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A Monthly Journal for Venture Partners and Enterprise Software Executives

Industry Articles The Sterling Report partners with industry leaders and experts to publish original and interesting material. How Leaders Communicate By Mark Sanborn, President, Sanborn & Associates, Inc. Published: March 2010 Communication is the Tool, Not the Objective A sales manager approached me after I finished speaking about leadership at his association’s meeting. His mood seemed somewhere between perplexed and provoked. Integrated Order Fulfillment Will Make Your Employees Happy, Increase Customer Loyalty and Reduce Costs By Jerry Sparger, Founder and CEO, Global Business Solutions, LLC Published: March 2010 Why do they make it so hard to buy? Many companies make it difficult for me to buy from them. Whether I am spending a small amount for personal use or a large amount for business use, my experience is the same: Inattentive salespeople, computer-attended endless-loop phone menus and indifferent customer service representatives. SharePoint’s Business Value: What is SharePoint’s Return on Investment (ROI) By Errin O’Connor, Founder & CEO, EPC Group Published: January 2010 Whether your organization already has an existing SharePoint implementation in place, or you are pursuing a new implementation, the overall strategy of a successful SharePoint 2007 deployment needs to be approached in a very unique manner. Leadership – Are You Giving Back By Rick Johnson, Founder, CEO Strategist, LLC Published: January 2010 We often talk about coaching and mentoring being key ingredients to effective leadership. Two thoughts come to my mind every time I hear the words – coach & mentor. My first thought is that it is very rare for any organization to provide actual training on how to coach or mentor employees. It is often left up to the individual as a leader to figure that out. My second thought is the realization that most of our actions toward our employees come naturally as a result of the kind of leadership model we have personally created. Economic Stress Test for the Software Industry: Will Your Company Pass? By Chris Dowse, Founder & Chief Executive Officer and Ben Galison, Principal, Neochange, Inc. Published: November 2009 What does the smart money know? What has the economic meltdown exposed? On May 22nd the stock market had valued the software industry at a 3.7% discount to the S&P 500, based on the next-12-month price/earnings ratio. This isn’t particularly striking until we consider that for the past five years, the software industry has on average been priced at a 34% premium to the S&P 500. The Six Real Reasons to Fire Your VP of Sales By Steve Martin, Author, “Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom” Published: November 2009 It can be well-argued that the Vice President of Sales is the most important position within a software company since their words and actions impact the organization’s most critical issue – generating revenue. However, the average job tenures of Vice Presidents of Sales in the software industry is now at an all time low of less than eighteen months. Measure More Than Revenue By Jerry Sparger, Founder and CEO, Global Business Solutions, LLC Published: September 2009 When evaluating sales performance, companies typically measure revenue booked against plan. While revenue results will tell you how well you have done in the last period, they cannot predict how well you will do in the future. Revenue is a trailing indicator, meaning by the time you measure it for a period, it is too late to change it. Even if you are accomplishing all of your sales goals, revenue numbers will not tell you how prepared your organization is to adapt to market or economic changes. Simplicity: What’s Next in Business Software By Anthony Deighton, Senior VP of Marketing, QlikTech Published: September 2009 There is a widening gap today between what software users experience in their work environment and what is available on the Web. As the line between work and home life blurs, people expect the applications they use at work to be as clear, simple and user-driven as the applications they use to run their personal lives. Thriving in a Down Economy – Is SaaS the Silver Bullet By Greg Gianforte, CEO and Founder, RightNow Technologies Published: July 2009 ‘Buy more software’ isn’t something you expect to hear in a tough economy, but software as a service (SaaS) vendors continue to grow and may be more resilient than most in a soft economy. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, leading SaaS vendors financial performance, ‘signals that makers of online software may do better during the downturn than traditional software companies.’ A New Breed of Leader: 8 Qualities That Matter Most in the Real World, What Works What Doesn’t & Why By Dr. Sheila Murray Bethel, Best Selling Author & Speaker, Bethel Institute Published: July 2009 The winds of change are blowing across the globe. They demand a new feeling of purpose, new actions and yet-unseen solutions. People everywhere hunger for a new breed of authentic men and women who are physically strong, mentally quick, politically limber, emotionally stable, intellectually superior and unselfish consensus builders. The Power of Process By Steve McConnell, Chief Software Engineer, Construx Software Builders Published: May 2009 How do you convince people to pay attention to their software development processes? The word ‘process’ is viewed as a four-letter word by some people in the software development community. These people see ‘Software Processes’ as rigid, restrictive and inefficient. They hold that the best way to run a project is to hire the best people you can, give them all the resources they ask for, and turn them loose to do what they do best. On-Demand Services Market Predictions for 2009 By Jeffrey M. Kaplan, Managing Director, THINKstrategies, Inc. Published: May 2009 Wondering what the on-demand services market will bring in 2009? Sure, we’re more than 3 months in to the new year, but I still have a few predictions. These predictions are based on THINKstrategies’ latest survey research and ongoing consulting work with IT/business decision-makers, IT solution providers and various technology investors. Measure and Manage Your Customer Profitability By Gary Cokins, Global Product Marketing Manager, SAS Institute Inc. Published: April 2009 Business is no longer just about increasing sales. It’s about increasing the profitability from sales. It is not enough only to measure gross margin profitability for sales of products and standard service lines. Most products or service lines require fairly standard and predictable work activities that do not vary from month-to-month and are therefore not dependent on customer behavior other than volume. Companies should instead start to identify the differences in the cost-to-serve between different types of customers (called the fully loaded costs of serving a customer). Success through Visualization By Emmet B. Keeffe III, CEO & Co-Founder, iRise Published: April 2009 Today’s challenging economic climate is keeping everyone on their toes. Companies must keep a close eye on their bottom line in order to keep operations running more efficiently than ever before. At the same time, customers are demanding more than ever from corporate applications. Truly Protecting Data in an Open and Collaborative World By Michael A. Concordia, President, BitArmor Published: March 2009 Data breaches are becoming daily news, where organizations put personal information about millions of consumers at risk by not taking adequate responsibility to ensure their protection. Their consequences – which include violations of personal privacy, bank account and credit theft, appropriation of competitive intelligence and compromised national security – have never been fully accounted for, but they are massive and, in a growing number of cases, disastrously expensive to remedy. Seven Predictions for Open Source in 2009 By Roger Burkhardt, President & CEO, Ingres Published: March 2009 2008 was an eventful, breakthrough year for many open source companies and 2009 will be even more so, especially in terms of business purchasing patterns, software business model shifts and enterprise software stack evolution. The current economic conditions will certainly prompt businesses to look more closely at alternative IT solutions – and open source technology will be one of the big winners next year. Maintenance Revenue Protection 2.0: The Urgent Threat and the Solution By Chris Dowse, Founder & Chief Executive Officer and Ben Galison, Principal, Neochange Published: February 2009 With the software industry realizing the changing customer needs, Chris Dowse and Ben Galison of Neochange share their insight into the steps which software vendors can implement to shift towards the buyers’ perception of value to prevent threats to maintenance revenue. This article explores the magnitude of the increased threat and provides a three-step approach with concrete actions all ISVs can take to protect critical maintenance revenue streams and even grow services revenue. Sales Success Secrets for 2009 By Dennis Sommer, Founder & CEO, Executive Business Advisers Published: January 2009 The jury is still out about our current economy. Some say we will be experiencing a mild recession and others say we are on the brink of a depression. It doesn’t matter where you fall in the debate, one thing is certain, business growth is not as easy as it once was. If you have been reading the news headlines, many sales executives are focused on cutting costs and laying off employees. This does help short-term profitability, however these actions are precisely the wrong strategy to take if you want to grow your company in a bad economy. 2009 May Present the Biggest Economic Challenge of the Century By Dr. Rick Johnson, Founder, CEO Strategist, LLC Published: January 2009 More than ever before, 2009 will demand of most companies the ability to achieve measurable results that are specific to profitability, growth, cost containment and operational effectiveness. Of course, none of this will be possible without leadership and organizational change. Benefits and Risks of the SaaS Model – A Case Study By Sam Santhosh, Chief Executive Officer, Calsoft Published: December 2008 Software as a Service (SaaS) is a concept whose time has come – after the early hype and disillusionment the model has matured and is here to stay. Contrary to initial perception that it was something for large software companies to leverage; small companies and even startups have started moving from traditional application software to the SaaS model. In this article, I will illustrate a real life example of a small software company that has become very successful by moving to the SaaS model and highlight the new business risks that arise. The New Software Service Value Chain – Agile, SaaS and Community By Ryan Martens, Founder & CTO, Rally Software Published: November 2008 The Software Service Value Chain focuses on the changes required of software engineering, operations and support organizations to support the cultural shift associated with the move to a true service model. In traditional software as product models clear feedback on customer uptake, usage and sales blockers often takes 6 – 8 months after release to reach product management and engineering. In the era of software services, delivery teams get immediate feedback from customers and have the ability to make decisions rapidly. 3 Things You MUST Know to Achieve Effective IT Adoption with SaaS By Chris Dowse, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Neochange Published: November 2008 A few months ago, Gartner published a SaaS prediction that caught my eye. They stated, “Through 2010, 75 percent of complex CRM SaaS deployments will fail to meet enterprise expectations.” I did not read the detailed report, but such a bold statement got me thinking about our own experience with enterprise buyers and specifically, their Effective IT Adoption expectations of SaaS. Why Do Private Equity Firms Underachieve Their Planned ROI By Gary Cokins, Global Product Marketing Manager, SAS Institute Inc. Published: October 2008 Private equity firms are emerging as significant players in the capital markets and are increasingly deploying the various improvement methodologies of enterprise performance management mounted on an integrated enterprise information platform. Can integrating enterprise performance management solutions resolve solve the underachieved ROI problem? Maximize Sales Performance through ‘Predictive Selling’ By Stephen D’Angelo, Co-founder & CEO, Spring Lake Technologies Published: October 2008 Question: What do ‘A’ sales professionals do that the ‘B’ and ‘C’ players don’t? Think about this question... Sales gurus, managers and trainers have been thinking and preaching the topic for eons. Before I give you the answer my research provides, here is what the sales leaders/C-level executives I speak with say most often. The Growing Risk of Web Application – Vulnerabilities in SaaS Offerings By Lars Ewe, Chief Technology Officer, Cenzic Inc. Published: September 2008 Industry adaptation of Software as a Service (SaaS) has gained significant momentum during the past several years. As a result, more and more critical user data is being managed by SaaS offerings, as opposed to the traditional in-house hosting model. In return, this means that SaaS providers are becoming the gatekeeper for sensitive information, whether it is in the form of personal data (credit card or SSN information), or corporate data (customer or business information). Security breaches can therefore be potentially devastating for both users and SaaS providers. Customer Loyalty Is the Goal By Dr. Laura Brooks, VP Research and Business Consulting, Satmetrix Published: August 2008 The ability for companies to move beyond measuring satisfaction to understanding who will recommend them is improving their success. Net Promoter is more than just the question or the score. It is a discipline that focuses on creating a customer-centric view. By implementing a Net Promoter discipline throughout the corporate culture, companies are finding they can increase positive word of mouth and drive profitable growth. Ubiquitous BI: Worth the Trouble or More Trouble Than it’s Worth? By John Kitchen, Senior Vice President and CMO, Datawatch Corporation Published: August 2008 While IT executives strive to achieve ubiquitous Business Intelligence (BI) – which would provide everyone in the organization powerful BI Tools – another school of thought is beginning to take hold. Perhaps giving everyone access to these complex tools is more trouble than it’s worth – and a waste of valuable time and money. Leveraging the investment a company has made in existing reports is a smarter route for putting BI in the hands of those who need it most. Enterprise Software Pricing: At the Tipping Point By Chris Dowse, Founder and CEO, Neochange, Inc. Published: July 2008 Tipping points are rarely caused by a single, isolated trend or event. This is why extreme statements of causality such as ‘SaaS will kill software!’ or ‘Open Source will destroy Microsoft!’ seem far-fetched. Solving the Security Appliance Paradox By Dan Ryan, President and CEO, Secure Computing Corporation Published: July 2008 Instead of simplifying IT security, some security providers have complicated it with point appliances. Here’s how to get back to basics, consolidate your security infrastructure and strengthen enterprise security. Finding the Balance Between User Creativity and System Controls By Tim Tisdale, CTO & Co-Founder, ThoughtBridge Published: June 2008 It's the age-old question. How much freedom do you give users when it comes to IT systems? In the past, this question was not an issue discussed during IT meetings. Most systems were mainframe-based and transaction-oriented. Changes made were planned well ahead of time with many controls and checks in place. I can remember when PCs were a novelty and networks were based on protocols other than TCP/IP. The Internet has changed the approach on how we think about systems forever. Every day, I see business leaders’ priorities shifting from thinking about IT as an unfortunate cost they have to incur, to instead, a strategy for winning the race against competition. Latest SaaS Trend: Better Quality Than Commercially Licensed Software By Steve Woods, CTO, Eloqua Corporation Published: June 2008 Businesses that use software as a service (SaaS), where a software vendor hosts and operates an application for use by its customers, typically have pointed to the cost benefits of its use. Since they do not have to purchase expensive commercially licensed software and absorb the associated costs of deployment, maintenance, training and upgrades, businesses have felt that this is the primary benefit that makes this the better option for them. Top 10 Laws for Being ‘SaaS-y’ By Byron Deeter, Bessemer Venture Partners Published: May 2008 In the emerging sector of Software as a Service, one of the biggest challenges for many of the top CEOs is the lack of successful role-model businesses. There are still only a handful of public pure-play SaaS businesses, and thus the body of ‘best practices’ is very limited. Ironically, on top of this, one of the hardest things veteran software CEOs have to do when they start to run a SaaS company is, to forget much of what they know about running a software company. Utilizing SharePoint to Serve-up ‘Gourmet’ Business Solutions By Eric Baughman, CorasWorks Corporation Published: May 2008 What can a TV dinner teach us about solutions on the SharePoint platform? I experienced this little lesson during a recent visit to the supermarket. In the frozen food section, I noticed a five course meal in a box and questioned why they’ve lost popularity. They are inexpensive, convenient, cover the spectrum of food groups, and even include dessert – all on the same plate. It’s not unlike off-the-shelf software or business applications, where we’re given a number of pre-set features, served up together in a single package, all to fulfill a particular need. In both cases, however, there is evidence that consumers want and need more. They want more flexibility and choices, better quality, and usually need it all within certain time and budget constraints. Performance Management: A Cure for Strategy Implementation Failure By Gary Cokins, SAS Institute Inc. Published: April 2008 Enterprise performance management is now being adopted due to CEO failures to successfully implement their strategy plus needs to focus on more differentiated customer-service levels. Enterprise performance management integrates methodologies such as balanced scorecards, strategy maps, budgets, Activity-Based Costing (ABC), forecasts, CRM and resource capacity planning. It is not a process or a system, but rather an umbrella concept intended to align manager and employee behavior and limited resources to focus on the organization’s strategic priorities and objectives. Web 2.0 Social Learning By Cindy Rockwell, CustomerVision Published: April 2008 When will corporations identify the need to get onboard with the changing dynamics within their workforce and their customers? Communities and social mediums for connecting like minds to create and share ideas are growing exponentially every month. Would You like a Side of Mashup with Your SOA By Brent Carlson, LogicLibrary, Inc. Published: March 2008 What’s an IT organization to do with Web 2.0? Tools like mashups have the potential to provide great value to enterprises, but if not handled properly, can also tie down strategic initiatives like SOA. Get some insight into how to balance the benefits and risks of the Web 2.0 world within corporate IT by reading this article. The Case for Enterprise Cost Systems  By Matthew Smith, 3C Software Published: March 2008 Companies have invested significant resources into ERP systems to integrate a myriad of business functions, including operations, sales, finance and accounting. While their promise of integration is impressive, they consistently fail in delivering one facet vital to understanding profitability for process manufacturers – costing. Enterprise cost systems are designed to handle the rigor required to develop a comprehensive approach to managing production costs. Reusing Critical Enterprise Resources  By Robert Morris, GT Software Published: March 2008 The ability to define hard cost savings through SOA projects provides a strong value proposition for enterprises seeking to deploy new applications. At its heart, SOA is focused on reusing existing application and business logic to deliver new business services. Savings can be dramatic, not just from reusing inanimate resources such as data and applications, but also from the redeployment of programmers from maintenance to building reusable services. This article explains many of the ROI principles that are involved in cost-justifying SOA projects and strategies.  Workforce Planning: Visualizing Organizational Success  By Lois Melbourne, Aquire, Inc. Published: March 2008 The prospect of successfully grooming, developing and aligning a workforce to support business goals and to develop or enhance a competitive advantage may seem nothing short of a ‘Herculean task’. Fortunately, the answer can be found when companies elevate their thinking about how to approach and handle workforce planning. Move Over SaaS, Make Room for AbSD   By Rob Meinhardt, KACE Published: February 2008 There’s a new kid in town sharing the spotlight with SaaS. AbSD (Appliance-based Software Delivery) offers a similar, disruptive approach for delivering core business applications. This new model of software delivery offers many of the same benefits as SaaS models and a few additional benefits that create an advantage for certain types of applications. Dynamic Data Center – Getting Your Head into the Game   By B.V. Jagadeesh and Rob Reiner,  3Leaf Systems Published: February 2008 IT management tasked with deploying data center resources to keep one step ahead of rapidly changing business environments need solutions that offer new levels of flexibility, efficiency and cost effectiveness. Mergers and acquisitions, global outsourcing, remote access for telecommuters and mobile workforce, and desktop virtualization are forcing IT management to consolidate data centers in a few key geographic locations. The World Needs a Ruler: Life with Carbon on the Balance Sheet   By Lawrence E. Goldenhersh, Enviance Published: February 2008 In horse racing terms, the first quarter of 2007 represented the ‘trifecta’ for advocates of greenhouse gas regulation and carbon constraint. In three consecutive months, decisions in the scientific, financial and legal communities drove this nation past the tipping point on greenhouse gas. This article analyzes the genesis of this tectonic shift in the national attitude towards greenhouse gas, discusses some requirements that are fundamental to the emergence of a rational system for managing it, and highlights some early trends amongst industry leaders attempting to deal with this financial challenge. Identity Authentication: Are You Willing to Risk Your Reputation on It   By Andrea Klein, IdenTrust, Inc. Published: January 2008 A damaged corporate reputation translates into huge economic losses that span decreased brand value; low share price; lost customers, partners and strategic relationships and difficulty recruiting and keeping top-notch employees. Some businesses, such as Arthur Anderson, never recover. Corporations, and their financial institutions, need to understand that they can and must manage reputational risk in much the same way that they manage other types of risk – through sound strategies, modeling, business intelligence and technology. Making the Leap: Driving Process and Change in Retail   By Eric Olafson, Tomax Corporation Published: January 2008 Organizations have been plagued with entrenched silos – which pose as monstrous hurdles to managers that wish to optimize business process and align both strategy and execution. Traditional IT solutions have been a curse, not a resolution to the presence of stagnant silos. Eric Olafson, CEO of Tomax Corporation, discusses innovative methods to transcend business and technology silos and achieve true business process optimization. Enterprise Wikis – the Mash-Up of Content   By Cindy Rockwell, Customer Vision Published: January 2008 The land of Web 2.0 Enterprise Wiki takes knowledge, content and documents and mashes them up into a reason for organizations to once again look at one of their greatest and most expensive assets, information. The new challenge is to develop and share content, knowledge and information rapidly and make it highly accessible and integrated into day-to-day workflow. Financial Implications of the SaaS Business Model   By Todd Gardner, SaaS Capital Published: December 2007 The Software as a Service (SaaS) market is growing rapidly in response to a variety of macro-market trends. Although the rapid growth of SaaS offers an exciting time for entrepreneurs and established software vendors, the SaaS model also poses significant business challenges – not the least of which is cash flow. The good news for SaaS vendors is that the very financial elements that make SaaS companies require more capital are the qualities that make them good borrowers. This article discusses how the pay-as-you-go, subscription model is driving aspiring SaaS players to pursue funding alternatives to support their business operations. SaaS: A View from the Front Lines   By Kent St. Vrain, Paxonix Published: December 2007 Much has been written about web-based applications, regardless of what you call them, Application Service Provider, on-demand, online, web-based, Software as a Service, etc. The concept has been discussed and written about from many angles, many from an academic or philosophical position. This article is an attempt to apply some perspective from the front lines – those who are out talking to prospective customers about these solutions every day.  The Compliance Equilibrium   By Robert Gardos, GridApp Systems Published: December 2007 As compliance standards continue to rise, IT departments are challenged to improve procedures and better prepare for their formal audit. Organizations must equip their database professionals with the resources to understand and implement their new regulatory responsibilities. This article will outline five steps the management can take to better understand the importance of the database tier in meeting compliance requirements and will also provide best practices for equipping these professionals with the tools they need to manage their compliance duties. Quality: The Missing Link in Software Development   By Brad Johnson, Borland Software Published: November 2007 Imagine if businesses across all industries – from pharmaceutical drug testing, to automobiles, to iPods – waited until their products came off the manufacturing line to determine how well they functioned. While we can argue that technological advances have moved us far beyond the days of a ‘trial and error’ approach, the reality is that software development continues to be more art than science. Consequently, project cancellations and failures have become ubiquitous and cost overruns, schedule slippages, low quality and poor reliability have become disturbing norms in the software industry. Holistic Security – It’s the Enterprise Not the Application   By Gordon Rapkin, Protegrity Published: November 2007 Millions of words have been written about the best software to use, the correct policies to implement. Conferences are held, experts pontificate. Governments and industries pass regulations. We have the tools, the knowledge, and the impetus to lock down systems and data. The only thing we don’t have is real security. Here’s why. Flipping the Coin for Talent: How Well Are You Hiring?   