Delivering software as a service (SaaS) holds the promise of cost reduction, quick deployment, lower implementation risk and higher ROI.  In addition, SaaS applications marry the business users with the application and with the application vendor providing services to fill the skills gap between the customer’s processes and industry best practices.  But as SaaS and the cloud move onto nearly every enterprise IT agenda, the potential has been realized incrementally in a “patch work quilt” approach rather than any larger shift in architecture.  In other words, it’s being used as an effective fix for small “rips” in the fabric of IT.  The question is, why aren’t companies using this effective tool for stitching together more of what matters for making businesses better?

Typically, many of the lower risk processes like email and calendaring have been moved over quickly and successfully to SaaS but they are more of commoditizing an IT operation rather than revolutionizing operations within a company.  Certain other SaaS application areas like customer resource management and marketing automation have taken a revolutionary role to standardize certain processes for companies of all sizes.  It seems where SaaS gets the most “bang for the buck” are the areas within companies that provide a high level of “application leverage.”  That’s where (similar to financial and operational leverage), an advantage is gained when the effort implemented is minimized and is out of proportion to the value received.  In a nutshell, this is minimum effort for maximum results.  This is something that companies wrestle with every day because these are the functional areas fraught with frustration, undo complexity, and risk.  So which application is next? … more

PLEASANTON, Calif.- Aug. 30, 2010 – The scope of both the data and the technology that finance departments have to work with has expanded considerably, and new benchmark research released today by Ventana Research indicates that organizations are aware of the potential for providing leadership to the organization through the application of analytics, but have a ways to go in developing relevant metrics and KPIs and providing them when decision-makers need them.

This major research on Finance Analytics, the latest from the leading business technology research firm, analyzed input from hundreds of organizations around the world to assess the maturity and direction of their efforts. Ventana Research undertook this benchmark research to acquire real-world information about maturity, trends and best practices in how finance organizations use analytics. It explores how they do this now, how their people feel about the current processes and tools, plans they have to change or improve them, and benefits they hope to gain by doing so. … more

I was recently interviewed by education.com in regards to my thoughts on what tech skills children need to help them now and to prepare them for the working world.

My first thought was spreadsheets – my view is if you can’t do at least basic Excel, then don’t bother applying. Students should at the very least understand how to keep track of data in a spreadsheet, and be able to use basic formula and graphing functions. One way to get started would be to have him or her keep track of his earnings and expenditures in a spreadsheet…. A personal P&L. … more

When I founded Host Analytics, the concept of SaaS was in its infancy. As we grew, so did our understanding of the true potential SaaS presented to retain and grow our customers.  Like any young company we struggled to understand what our customers were telling us and how to use that information to be a better company.  But no matter what changed in our business the one thing that stayed constant was the question that keeps me up at night to this day “how do we know if we are delighting our customers?”  One day the answer became clear; the real power of SaaS is the ability to engineer a customer experience directly into our software, services or any touch point with our customer that answers that burning question.

We did two things to achieve this. First, we ourselves became a 100% SaaS company. We could not ask our customers to invest in a new business model that we ourselves were not willing to live by. By being a customer of SaaS we saw what our customers saw and were able to use that to directly shape our own business. Second we started a Customer Success Department. This engineered experience is a self-sharpening blade designed to monitor and change the customer experience by honing our business continually.  The Customer Success Department at Host uses many tools but includes: … more

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Aug. 9, 2010 - Host Analytics, the leading provider of on-demand corporate performance management (CPM) solutions, today announced recognition from leading industry-analyst firm SMB Group in a report on the rapidly growing Corporate Performance Management solutions industry.  Host Analytics was one of the seven providers SMB Group examined for its July 2010 report, entitled “Corporate Performance Management Solutions for Mid-Market Enterprises.”

In the report, SMB Group examines current trends within the market, the challenges that mid-market firms face in the CPM area and how CPM solutions can help them address these challenges. … more