barry Briggs, the CTO for Microsoft IT, about Cloud Computing in general and Microsoft's foray into Cloud with its Azure service offering.
• Marketing Automation - Part One - From Software to SaaS to MaaS -- Marketing Automation solution providers have specialized and deepened their offerings, taking marketing from an art to a science, with quantifiably beneficial portfolio solutions. Part one sets the stage for what the Marketing Automation sector looks like, and discuss some specific recent breakthroughs.
• Marketing Automation - Part Two - What It Is and What it Should Be -- What is Marketing Automation, and who will smash the traditional market concepts of marketing and sales solutions?
• Microsoft's Take on Data in the Cloud -- There is LOTS of data in the cloud. Here are some thoughts on how Microsoft is responding.
• Into the Clouds: MIT Cloud Panel - Part 1 -- Private vs. Public and Internal vs. External Clouds, security concerns and more from a panel discussion at MIT..
• Into the Clouds: MIT Cloud Panel - Part 2 -- Hybrid environments (cloud + on-premises) will be a reality for decades to come. Tools which manage environments that mix together legacy infrastructure (e.g. data centers, licensed applications) with cloud infrastructure are discussed.
• SaaS ERP for the Smallest Manufacturers -- the announcement of Epicor Express means a full-featured SaaS solution is available to small manufacturers who have had almost no SaaS options up to now.
• SaaS in the Warehouse -- Well, actually, it's not in the Warehouse. SaaS WMS Solutions show Market Momentum.
• Convergence of Physical and Financial Supply Chains -- Network/Community Platforms are playing an essential role in the world's migration to new financial supply chain models.
• Labor Management in the Cloud -- Labor Management joins the Cloud with Next View's launch of On-Demand Subscription solution.