By Dr. Maynard Brusman, Working Resources Published: October 2007 The new reality is that it is becoming more critical for companies to hire talented managers in order to maintain a competitive advantage, but that talented people are scarce, more mobile and demanding. The best people are those who can combine intelligence, data, and skills in a way that enables them to synthesize data into information and apply their knowledge to address new and emerging problems. Virtual Appliances: An Alternative Approach to SaaS Value   By Dave Cotten, rPath Published: October 2007 The greatest challenge for software application companies today is accelerating new license growth while maintaining a reasonable level of expense for sales and R&D. Many have hailed Software as a Service (SaaS) as the best solution to the license growth challenge – after all, SaaS can enable new license sales to a set of customers that historically didn’t buy software because they couldn’t afford the cost or complexity of the technology. Trends in Clean Tech Investing   By Paul Holland, Foundation Capital Published: October 2007 Clean technologies that started merely as pie-in-the-sky ideas are now quickly becoming trillion-dollar markets that established utilities, transportation industries and others are beginning to rely on to put energy efficiency into practice. By the same token, former technology executives are driving new urgency into these markets by combining the pace of high tech with cutting edge science. The result is already benefiting the average consumer on a broad scale and will ultimately transform the future of our global environment. SMB Market – What is the secret sauce for success?   By Vas Srinivasan, Sonasoft Corporation Published: September 2007 Even though the SMB market looks very attractive, potential aspirants to conquer it face many hurdles. The SMB market is highly fragmented, diverse and unconventional. Prospecting for SMB customers is not an easy task. Contrary to what is expected, the sales cycle can be as long as that of enterprise companies if it is not handled properly. Also, conventional approaches and channels used to reach enterprise customers will not yield the desired results. Guidelines for Mitigating Risk with Open Source Governance  By Steven L. Grandchamp, OpenLogic, Inc. Published: September 2007 It’s an all-too-common scenario: A programmer at a Global 2000 organization faces a looming deadline. After some research, he selects an open source software package that meets his technical needs and will allow him to get his job done quickly and efficiently. He downloads the selected software and goes to work, unaware of the potential implications of his choice. As in the scenario above, open source software often comes into an organization with no further consideration than whether it can do the job at hand. While open source software provides a functional, flexible and cost-effective option for enterprises, there are issues to consider that can have a significant impact on a business. Virtualization Means Challenges for Static Approaches to Network Security  By Jeff Palmer, Blue Lane Technologies Inc. Published: September 2007 Earlier this year at the RSA security conference RSA president Art Coviello talked about how older static security technologies (like the use of signatures to detect and block hackers from gaining access to protected information assets) are crumbling under pressure from cyber criminals. Art was widely quoted for good reason. He’s right. While there is no doubt that his predictions about signature-based security solutions becoming a waste of money (in the near future) will eventually ring true; I think even the security-savvy audience at RSA may have missed the irony of Art’s prediction. The Rebirth of Enterprise IT   By Chip Hazard and Jeffrey Bussgang, IDG Ventures Boston Published: September 2007 When Nicholas Carr wrote his now-famous Harvard Business Review article over four years ago, “IT Doesn’t Matter”, the most damning claim to our industry was that IT had become a commodity input – irrelevant as a source for strategic advantage. Many pundits, from Larry Ellison on down, began pontificating on the maturation, consolidation and eventual death of the enterprise software business – at least for companies whose names are not IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP or Symantec. Love ’em or Lose ’em: Retaining Talented Employees   By Maynard Brusman, Working Resources Published: June 2007 Even in a slower economy, attracting and keeping top talent is a serious concern for corporations. The problem is exacerbated by a growing propensity for people to change jobs frequently. After 20 years of downsizing, it is ironic that corporations are now concerned about losing employees. The problem is one of getting qualified and talented people into the right jobs and keeping them there. Dr. Maynard Brusman talks about how to retain talented and valuable employees for the company.  Choking on Your Own Success  By Brian Turchin, Cape Horn Strategies, Inc. Published: June 2007 Success unleashes its own critical leadership challenges. Unless you deal with them, failure can follow. Here is how you can tame three such beasts. Business success can be fleeting. One day, it’s champagne and caviar and the next it’s a Big Mac. It’s like success pushes you through the proverbial looking-glass into a new world, where you discover, much to your surprise, that what worked before, no longer works now. Learn more about some leadership problems… What’s a Minute Worth? By Ann Hamann, PeopleCube Published: June 2007 ROI is one of the most popular metrics that can be used to measure the financial attractiveness of a business investment, but calculating an accurate figure is not easy. Yet, when it comes to scheduling applications, the return is quite clear, as they help businesses get more done in less time and with fewer resources. From simple room booking to facility management, the result is a more productive business environment creating more time to devote to important business activities. SaaS – Relegate RFPs to the Trashcan By Justin Benson, Sales & Marketing, Intraware Published: May 2007 On-Demand applications have changed the way we think about implementing and managing our infrastructure. Many organizations that adopt hosted applications cite the benefits of time to market, reduced internal IT resources, alignment of costs with benefits to the business, and the ability to easily add new users or even business units. However, has your organization tapped into the benefits as it relates to purchasing new technology? Managing Change Can Improve Bottom-Line Results By Terri Levine, Comprehensive Coaching U Published: May 2007 Change is inevitable, and it becomes necessary when companies are struggling with low productivity, profitability, and poor morale. In such an environment, you might think employees would embrace an ‘out with the old, in with the new’ culture, but instead, when change is introduced into the workplace there is often a degree of resistance, anxiety, and sometimes even ridicule of the new methodologies. Best Practices to Streamline the Annual Budgeting Process By Don Howren, Global Marketing and Support, ADERANT Published: May 2007 The annual budgeting process is a painful lengthy process that consumes teams for weeks and results in a marginally useful plan that isn’t revisited until the next year when the process is repeated. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By implementing a few best practices, companies can condense the budgeting cycle and create more accurate, living plans that better reflect the dynamic nature of business and provide ongoing support for decision makers. In the end, it’s not about the budget; it’s about growth and performance improvement. Mentoring Managers: Key to a Successful Enterprise By Pam Randhawa, Phase Forward Incorporated Published: April 2007 A strong mentoring program is an often overlooked but incredibly valuable element in grooming and retaining star employees. It can be a powerful force in the professional development of staffers, and in turn, a key ingredient in an organization’s success. Employees who feel someone is looking out for their careers are more motivated to do their best work and to stick with the organization. Read on to find out more. The Hidden Risks in Financial Reporting By Dr. Soheil Saadat, Prodiance Corporation Published: April 2007 With over 200 million users worldwide, the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is the most ubiquitous analysis and reporting tool on the planet. Business users can create powerful and incredibly complex analyses models in Excel. A Google search on the keywords “financial analysis spreadsheet” returns hundreds of capital budgeting, risk valuation, cash flow, financial projections, and break-even analysis models. In fact, spreadsheets are being used in businesses globally to drive critical business decisions. Yet, with this power comes an inherent risk; find out how to re-gain control and avoid crises. Turning Opportunities into Projects and Vice Versa By Ludwig Melik, Tenrox Published: April 2007 Your sales team invests a lot of time managing their pipeline and creating opportunities. CRM solutions today are improving quickly, helping you manage your sales team, your pipeline, forecast sales, and track customer opportunities and service requests. But what happens after opportunities are closed? How can the sales team gain visibility into the services’ or projects’ execution / delivery? Find out. Intelligent Protection: Document Security for Your Data in Motion By Dave Malmstedt, Vincera, Inc. Published: April 2007 The need to secure sensitive data in motion has never been more pronounced. The speed of business necessitates e-distribution of intellectual property, personally identifiable information, and other privileged information via documents. Ironically, the tools that energize information distribution create fresh vulnerabilities for companies, so that your mobile 'secret' documents are more prone to theft, alteration, and illicit use than ever before. Yet with the right distributed-document security strategy, you can minimize stiff economic and brand losses without losing speed or efficiency. Is Your Software Competing with Invisible Shelfware? By Yee-Ping Wu, Knoa Software Inc. Published: March 2007 Adoption and problems with efficient and effective use of your software are not just your customer’s problem. An insidious new form of ‘invisible shelfware’, a condition where partial adoption and non-compliant use of enterprise applications is the hidden cause behind unrealized ROI, is threatening software execs especially because it directly attacks the ISV business model and impacts the maintenance renewals, expansion and cross sale opportunities. Learn how End-User Experience and Performance Management (EPM) software can protect your revenues and profits. The CRM Intersection: Where Business and Technology Collide By Benjamin Holtz, Green Beacon Solutions Published: March 2007 Technology has come a long way. New products in the market are making it possible for business users to create their own reports to analyze data and measure business performance against KPIs. These tools are allowing organizations to challenge their long-held anecdotal beliefs regarding which customers are the most profitable, and are enabling their sales and marketing departments to target individuals and organizations that are most likely to become profitable customers. This article reviews the intersection where business problems meet technology, allowing companies to get the most out of IT investments and to start achieving their business goals. Motivating and Retaining Top Talent By Karen Lawson, Lawson Consulting Group, Inc. Published: March 2007 Today’s workplace is a fast-paced and challenging environment. Global competition and rapidly changing technology have resulted in new skill requirements and more complex jobs with fewer qualified people to fill them. Faced with a shrinking talent pool and more ‘me-focused’ employees, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to attract, motivate, and retain top talent. The ‘old ways’ of leading and motivating just don’t work anymore. Effective leaders are those who learn how to create an environment in which people thrive and are committed to helping their organizations succeed. Got Ink? Increase Company Exposure with PR By Charles Erdrich, Avineon, Inc., Published: March 2007 Public relations is often considered to be a part of the marketing mix that is nice to have, but not required. Technology companies focus so intensely on developing and delivering their products and services that their effort to create positive awareness about their company moves farther down on the agenda. While many companies have considered instituting some degree of PR, they often fall short in developing a strategy and enacting a plan to execute PR tactics. Learn how to make a potent mix for sure shot success. Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget By Vas Srinivasan, Sonasoft Corporation Published: February 2007 Many companies spend millions of dollars in marketing their products and services, but with limited results. Money is important, but it has to be spent wisely. Excellent results can be achieved by being focused, understanding your customer pain points, and articulating your value proposition clearly. Especially, for small companies the task becomes even more difficult with limited marketing budget. This article talks about some useful marketing techniques that can be successfully employed to get good results. How can CEP Transform Business Process Automation By David Cameron, AptSoft Corporation Published: February 2007 The adoption of Complex Event Processing (CEP) is still in its early stages, but as studies indicate, the approach has real value in addressing a new class of very important business problems. As more organizations realize the unique benefits of the event-driven approach in today’s hyper-competitive market, growth will accelerate. Learn all about the CEP platform and the process involved in architecting an event-driven application. How Much is Your Influence Worth By Dr. Marlene Caroselli, “Principled Persuasion” Published: February 2007 Leadership guru John Maxwell maintains, “Leadership is influence. That’s it.” He asserts: “Nothing more. Nothing less.” Those leaders who occasionally find themselves seeking balance on the tightrope that spans influence and desired outcomes would do well to consider the ‘worth aspect’ that separates ethical influence from unethical manipulation. Learn more about where to draw the line between the two. 5 Strategies for Managing Linux By David Dennis, Levanta, Inc. Published: January 2007 Despite continuous and rapid evolution in the manageability of Linux, a survey conducted by the Institute for Partner Education and Development cited manageability concerns as one of the top three reasons why organizations hesitate to adopt Linux. However, Linux can be made as manageable, if not more, than other operating systems by following five key strategies which stemmed from experiences across a wide variety of customer environments. How is Selling SaaS Different By Jim Howard, CrownPeak Technology Published: January 2007 Pounding out product/feature matrix charts in RFP responses is a losing proposition for an SaaS vendor. While an SaaS product may have every feature under the sun, the reason customers buy an SaaS has little to do with features. Likewise, trying to sell around IT, or other technologists at a prospect can doom most sales efforts. Concerns around control and security will crush even the best SaaS offerings unless they are addressed head-on. Learn how selling SaaS is so different. Leadership by Persuasion By Dr. Maynard Brusman, Working Resources Published: January 2007 As a leader, your success depends upon your ability to get things done: up, down, and across all lines. Today’s organizations are politically complex and fluid, which blurs lines of formal authority. Colleagues continually question and challenge authority. The flattening of organizations has created informal power networks that render the old command-and-control style of leadership obsolete. Vertical Marketing Works – The Numbers Prove It By Olin Thompson, Process ERP Partners Published: December 2006 Every company wants to look at the numbers that count the most: revenue and expenses. Increasing revenue and decreasing costs are the results of an effective vertical strategy. It allows you to increase your win rate by increasing revenue and decreasing the cost of sales. This article helps you understand why a vertical strategy is good, and how it can make your sales and marketing initiatives effective. Leading Technological Change: Anticipating the Human Response By Diane Dixon, D. Dixon & Associates, LLC Published: December 2006 We readily acknowledge that we are living in 'The Age of Technology' but most would admit that the human response to it has been slower than the growth of technological innovation. Then what keeps people from embracing technology that will help them to do their jobs more effectively and ultimately improve service and/or product delivery? Ignoring or underestimating the human reaction to change is part of the problem. Understanding and anticipating the human response to technology is critical for successful implementation and advancement of innovation. How to Win Customer Trust By Lynn Daniel, The Daniel Group Published: December 2006 The question of trust applies in any market situation. Ask your customers if they trust your company to act in their best interests. See what they say. Listen for the expectations they have of your business. If those expectations are not being met, ask why? Remember, meeting those expectations at every point of the customer’s experience is a sure way to create a stronger company. It is a question of trust. It is also a question of the bottom line! This article will help you identify those areas that are critical to enhancing the level of customer trust in your company. How to Improve Your Organization’s Group Intelligence By Luis F. Solis, GroupSystems Corporation Published: November 2006 Chief Executive Officers worldwide are struggling with a common challenge: how to expedite innovation, achieve efficiency, and reduce process cost at the work group level versus the individual level. Whether called group productivity, team effectiveness or simply by the over-used moniker ‘collaboration’, the issue is the same. Is this really worth the worry? In this article, you'll learn the five mission-critical processes for innovation and growth. Finding Your Next Big Idea By Dr. Maynard Brusman, Working Resources Published: November 2006 The company that fails to continually innovate new products and services will not survive long. As competition becomes tougher and market challenges increase, innovation is an imperative for business leaders around the world. At the same time, not all innovations produce commercial success. Even the most seasoned executive may not recognize a good opportunity when it presents itself. What, then, can we learn about sources of innovation from both inside and outside the organization? How do you decide which bright idea to back and identify innovations that will yield commercial success? Vendors, Not All Revenue is Equal By Olin Thompson, Process ERP Partners Published: October 2006 Very few companies, if any, can be good at everything. Although many executives see that "all dollars are green" (at least in the US), the reality is that different types of revenue come at different cost. Be realistic on what is possible, how much you can afford to spend to get revenue, the timing of the expense versus the revenue and how much risk you are willing to accept. All revenue is green, but sometimes your revenue strategy can make your bottom line red. What Would General George Patton Do If He Were Your VP of Sales By Steve Martin, "Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom" Published: October 2006 When a German Senior Officer was captured toward the end of World War II, he said, "General Patton is the most feared general on all fronts. The tactics of the General are daring and unpredictable. General Patton is always the main topic of conversation. Where is he? When will he attack? Where? How? With what?" In sales, just as in war, there can be only one winner, and today's conqueror can quickly become tomorrow's vanquished. Learn what one of the greatest military minds in history has to teach us about defeating our enemies on the battlefield of business sales. The Blogging Phenomenon: How to Avoid Legal Implications By Alfred C. Frawley, Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios LLP Published: September 2006 Blogging is a phenomenon that attracts new writers every day. In fact, each hour two thousand new blogs are created. There are seven to eight million blogs or on-line diaries currently and the number grows. Individuals and businesses alike are reaching the online community via blogs because it is an efficient and inexpensive way to make your opinions widely known. But businesses should consider how a blogging policy could help avoid the legal implications of online publishing. A New Market Opportunity for IT Policy Control By Teresa D. Wingfield, Active Reasoning, Inc. Published: September 2006 Policies define the desired IT controls in an organization and what actions to take when controls, they violated, or parameters exceed acceptable thresholds. A number of factors are increasing the number of policies a company must implement. The alarming growth in security threats is escalating the demand for protection from them. As companies are turning to standards-based control frameworks such as ITIL, COBIT COSO, and ISO 17799 to improve their ability to deliver reliable support and services, they need policies that enforce their best practices and procedures. Don't Let Egos Sink Your Positioning Strategy By Lawson Abinanti, Messages that Matter Published: August 2006 To arrive at a successful positioning strategy requires a quest to discover the truth about your product, and why the target buyer should care about it. Let preconceived notions, personal biases and ego dominate your positioning process and you're leaving too much to chance. At every step during the positioning process, you filter information, make assumptions and decide which path to pursue. Even under ideal conditions, it's easy to head down the wrong path. In this article, you'll learn three steps along the way where ego - or denial or even sheer stubbornness - can lead you astray. Why Software Companies Must Consider Government Market By David S. Bloch, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and James G. McEwen, Stein, McEwen & Bui LLP Published: August 2006 Software companies typically sell to other companies and individual consumers. Left out of this mix is another very large potential market: local, state, and federal governments. By most accounts, the U.S. government is the world's largest consumer of goods and services. This article discusses why software companies should consider selling to governments. Discover why the government is a potentially lucrative market for software companies - a market that too often is neglected for reasons having more to do with myth than reality. Determine how to find and win a government contract, and understand specific rules for licensing software to the U.S. Government. How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Open Source By Richard Boyd, 3Dsolve Inc. Published: August 2006 When you spend your career doing something and finally learn to do it well, it is a bit disconcerting when someone changes all of the rules on you. As Alvin Toffler said in this fast-paced and mutable information age, the illiterate are not just those who can't read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. In my North Carolina vernacular that translates as old dogs need to learn new tricks. The whole point of this article is to encourage you to go out and fish, not necessarily to tell you where to find the best fishing holes. Crossroads: Deciding If and When a Founder Should Sell By Javier Rojas, Kennet Venture Partners LLC Published: July 2006 If you are an entrepreneur that owns a majority or major stake in your business, you are often faced with the question of whether and when you should seek to sell your shares. This can be the hardest decision to make because the stakes are high - both through indecision or a misstep, and at the same time emotional because of the potential changes involved. This article discusses an approach that can be used by any equity holder of a high growth technology company, but it is most relevant to founder-led businesses - where the founder owns the majority and is active in the business. Success with Outsourced Product Development By Peter Harrison, Induslogic, Inc. Published: July 2006 Fortune 1000 companies (F1000) have flocked in droves to outsource their software development as a way of increasing efficiencies and saving millions of dollars. More than 70% of the F1000 outsource some portion of their information technology today, making this activity completely mainstream. This market for Outsourced Product Development (OPD) is currently pegged at $1 billion but is expected to grow to almost $4 billion by 2008. Achieving success in OPD requires creative re-thinking of traditional outsourcing models and careful selection of an experienced partner. Learn how to choose the right model and pick a perfect business partner to stay ahead of the pack. Reinventing the Software Development Strategy By John Seybold, Guidewire Software, Inc. Published: July 2006 If you've spent much time working on software projects, you probably bear the scars from a "death march" release. This is the kind of release that just won't come together in a shippable state. You work and you work, but you keep finding bugs, and as soon as you fix one problem, you find another, deeper issue that was previously hidden. The main cause is usually that the team left a huge backlog of known and unknown problems to be fixed at the end of the release. Learn how to overcome the problem, and think from a broader perspective of reinventing your software development strategy. 'The Reality of Virtual Opportunities By Isaac Kato, General Catalyst Partners Published: June 2006 People escape to virtual worlds because they provide a forum to express alter egos. Whatever flaws you may have in the real world are erased when you enter the virtual world. As these virtual worlds have become more compelling places to be, people have started essentially living in them. Users have even started to make a living in the virtual worlds, and this provides real opportunities for a host of players. 'Effective Ways to Decrease Cyber Attacks' By Carl E. Banzhof, Citadel Security Software Inc. Published: June 2006 Today's businesses are confronted by a far broader and increasingly dangerous set of cyber threats than they were just a few years ago. New vulnerabilities are discovered each day and there seems to be no sign of them letting up. Worms, spyware, software defects, misconfigurations, unsecured accounts, and many more can cause your network to be susceptible to vicious cyber attacks. You need to create a plan of attack for securing your environment. Here's what to do... 'Why CIOs Should Not Make Technology Decisions' By CJ Rhoads, Enterprise Technology Management Associates, Inc. Published: June 2006 Is your CIO making technology decisions all alone? If yes, the recent findings would make you sit up. When CIOs are included on the decision-making team, they improve the overall use of Internet technology. However, when CIOs make the decision alone, they don't do any better than other decision-making groups. The decision-making record of CIOs on web development and e-commerce is simply not good. So, how does a CEO make sure the best technology decisions are made, and when does the CFO get involved? 'Mergers: A Change Agent for Software Development' By Chris Barbin, Borland Software Corporation Published: June 2006 Growth through acquisition has always been a leading business strategy for the world's largest software companies. What is new, however, is that many acquirers no longer just want small pieces of technology to integrate with existing portfolios. Oracle acquired Siebel Systems after its expensive battle to win control of PeopleSoft. Then Adobe merged with Macromedia to "own" the digital media market. Soon to follow was eBay's acquisition of Skype. The list goes on... but each merger comes with a major challenge: How to best manage distributed development environments? 'The Software Industry's Other Transition' By Paul Holland, Foundation Capital Published: May 2006 Recently, a new breed of software companies has emerged that help customers grow the top line. By associating their value proposition with increase in revenues, they've been able to appeal to the strategic interests of senior executives and consequently their average selling prices far exceed that of the typical industry average. Technology companies today are hard at work to help their customers make more money vs. simply slashing IT expenditures. 'How to Evaluate Knowledge Management Technology' By Mirghani Mohamed, Data Center, The George Washington University Published: May 2006 Because of the recent rapid convergence and the noticeable synergy between technology advancements and Knowledge Management (KM) principles, it is becoming more intricate to choose the right technology for any KM initiative. Most of the standard technology selection models assume that these technologies are conduits for data and information. Further, traditional selection models do not put into consideration features related to human cognitive process and social interrelations. 'The Failed Promise of High Tech' By Tom Northup, Leadership Management Group Published: May 2006 High tech promised the business world an easy way to enhance efficiency, save time, and increase access to information. Instead it has reduced interpersonal communication, shattered our ability to focus, made us accessible to anyone at any time, and increased the time it takes to complete projects. In order to achieve success in business, go back to the days before high tech, retake control of our time and rebuild personal communication skills. 'Software Buying Has Changed - Will Vendors Follow Suit?' By Olin Thompson, Process ERP Partners Published: April 2006 Software and services vendors talk about agility. They talk about keeping an eye on the market and meeting the needs of the customer. However, do they take their own medicine? How an enterprise buys software and services has been changing. Buyers are smart about buying technology. They are skeptical, risk adverse, and tighter with their budgets. What are those changes, why did they happen and what does it mean for the both the buying enterprise and the selling vendor? 'Corporate IT Security Resources are Wasted!' By Al Payne and Jim Litchko, Internet Security Experts Published: April 2006 Thirty percent of IT Security resources are wasted, because of the inappropriate approaches that are used to review a corporation's IT security needs and the misunderstanding of the roles and responsibilities for each of the key players: executives, IT managers and IT security professionals. Effective IT security programs are achieved when the IT manager is open, honest, motivated and realistic about the IT security status. This begins with conducting a practical system security assessment and ends with providing adequate safeguard options to reduce risk to an acceptable level for the business. 'Achieving Breakthrough Growth: From Ideas to Execution' By Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, Tuck School of Business Published: April 2006 How can companies simultaneously excel at today's business while building tomorrow's? It is a delicate organizational task. But new principles based on five years of research show that established organizations can build new futures when they design breakthrough new business units so that they can forget, borrow, and learn. Creating the future requires both breakthrough ideas and breakthrough execution. Ideas are crucial, but even the best ones are speculative. 'SaaS Not a "One Size Fits All" Paradigm' By Yuchun Lee, Unica Corporation Published: March 2006 The general paradigm shift will correct itself this year when software as a service will become part of the entire ecosystem. It's a very beneficial option for the market, but it's definitely not a "one size fits all" paradigm. Software vendors that will be successful in 2006 and beyond are those that can provide both on-premise and on-demand solutions, in one form or another. Companies that can't offer both are foregoing half of the market and will start to see challenges to their growth and leadership in the future. 'Are Your Customers Unhappy? Here's Help!' By Morris Panner, OpenAir, Inc. Published: March 2006 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provides real-time interaction between application vendor and customer that traditional client server companies can only envy. It is one of the key benefits of the SaaS model. What makes this possible? In any company, it is the customer support team. They are the first line of interaction with customers and the most important asset the company has. Most companies are unprepared for the new role of customer/application support. This article talks about how to get ready for the new world and how it will change every aspect of your business. 'What Great Leaders Believe In' By Paul B. Thornton, Be The Leader Associates Published: March 2006 What's the difference between a cab driver and a leader? A cab driver simply takes you from point A to point B. A leader takes you to a place you hadn't envisioned or thought possible. What drives a leader to pursue a better future? Leaders believe most people and organizations are under performing and capable of achieving much more. 'Silicon Valley CEO Failure: Seven CEO Lessons for 2006' By Steve Martin, "The Real Story of Informix Software" Published: February 2006 Silicon Valley is littered with far more failure than success. At first glance, you wouldn't think former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and ex-Informix Software CEO Phil White have much in common. However, there are striking similarities between these infamous Silicon Valley leaders and their failures provide seven important lessons for software CEOs for the new year. 'When Best Practices Aren't Good Enough' By Kay Hammer, Evolutionary Technologies International, Inc. Published: February 2006 To the average person, it seems like gross negligence that FEMA can't figure out how to route ice to the site of a hurricane when the navigational system in a rental car can adapt in real-time when a driver takes a wrong turn. Yet it is important to notice that the most dramatic breakthroughs in software over the past decade - e.g., Google or GPS technology - have not taken place in traditional IT shops, despite the fact that there are pressing needs like Homeland Security and SOX compliance that would constitute a huge market for new solutions. 'Managing New Revenue Streams: Think SaaS' By Robert O'Connor, Softrax Published: December 2005 Innovation is still the key to growth in the high tech business, but it has broader implications than in the past. Today some of the most important innovations are about the business model - how technology is being sold and delivered. Offering Software as a Service (SaaS) via subscription or utility models is reshaping key customer relationships for high tech companies. Along with the technical challenges, there are significant operational issues software executives must fully understand to successfully manage these new business models. 'Why 'SMART' Companies Never Fail' By Sydney Finkelstein, Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business and Eric M. Jackson, Jackson Leadership Systems Published: December 2005 Have you taken the necessary steps to help maintain and grow your software organization's pre-eminent market position? Over the last several years, research has uncovered the key differences between several successful companies that eventually failed in some manner and other very successful companies that have been able to retain and grow their market dominance. The latter can be described as "SMART Organizations," and they regularly track and improve in the Three Pillar areas of SMART Leadership, SMART Strategy, and SMART Process. This article elaborates on SMART Leadership and how to make it blossom in your software organization. 'The End of the Growth Run: What's a CEO to Do...' By Jim Mackey and Liisa Välikangas, Woodside Institute Published: December 2005 There are limits to corporate growth, which most CEOs will deny. Partly to blame are unrealistic investor expectations: when a company stalls, its market cap falls by 60%. Yet the liability of corporate size is an obvious numerical challenge. For Hewlett-Packard for example, whose 2002 merger with Compaq propelled it to $73 billion in revenue, sustaining the exceptional 17% annual growth rate it achieved over the prior 40 years, would have required adding $12 billion in revenue in '04 and $14 billion in revenue in '05 to put it over $100B today. Actual growth was only half this level slightly outpacing GDP to reach $87B in 2004. 'Open Source, Software-as-Services Threaten the Software Industry' By Larry Bohn, General Catalyst Partners Published: November 2005 Type the phrase, 'the end of software' on your Google toolbar and you see something remarkable. Not only do you get whopping 37 pages of results, but you see some of the technology industry's heaviest hitters weighing in on the issue. From Mark Benioff and Larry Ellison to IT and business publications to the grassroots movement of the 'blogosphere', the sentiment reads like an obituary for the software industry. 'Innovation: Getting the Right Information to Your Sales Team' By Massood Zarrabian, OutStart, Inc. Published: November 2005 Have you ever wondered how valuable meetings are for training your sales team? Almost every organization has regularly scheduled sales meetings with presentations and ad hoc interactions combined with team building exercises and some partying. The expectations are that at the end of the meeting, the attendees leave armed with all of the new product, service, pricing, and competitive information they need to do their jobs. 'A Moving Method for Leading Change More Effectively' By Dan Cohen, Deloitte Consulting, LLP Published: November 2005 Why do so many change initiatives fail to deliver the anticipated benefits? Research suggests that the single biggest challenge in any transformation is not culture, strategy or systems, but getting people to change their behavior. And people change their behavior less because they are given analysis that shifts their thinking, than because they are shown a compelling truth that influences their feelings. Using tactics, tools and examples from the recently published 'The Heart of Change Field Guide', Dan Cohen explains why this is so and offers readers practical suggestions for leading change more effectively. 'Team Spirit Built from the Top' By Jim Clemmer, "Pathways to Performance" Published: October 2005 Companies can make huge investments in technologies yet have indifferent frontline staff who demonstrate about as much enthusiasm for customers and their needs as a teenager for more rules and supervision. Companies can purchase the same equipment, technologies, products, people, brands, facilities and other tangible assets as their competitors. But they cannot buy the intangible culture of caring for customers or commitment to high quality that makes or breaks all their tangible investments. 'CEOs and Boards Are Locked in a Spiral of Doom' By Brent Filson, The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. Published: October 2005 American CEOs are dropping like flies. Boards, armed with new federal rules and stock exchange requirements coming in the wake of the corporate scandals of the past few years, are getting rid of under performing CEOs at record rates. This trend is all the more notable because it's happening during an improving economy and stock market. 'Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer' By Mike Roberto, The Harvard Business School Published: October 2005 Powerful, popular, and highly successful leaders hear "yes" much too often, or they simply hear nothing when people really mean "no." In those situations, organizations may not only make poor choices, but they may find that unethical choices remain unchallenged. Of course, conflict alone does not lead to better decisions. Leaders also need to build consensus in their organizations. 'The Chief Enabler' By John Baldoni, "Great Motivation Secrets of Great Leaders" Published: September 2005 The reputation of CEOs generally has taken a major hit due to recent corporate governance scandals, but there are signs that the spotlight is returning once again for those at the top. Part of that spotlight is scrutiny, but another part is hero worship. This is unfair to both CEO and the rest of the organization. Right now the tenure of a CEO at a multibillion-dollar enterprise seems to rival that of an NFL running back-three years and out. 'Performance Management Demystified' By Jonathan D. Becher, Pilot Software Published: September 2005 You've heard performance management touted as the cure-all business solution more times than you care to count - and likely in as many flavors. Perhaps you're not yet convinced that performance management is not just another panacea du jour that will soon take its place in the annals of management and technology trends whose promise fell short. If you have been tempted to dip your toe in the water and see what the clamor is about, perhaps you are struggling with where to begin. 'How Can So Many Chiefs Be So Wrong?' By Rajeev Rawat, BI Results, LLC Published: September 2005 Many a business lobbyist and even some in Congress are assailing regulatory requirements or strict enforcement as being excessive, redundant, draconian, and expensive. They seek to delay or roll back rules. Champions of industry are apprehensive about intense scrutiny of their actions. IT managers are shying away from stepping out to lead change. Aren't these efforts misguided, myopic, and wrong? Couldn't they do better by helping businesses and enterprises rebuild the fabric of the American enterprise? Let's take a closer look. 'You Need More Than Functions to Implement an ERP Package' By Joseph J. Strub, 3i InfoTech Published: August 2005 It stands to reason that, when selecting an ERP package, you must be sure that the software has the functions and features to support your organization. But once that assurance is obtained, now you have to worry about implementing the software. This article looks at four categories of tools that a vendor may supply and can make the implementation easier for your project team, end users, and IT department. Read on to see what tools you may want to have in your toolbox before proceeding with the implementation. 'What Every CEO Can Learn from Informix's Failed Acquisitions' By Steve Martin, "The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White" Published: August 2005 As President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Phil White and Informix Software were synonymous. At the height of his popularity he was recognized as one of Silicon Valley's most brilliant business leaders. Today, many consider him a black mark upon the software industry and the person responsible for one of the largest securities fraud settlements in Silicon Valley history. In this article we review how Phil White broke his own rules regarding acquisitions and how they contributed to the downfall of Informix. 'Three Profiles in Organizational Humility' By Patrick Lencioni, The Table Group Published: August 2005 There is nothing like humility in a leader to bring out the best in people. Humble leaders provoke levels of loyalty, commitment and performance that more egocentric ones can't quite understand. To a large extent, the same can be said of organizations. When combined with a clear sense of purpose and drive, humility can propel a seemingly ordinary company to achieve uncommon results, usually by creating an environment of teamwork and willingness to learn from mistakes. 'The Eight Steps to CRM Success' By Jerry Sparger, Global Business Solutions Published: July 2005 By some accounts, as many as 70% of all customer relationship management (CRM) projects fail to meet their intended objectives. Technology failures get most of the blame, but technology isn't the cause in most cases. Many failures are due to inadequate business strategy, poor process development and lack of employee support. If you correctly implement technology that supports the wrong strategy or processes, you have automated your failure. To get your CRM used, you need employees to embrace it. A successful CRM project balances strategy, process, technology and employee initiatives so that you address all of them within the time and resource limitations you face. 'Psyche Out the Trademark Office and Get What You Want ' By Susan Horwitz, Russo & Hale LLP Published: July 2005 Too often, companies, particularly the marketing arm within the company, are so focused on product branding that they fail to take into consideration the legal issues surrounding the trademark selection and registration process and the potential for problems with their newly selected mark. This company myopia can often lead to expensive and often futile rounds of arguments with the Trademark Office over the descriptiveness of the mark or over the likelihood of confusion of the mark with another. 'Why Entrepreneurs Need to Worry about Corporate Culture' By Kerry Patterson, VitalSmarts Published: June 2005 When Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard developed their first product more than sixty years ago, they were able to turn their innovation into an extraordinarily successful company because they had two visions, not one. Unlike most innovators and entrepreneurs who are single-minded monomaniacs in search of the next new idea, they felt equally strong about the nature of the company where their ideas would be nurtured through the product cycle. In a word, they worried about their corporate "culture." This dual vision made all the difference. 'Why Did We Lose the Big Deal? 5 Questions Every CEO Should Ask' By Steve Martin, "The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White" Published: June 2005 When we're closing business life's great! When we're on the losing side of a deal, it is easy to feel like our entire world has fallen apart. Losing is a subject that most salespeople and sales managers don't like to talk about. Therefore, the CEO plays an important role in understanding why we lost the big deal because unless we truly understand why we lose, we will most assuredly lose again. 'Coaching Can Work, But Doesn't Always' By Richard Boyatzis, Case Western Reserve University; Brigette Rapisarda, Star Alliance; Anita Howard and Scott Taylor Published: June 2005 While sitting on the long flight to Samoa, Roger Selden was nervous. It was not the flying. He was about to try being sensitive to others and a compassionate leader. For 30 years, Roger had refined and used his gruff style. He built and sold two companies and was now co-founder and CEO of United Health Services, a $1 billion dollar a year health care company. Lately he had been worried. He lost his CFO and VP of Sales. The turnover was becoming costly. The culture reflected Roger's style- it had become cut-throat and survival oriented. 'Increasing Revenue This Quarter: 4 Pragmatic Strategies' By Greg Gianforte, RightNow Technologies, Inc. Published: May 2005 Most firms have significant untapped potential to increase revenue quickly and yet do not act. Why? The four field-proven strategies for increased revenue described in this article require a new player sitting at the table: customer service. In most companies, customer service has more customer interactions than any other department and yet has no formal role in deepening client relationships. Defining a revenue generating role for customer service results in more revenue quickly and often with minimal effort. 'Don't Pass the Buck, Build an Innovation Culture' By Mark Turrell, Imaginatik, Inc. Published: May 2005 Innovation is the new watchword for today's business. Top executives constantly emphasize the importance of building innovative products, offering innovative services, and being more innovative thinkers in order to stay competitive. In a recent Bain & Company survey, nine out of ten senior managers saw innovation as a critical source of future competitive advantage. The ability to consistently capture, build and develop new ideas has a direct impact on revenue growth. Yet while all businesses want to be labeled innovation leaders, corporate America is passing the buck. 'Five Key Components of Market Leadership ' By Peter Gyenes, Ascential Software Corporation Published: April 2005 There is perhaps no greater validation of leadership than the actions of those who follow. Pick up a press release or piece of sales collateral from almost any technology company anywhere around the world today and you are bound to read the words "a leading provider of…" somewhere in the first paragraph. It is a given, and it is almost a requirement, but more often than not this four word phrase is a hollow declaration. 'What Business Value are You Receiving from Your Offshore Strategy?', By M.M."Sath" Sathyanarayan, Global Development Consulting, Inc, & D.E. "Don" Fowler Published: April 2005 Let's reduce costs by going offshore with some development or service functions! The board and management agree to set up offshore activities in a place like India, China, Russia, Slovenia, or Bulgaria. Time passes. Everyone is happy. Right? Well, maybe. Most companies are finding that their goals are not being met in a consistent way. Issues creep into the picture. These issues are really symptoms of deeper problems. 'Trade Secret Litigation: Are You Asking the Right Questions?' By Jack Russo, Russo & Hale LLP Published: April 2005 Trade secrets represent the "bread and butter" of software, e-business and other technology companies' intellectual property. Under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, a trade secret is information (such as a method, program, technique, etc.) that gives a company an advantage by that information's secrecy. Companies must protect these trade secrets from the inside out, controlling what information is brought in by employees and what information leaves the company through business relationships, through employee termination, or otherwise. 'The New Entrepreneur' By Bill Reichert, Garage Technology Ventures Published: March 2005 We are seeing a new generation of entrepreneurs emerging from the rubble of the high-tech crash of 2001, and it's a good thing for everyone -- except perhaps for those who yearn for "the good old days." Gone are the "tourists," as one venture partner comments disparaged the dot-com generation. Back are the "old fashioned entrepreneurs," as another venture partner referred to them -- the gritty company-builders who want to create something of lasting value, not just make a quick buck. 'How to Coach a Sales Rep Through a Deal' By Dave Stein, How Winners Sell Published: March 2005 What about the sales managers? Where were they? Coaching skills are not necessarily a job qualification for sales managers. Other managers were quite competent, but were focused on something else at that time, like winning another critical deal, filling a bunch of open headcounts, or just plain too busy to do an adequate coaching job. As I pose no threat to the sales manager, they or their superiors often call me in for this purpose. I love what I do. I don't want the sales manager's job. I only want their rep to win the opportunity. 'Invigorate Your Company in 2005' By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group Published: February 2005 CEO Outlook 2005 shows many longstanding habits of software vendors may be changing - for the better. Here's a checklist to be sure your company is keeping up with the competition. 'Why Sales and Marketing Are Always at Odds (and Sometimes War)!' By Steve Martin, "Heavy Hitter Selling" Published: February 2005 The ongoing conflict between sales and marketing is a "pink elephant" at many companies. No one wants to talk about the problem until it becomes so disruptive that it must be dealt with. In this article, we examine the root cause of this situation -- the divergent viewpoints between sales and marketing. 'Patent Litigation: Are You Asking the Right Questions?' By Jack Russo, Russo & Hale LLP Published: February 2005 Patents are increasingly becoming important to the overall intellectual property of software, e-business and other technology companies. The use of strategic patent litigation (for both offensive and defensive purposes) is also becoming critical to growing companies. What must executives and their board of directors know about patent litigation even before retaining counsel? We review the key questions you need to ask. 'A Look at Global Sourcing in 2005' By Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson, Offshore Outsourcing: Business Models, ROI and Best Practices Published: January 2005 What's in store for global sourcing in 2005? First, it's here to stay, especially in the areas of R&D and software product engineering. Second, the business world will see more companies from countries other than the United States and the United Kingdom begin offshore projects while established service providers and captive centers cope with rising operating costs and attrition rates. Greater demand for global sourcing and the ongoing management challenges should make for an interesting 2005. 'Key Value Drivers: How to Assess It and How to Fix It' By Dave Stein, The Stein Advantage, Inc., and Henry Bonner, Fairlead Capital Management, LLC Published: January 2005 What is your software company worth? There are many valuation models in use today but broadly speaking, traditional corporate finance models provide us with a view that the value of a business is the present value of its expected future cash flows. This model is often adjusted to look at revenues (Sales Multiple Model) or EBITDA (Free Cash Flow Model). 'Playing Hardball: Why Strategy Still Matters' By George Stalk, The Boston Consulting Group Published: November 2004 Today there are two extremes in business competition. Companies can play softball, relying on weak tactics that look like strategies, but do little more than keep the company in the game for the short term. Or, they can play hardball, employing tough strategies designed to rout, not simply beat, competitors. Which of today's companies are playing hardball? What strategies are they using to win? What will it take for firms to adopt and execute these strategies successfully? 'Extending the Rational Unified Process: RUP to EUP' By Scott W. Ambler, Ronin International, Inc. Published: November 2004 The Rational Unified Process (RUP) has been adopted by thousands of organizations worldwide to help improve their software development processes. Although software development clearly is important, it's only part of your overall information technology (IT) picture. Not only do you need to develop systems, you must also operate, support, and manage cross-system enterprise issues such as portfolio management, enterprise architecture, and strategic reuse -- to name a few. The Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) extends the RUP to meet the real-world needs of mid-to-large sized organizations. 'Are You Bowling With a Banana?' By Jim Watson, CMEA Ventures and By Tate Holt, Prescriptions for Growth Published: October 2004 A good sales plan is like a bowling ball. It's a model of excellent construction; perfectly symmetrical, well-balanced, and weighty enough to produce predictable results when wielded by the right person. Unfortunately, the sales plans used by many software companies more closely resemble bananas. Flawed in shape, size, and composition, they don't roll well and are too soft to knock anything over -- even if they're thrown hard enough to get to the end of the alley. The only good thing about them is that they're soft enough to accommodate three sturdy fingers. 'Internal Service Delivery Should Run More Like a Business' By Scott Hammond, newScale Inc. Published: October 2004 Recent surveys show that IT budgets are on track to increase anywhere from 2% to 8% this year. Good news: the IT spending freeze is over. But rather than investing in "novel" solutions that require massive infrastructure shifts, many organizations are instead leveraging technology to cut costs and improve efficiencies surrounding existing core processes. Internal service delivery -- the deceptively costly business of supplying employees with the tools they need to do their jobs -- is one "core process" now in greater focus for today's forward-thinking companies. 'Business Technology Leadership: What IT Means in the Early 21st Century' By Steve Andriole, TechVestCo Published: September 2004 Things are changing for business technology executives. What defined "leadership" just five years ago no longer plays on Mahogany Row. After the dot com crash, the Y2K non-problem and the nuclear winter that the technology sector has endured since 2000, business technology leadership is now about business performance. The new metrics are all about the business - growth, cost management and profitability. They are no longer about zero latency networks or desktop support. This article looks at these emerging leadership challenges and provides a wake-up call of sorts to any of us still stuck in the 1990s! 'Corporate Technology Spinouts: Why and How' By Andrew R. Garman, New Venture Partners LLC Published: September 2004 Corporate technology innovation is changing. Smart companies no longer feel the need to own and control all of their intellectual property. Sometimes the most profitable business model is to use others' technology. Intel, Microsoft and Cisco have demonstrated this repeatedly. Even more interestingly, sometimes the most profitable business model is to let others use your technology. This article examines the why and how-to of corporate technology spinouts. 'Enterprise Risk Management in Today's Information-Centric Environment' By Tery Larrew, Vericept Corporation Published: August 2004 Businesses of all types and sizes are confronting the complex challenge of managing enterprise risk. This means protecting its key information, safeguarding intellectual property, ensuring customer privacy, complying with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, and preventing legal liability. Ultimately this protects the company's brand, reputation and financial health. With more information being electronically stored and shared, and with communication tools such as instant messaging, peer-to-peer and web-based email being adopted, safeguarding sensitive information has become a challenge. 'Why Innovation Isn't Enough' By Terry R. Bacon and David G. Pugh, Lore International Institute Published: August 2004 As a business practice, the creation of new products, services, or gadgets constitute a futile and a useless exercise that may lead to bankruptcy. In any business-high tech or otherwise-innovations will only get you so far. Your business relationships, up and down your supply chain, will have as much to do with your success as any new product launch. 'Partnerships Become As Important As Cash For Today's Technology Startups' By Elliot Katzman,  Kodiak Venture Partners Published: July 2004 With entrepreneurs today needing to do more with less funding, the partnerships VCs can bring to the table are becoming as important as cash. So instead of simply seeking funding wherever they can get it, startups today should look for VCs with partnerships that can provide critical business and technology resources without increasing the burn rate. In this article, Elliot Katzman, Kodiak Venture Partners, examines how partnerships can be a make or break factor for startups today. 'Why Aren't We Selling More?' By Steve Martin, "Heavy Hitter Selling" Published: July 2004 Although new stories about offshore outsourcing continue to grab headlines, many companies remain silent on the topic. A few, however, have stepped forward to publicly offer complete versions of their offshore outsourcing experiences. Their experiences reveal, as many have been quick to say all along, that offshore outsourcing sometimes does more harm than good. Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson explore the top five reasons why offshore outsourcing projects fail. 'Five Reasons Why Offshore Outsourcing Projects Fail' By Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson, E-Business Strategies, Inc. Published: June 2004 Although new stories about offshore outsourcing continue to grab headlines, many companies remain silent on the topic. A few, however, have stepped forward to publicly offer complete versions of their offshore outsourcing experiences. Their experiences reveal, as many have been quick to say all along, that offshore outsourcing sometimes does more harm than good. Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson explore the top five reasons why offshore outsourcing projects fail. 'The Internet of Moving Things', By Michael Tanner, Managing Director, The Chasm Group By Cindy Rockwell, CustomerVision Published: June 2004 RFID startups have gained high visibility of late. But it's worth remembering that using RF tags to track status, location and condition of assets has been going on for a long time. Highway toll collection and our military use RF technology. And for over 10 years, companies have tracked baggage through airports, racks filled with inventory, trucks coming into dock-doors, and high-value assets through hospitals and other buildings. Yet we keep hearing that the RFID revolution is about to happen. But today, there are a number of things make the situation quite different... 'Emerging Business Models in Offshore Outsourcing' By Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson, E-Business Strategies, Inc. Published: May 2004 In the early 1990s, former General Electric (GE) chief executive Jack Welch declared that "70-70-70" would be his company's rule for sending technology work offsite: 70% would be done by outside suppliers, 70% of that overseas, and 70% of that in India. Today, GE is considered by many to be the most advanced practitioner of the offshore outsourcing business model. Offshore outsourcing has surfaced as both a strategic and tactical method of meeting new business demands. Similar to most business ventures, the challenge of offshore outsourcing lies not in envisioning it but in executing it. 'Avoid "Death by Meeting"' By Patrick Lencioni, The Table Group Published: May 2004 The greatest myth that exists about meetings is that they are inherently bad. As a business society, we've come to accept that meetings are unavoidably painful and unproductive-one of the necessary evils of organizational life. But the fact is, bad meetings are a reflection of bad leaders. Worse yet, they take a more devastating toll on a company's success than we realize. The key to improving meetings, however, has nothing to do with better preparation, agendas or minutes. To address the problem, leaders will need to take a contrarian view of meetings and apply a few basic guidelines. 'The Next Wave of Software Business Strategy' By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group LLC Published: April 2004 More than 1,100 executives packed the San Francisco Marriott last month for Software 2004, the first-ever industry-wide conference devoted to the enterprise software business. Dozens of speakers and panels presented their thoughts on the state of the software industry today, and where will go over the next several years. Sand Hill Group co-founder M.R. Rangaswami reviews the key findings from the event, including insights from presentations by Ray Lane (Kleiner-Perkins), Geoff Moore (Author, 'Crossing the Chasm'), and Sanjay Kumar (CEO, Computer Associates). 'IT is Dead? Long Live IT!' By Matt Miller and Steve Eskenazi, WaldenVC Published: March 2004 Remember the hype-infused nineties? When CEO's of the future would come from the CIO function? That was the not too distant past, when 'the internet was everything' and media outlets proclaimed that your 'most valuable asset would be your email address'. Only a few years later, the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other, climaxing with last May's Harvard Business Review Article: 'IT Doesn't Matter'. Matt Miller and Steve Eskenazi take a tempered view of 'post-apocalyptic IT' and the implications for venture investment. 'Engineers are from Venus, CEO's are from Mars' By Doug Roberts, Avolent, Inc. Published: March 2004 The gap between business executives and technologists continues to be a leading cause of failure within enterprise software companies. Very few executives possess both business and technical antenna; as a result, it is often left to chance whether or not the engineering agenda is tightly aligned with corporate goals. So what can leaders do about it? Doug Roberts discusses five critical questions every CEO should ask in the pursuit of effectively engaging engineering executives and their teams. 'Make your precious equity dollars go farther - think about leveraging venture debt' By Anurag Chandra, Lighthouse Capital Partners Published: February 2004 In today's fundraising environment, capital efficiency is paramount. Making equity dollars last is important for entrepreneurs since they come at the high price of forking over a percentage of company ownership. Venture debt can be a low-cost method for venture-backed companies to leverage their enterprise value to get more runway out of their equity dollars. Venture debts can give a young software company the extra time and resources needed to reach major product or customer milestones 'Creating Competitive Advantage and Sustained Growth For Your Software Company' By Jim Allen, Value Based, Inc. Published: February 2004 How will you create sustained growth for your company in the coming years? A recent Gallop Poll found that over 97% of senior executives expect business to get tougher over the next 10 years. After years of working with software sales and marketing departments we have boiled it down to what we call the 3-Ps… if we focus our time and resources in these three areas we will realize the highest return. What are these 3-Ps? Click to read more. 'Predictions for Software Finance in 2004' By M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group LLC Published: January 2004 This year will provide many opportunities for growth for software businesses. Contrary to what you might be hearing in the news, the software industry is very much alive today. The tough part is that the business has changed so dramatically from where it was even two short years ago. There is a new landscape of vendors, products and customers shaping the software industry. 'If I'm In Charge, Why Don't People Do What I Tell Them To?' By Steve Martin, "Heavy Hitter Selling" Published: January 2004 Have any of these scenarios ever happened to you? As you closed your staff meeting, you already knew the agreed upon action items wouldn't get done. After months of wining and dining the perfect candidate to join your executive team, you're blindsided by his or her decision to join another software company. The venture capitalist that seemed so interested last week won't return any of your calls. If people aren't following your lead, perhaps it's time to take a look at the principles of persuasion 'Directors of Financially Troubled Companies Beware', By William Gehrke, Hale and Dorr LLP Interview (Part I) Published: December 2003 So you are a member of the board of directors of an enterprise software company that is encountering financial difficulties. You are concerned about your company but also about your own legal duties and risks as a director. Do you think you are protected from liability if you act solely in the best interests of your company's stockholders? Think again. 'Budgeting Trends for Information Security' By PricewaterhouseCoopers, "Trendsetter Barometer" team Published: December 2003 Nearly half of fast growth companies suffered information breaches or business espionage over the past 12 - 24 months, despite beefed-up precautions since 9/11. PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Trendsetter Barometer" interviewed CEOs of 402 privately held product and service companies identified in the media as the fastest growing U.S. businesses over the last five years. The surveyed companies range in size from approximately $5 million to $150 million in revenue/sales 'Open Source Challenges For Software Sales Teams' By Henry W. (Hank) Jones, Intersect Technology Consulting -and- Law Office Published: October 2003 Are you "OSS-SOL" or "OSS-OK"? Your road-tested, career-long plans for selling no longer provide an adequate playbook. The old rules for selling software don't govern the entire game anymore. Over seven months ago, the cover story of CIO magazine said "The CIO who doesn't have an open source software plan implemented in 2003, will be paying too much for software in 2004." Way back in the springtime, the emergence of Linux and other open source was the cover story of Business Week. What have you done about it? 'Systems to Grow' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: September 2003 One of the biggest challenges that companies face as they become successful is putting appropriate processes and systems into place. While this may seem like an obvious part of management, the most successful and fast-growing young businesses can be the most challenged because they are moving so quickly that it is difficult to pay serious attention. So what happens when the initial growth party is over? 'The Innovation Equation' By Anthony W. Ulwick, Strategyn Published: September 2003 Companies depend on innovation for their long-term survival - yet the innovation process is plagued with uncertainty, risk, surprise and failure. Fortunately, innovation doesn't have to be a chance occurrence or a random event that is contingent on serendipity or luck. There is a better way, but first leaders must recognize that innovation is not an art form - it's a business process 'The Multi-Enterprise Market' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: August 2003 Incredible opportunity continues to exist in the enterprise software market, but the model has completely changed. In years past, common software sales wisdom dictated the importance of first creating customer references within a niche, then leveraging those success stories into other markets. But what happens when customer success depends not on user adoption, but multi-enterprise adoption? In today's market, the solution is the network - and the consequences for enterprise software companies are immense. 'The Next Generation of Analytic Software' By Anita Rao, Garage Technology Ventures Published: August 2003 Rapidly changing business conditions are driving the demand for a new generation of analytic software, making it an area ripe for innovation and investment. Now, more than ever, managers of both large and small corporations require real-time visibility into business operations and the ability to react immediately to a dynamic business environment, or they risk paying a penalty-like writing off inventory, or losing orders due to stock outs. In addition, new corporate governance requirements have increased the pressure on executives to build transparency into all aspects of their business activities. Thus, the growing need for a new breed of analytic software to help achieve the Intelligent Enterprise. 'The Zen of High Tech Marketing' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: July 2003 One of the major requirements for succeeding in software to have a keen ability to deal with not just the details, but with abstractions of details. It's a natural phenomenon for us to lose the ability to abstract as we become more knowledgeable. We live in a world where just understanding the products we sell requires so much concentration and attention to detail that in some ways, we can actually become more impaired as we get smarter because we lose the ability to abstract up to a level that can be digested by others. Mike Tanner writes about the 'Zen' of High Tech Marketing 'Calling all 'Software as a Service' Deals' By Sharon Wienbar, BA Venture Partners Published: July 2003 BA Venture Partners is aggressively seeking new 'software as a service' deals and even issued a press release encouraging entrepreneurs to get in touch. Sharon Wienbar explains why she and her partners are newly intrigued by the ASP business model and invites readers to participate in a research project on the business model sponsored by her firm 'In Search of the Perfect Business Model' By J. William Gurley, Benchmark Capital Published: June 2003 As companies continue to slog through this muddy economy, many executives are looking deeper into customer metrics in an attempt to uncover some little nugget that might give them a competitive edge in the marketplace. Marketing managers are digging through piles of customer data, evaluating every little thing from the cost of customer acquisition to customer churn, share of wallet and frequency of customer engagement. What if a company could generate a higher level of satisfaction with each incremental usage? What if a customer were more endeared to a vendor with each and every engagement? What if a company were always more likely to grab a customer's marginal consumption as the value continued to increase with each incremental purchase? This may be the nirvana of capitalism - increased marginal customer utility. 'Navigating the Post-Acquisition Minefield' By Mark L. Feldman, The Five Frogs Group Published: June 2003 Doing the deal is no longer an art. It's a drill - an exercise in financial and legal gymnastics. Over the last half-century, the same basic variables has been twisted and stretched through hundreds, perhaps thousands, of permutations. A wealth of deal making knowledge has been created. Yet most deals still fail to create value for shareholders. Why? The real art of the deal lies in the post-merger transition - and there are so few artists. 'Category Convergence' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: June 2003 May you live in interesting times! So goes the famous blessing (or curse) that is being played out in our industry today. Certainly, the "times" that we live in are "interesting," and we are all increasingly blessed with both excitement and opportunity. But the "curse" is uncertainty and dramatic change that seem to be happening at a breathtaking speed. In the software and web-enabled services markets, one of consistent themes being expressed today by many is the idea that the industry still has dramatic consolidation ahead of it. Will the consolidation scenario play out? How do Software CEO's respond? 'Prospecting for Offshore Value' By M.R. Rangaswami, The Sand Hill Group Published: May 2003 Most software companies say they are offshoring at least some of their development or support services. The reality is that most haven't scratched the surface. When most software companies began leveraging offshore services during the technology boom of the late 1990s, the main incentive was to find skilled programmers and other staff - a scarce commodity domestically. Today's sagging economy means smart enterprises are still looking overseas but for different reasons. Wall Street has demanded lower operating costs and offshore services firms have helped deliver. But this motivation may be short sighted. 'Pre-IPO software companies: meet the Sarbanes-Oxley Act' By William Gehrke, Hale & Dorr Published: May 2003 If you're like most software investors or entrepreneurs, chances are that M&A is your best chance for a liquidity event. Any ISV thinking about a liquidity event will need to pay serious attention to the Sarbanes Oxley Act; even though the rules are designed for public companies, the implications for pre-IPO startups are immense. Bill Gehrke, Senior Partner at high tech law firm Hale & Dorr, explains what software CEO's and investors need to worry about, and how to best prepare 'Killing The Platform Legend' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: May 2003 The world seems to think there is a well-known process for creating rapid adoption of technology products. The story would read like science-fiction had it not been loosely repeated over the years by such leaders as Cisco, SAP, Microsoft, Autodesk, Oracle, Peoplesoft, Siebel, Intel, and a host of other popular technology companies. In fact, by hiring successful people from companies such as these it can be easy to get the impression that by following the cookbook, success is assured. But here is an important truth to think about: history is written by the winners. 'Leadership Under Crisis' By Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, Recognition Group, LLC Published: April 2003 To paraphrase Justice Stewart, flawed leadership is one of those things you know when you see. You don't have to be a corporate restructuring professional to be able to pick out a CEO in denial (a quick perusal of daytime business cable TV should do the trick) or a company embarking on a quixotic new market strategy while ignoring its most basic failings in client service. But as someone who is interested in helping a business navigate an operational or financial restructuring, what sorts of personalities in the executive suite can impede progress? What traits do you look to avoid? And, ultimately, what do you do about it? 'Why BA Ventures likes Consumer Deals' By Sharon Wienbar, BA Venture Partners Published: March 2003 Dotcoms were the first sector of the economy to collapse and backlash against consumer & retail investment business plans followed. So why is the enterprise software group at BA Venture Partners so interested in consumer deals? Sharon Wienbar, a veteran of enterprise software, makes a compelling case for re-evaluating end user opportunities. 'The Danger of Underestimating Communication Strategy' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: March 2003 The biggest myth in business is that ideas, proof points, and execution are anything more than 50% of the success equation. Whether you're a software CEO raising capital, trying to gain board approval for a new corporate strategy, or closing an enterprise customer, winning comes down to communication. Most executives seem to think that after a decade or two in the business, they've mastered it. They're wrong. Mike Tanner discusses how poor communication causes failure, and how to get better at it in a hurry. 'The Future of Software' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group Published: February 2003 Putting aside the economic uncertainty of the times, there is a macro-level transformation occurring in the software industry that is slowly happening before our very eyes, but which many software CEO's and executives have failed to reckon with. Understanding the implications of this transformation will start to answer the question about "when things will get easier. 'PR Strategies for Enterprise Software' By Sabrina Horn, The Horn Group Published: February 2003 The software business is still in a slump. So does PR even matter in today's market? Absolutely, writes Sabrina Horn, a Silicon Valley Hall of Fame inductee and President of one of the most widely respected software-focused PR firms in the world. In fact, PR can be a strategic sales tool - if you do it right. Sabrina Horn explains how. 'Software IPO Review: 2002' By Bruce Hadley, SoftwareCEO.com Published: January 2003 For software companies struggling through the past year's stagnant economy, with frozen IT budgets and increased encroachment from starving competitors, 2002 probably didn't feel like a particularly positive year. The M&A and IPO metrics, however, point to renewed health - or at least a return to normalcy, which in our book is a healthy thing. 'Find Out What's Really Going On' By Dave Stein, The Stein Advantage, Inc. Published: December 2002 When it comes to the valuation of a technology company, a track record of achieving sales targets is clearly important. However, looking backward at past performance is not an automatic indicator of how a company will perform going forward in time. In order to maximize your firm's return on investment you'll need to be certain that the CEOs and VPs of sales of your portfolio companies are building a solid and scalable platform to support growth through sustainable, long-term sales performance. 'Conquer Team Dysfunction' By Pat Lencioni, The Table Group Published: December 2002 Like it or not, all teams are potentially dysfunctional. This is inevitable because they are made up of fallible, imperfect human beings. From the basketball court to the executive suite, politics and confusion are more the rule than the exception, which is a shame because the power of teamwork is substantial. 'Software CEO Summit' By Sharon Weinber, BA Venture Partners Published: November 2002 Early in October, BA Ventures hosted an offsite for the CEO's of it's portfolio software companies. After a review of bubble and post-bubble market data, the floor opened to heated debate on best practice concepts for early stage software companies. Sharon Wienbar reviews the key ideas that emerged after the smoke had cleared, including some surprising opinions on sales strategy. 'Looking at Failure' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group, LLC Published: November 2002 In the technology sector we worship success. With the Horatio Alger cookbook of striving and succeeding as our inspiration, we spend our waking hours dreaming up new technologies, products and businesses that will change the world and the way we live and work. Our business plans uniformly forecast an "S-curve" growth trajectory that any new venture investor will tell you is so typical that it could almost be a clip-art model. We assume that new technology innovation will be so compelling that (after a few "seed units" of course) the world will basically beat a path to our door. We just expect that with the right plan, the right resource and the right team, we will be fantastically successful. Wouldn't life be so much simpler if business really worked that way? 'Investing in the "Real" New Economy' By Charles O. Heller, Gabriel Venture Partners Published: November 2002 Every article written today about venture capital must begin with the fact that there has been a radical decrease in investing during the past two years. Some wonder if this fall-off is a result of a drop in demand for private equity or a decrease in interest by VCs to invest - or perhaps a bit of both. Charlie Heller provides an update on the current climate and mindset of venture investors, and how startups need to adjust their tactics accordingly. 'What Getting Real in Today's Environment Really Means' By Phillip Lay, The Chasm Group Published: September 2002 After two years since the Internet bubble was first punctured, how real have most company CEOs and their teams become when managing the predicament they are in? Read about Phillip's views on how many executive teams and Boards of software companies still have 'hope-based' attitudes in today's economic conditions. 'A Venture Partner's quarter end advice for CEOs' By Sharon Weinber, BA Venture Partners Published: September 2002 "How's the quarter?" is the start of most of my conversations with CEOs during this time of the quarterly cycle. Their answers reveal many aspects of their business, not just the scoreboard thus far. CEOs typically come from a couple of different backgrounds, and those past experiences color their approach to running the company. My advice to CEOs of almost any stripe is to "go see for yourself" how the quarter is. 'Questionable Corporate Behaviour: Ethics in the Boardroom' By Jim Matheson, Flagship Ventures Published: August 2002 Fresh from a recent vacation visiting the historic hills of Virginia and North Carolina, Jim Matheson shares his personal thoughts on how to turn the tide of public opinion in light of the recent deluge of questionable corporate behaviour. 'On Leadership at BEA Systems' By Alan Fudge, Americas, BEA Published: July 2002 BEA Executives and Managers are privy to a series of special essays about direct leadership from Alan Fudge. He has granted permission for the first of these memos to appear in the Sterling Report. 'Are Software Sales 'soft'? Here's what to do about it.' By Tom Lavey, MS2, Inc. Published: July 2002 Many promises were made by early stage ISV's (perhaps YOU) about "viral marketing" or the "network-effect". It was supposed to give you more customers automatically, at low cost of sales because your customers would introduce your product to their customers (or suppliers) and they would introduce it to THEIR customers, etc. etc. until you magically had 80% market share and zero cost of sales. That didn't happen, did it? Why it didn't is the key to revitalizing your company. 'A Venture Partner's Advice to Startup Executives' By Raj Atluru, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Published: July 2002 One of my biggest frustrations with early stage software companies over the past couple of years is that everyone seems to have forgotten how to "Hug Thy Customer". Let's turn the clock back 8 years. The US economy was just beginning a massive technology investment wave. Large enterprises were driven to upgrade their existing IT applications and infrastructure. Then everything changed. 'The Perfect Software Entrepreneur' By Michael K. Tanner, The Chasm Group, LLC Published: July 2002 Recently, I visited a conference in San Jose that targeted entrepreneurs in the software / technology industry. You might think that after all the torrents in the public markets and high-tech meltdown during the past couple of years, such a conference would be pretty lackluster. But the aura around the San Jose convention center this particular morning was downright jubilant. It was as if through some freak of quantum physics I had been transported back in time to 1999. And, I did not want anyone to beam me up.

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