Why Apple Sucks in the Enterprise

If Apple's recent iPad sales are anything to go by, they're absolutely killing it. Last week's iCloud announcement also positions them well to capture the consumer cloud storage market and further entrench them as the online music store leaders.

But what about the mid-market and enterprise?

Here platform vendors need to build an effective ISV channel to reach customers with often complex and bespoke requirements. Microsoft got this so right with Windows that their dominance has thus far lasted over 30 years.

My employer, KnowledgeTree, is a cloud document management software vendor servicing mid-market customers in finance, operations, HR, and legal. KnowledgeTree’s customers include Global 2,000 customers such as Alcatel-Lucent, Panera Bread, Orbitz, Miramax, and Fujifilm.


We recently launched an Android tablet app and would like to do similar for the iPad and iPhone. Unfortunately our customers are yet to see the app in the iTunes App Store: it has been stuck in Apple's "app review" purgatory for 2 months.

We'd love to work with Apple, and so would our customers. Is this delay related to Apple's iCloud consumer offering, or does Apple need to learn a lot more about how to work with enterprise software vendors?

While other vendors have recently made moves to kill their ecosystem (yes, you Twitter), I'd like to view this as a learning curve issue, rather than a premeditated effort at squashing a tangentially competitive ecosystem.

Why should Apple work to build an enterprise ISVs ecosystem? Simply put: the mid-market and enterprise are lucrative, and while Apple has to date relied on consumer driven corporate adoption, their consumer market share growth (and margins) are about to face stiff challenge from Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 and Nokia. Apple's iPads are often purchased by our customers with the sole purpose of using our apps.  Support your enterprise ISV ecosystem, become the de facto platform in the enterprise and you retain your margins and growth.

Why should Apple approach enterprise ISVs differently to consumer app developers? Enterprise ISVs have complex release programs with many moving parts. We need to deliver on our commitments to customers, and actively engage with the media and analyst communities around our launches. This requires much planning, and some element of certainty around release dates.

So, what does Apple need to do to fix this situation?

1. Transparency - we know Apple has recently attempted to fix the black hole that is the iTunes app approval process but being responsive with meaningless templated emails does nothing to cure the approval process of its byzantine feel. Apple: assign a relationship manager to enterprise ISV partners, give us a real person to email, and empower them to do their jobs, even if it is to reject an application for non-compliance with your T&Cs. 
2. Consistency - And secondly, transparency goes hand in hand with consistency: a coherent and well understood interpretation of your T&Cs, both by Apple's own team and its partners. Apple, be open, upfront and consistent in your interpretation of these T&Cs. If you reject an app for reasons other than your T&Cs, have the courage to communicate your reasons and amend your T&Cs. As a platform vendor you have an obligation to do so. We need to understand the rules of the road, and they can't be applied capriciously.

So, hey Apple, your ISV stakeholders are key to the enterprise. Don't treat us with disinterest - our apps can help you take the corporate market. As a great believer in the iPad and iPhone as a platform for business, I sure hope you get this right. I'd hate to see inferior offerings become the de facto business tablet.

You ignore Microsoft's (and possibly RIM's) existing enterprise relationships at your own peril.

Welcome to the #Cloud, @Apple. How we might work together…

Wow, kudos to Apple on their iCloud announcement today. I for one am extremely keen on trying out their new OS’s and iCloud service. Apple has often been highly successful at building a coherent vision from many disparate threads, and executing flawlessly on that vision. I think this is one of those moments.

Apple is taking the abstract concept of the cloud to millions of consumers, and making it real by demonstrating how they can sync their content across devices, and no longer lose precious photos, favorite music and phone data in the inevitable “toilet tumble”. Microsoft’s “take it to the cloud” campaign attempted to do this, but Apple makes it a reality by solving everyday problems beautifully.


At my employer, KnowledgeTree, we're now looking forward to working with the many more companies that have been educated on the enormous value that the cloud brings.

KnowledgeTree helps companies derive value from their business content. We’d love to work with Apple in doing so. We love their devices, we love their software. And so do our customers.

We work with mid-market and global 2,000 companies who want to share, control and drive actionable insight from the content they create. They want to do so across their organizations, or within smaller departmental or team groupings. And they want to use their browser, mobile device, Office applications, and / or desktop.

Their IT and risk teams are concerned about how to manage and control this content. They want to ensure that access, retention and destruction policies are adhered to across the enterprise. They’re very nervous about shadow content and data. We know Apple gets this as we’ve seen the evolution their mobile operating systems have gone through in support of IT’s objectives here.

KnowledgeTree would love its customers to be able to use the new iCloud services alongside their enterprise managed business content. And just as easily.

So, Apple, below are some thoughts on how you and KnowledgeTree might work together.

1. Move beyond the individual
   
   Content does not exist in a vacuum. At the office, we work in teams. Whether these are project-based, or entire departments. We need iCloud content to be shareable, and iCloud to be group aware. This ties into point (2) below.
2. Support rights and policy management
   
   IT hates losing control, even in the cloud. You’ve given them tools to control user’s mobile devices, but you need to go further by giving IT tools to control their user’s cloud content. Allow IT to authorize business and personal content segmentation, and to drive policy around public and group distribution, storage and retention of business content. We’d hate for our personal photos to end up in the enterprise-wide document vault, likewise that strategy document really does have its place.
3. Expose customer content via the API
   
   From today’s announcement, we know there is going to be an iCloud API. We get that you don’t want iCloud to be a walled garden. Allow this content to be exposed, searched and secured, all via the API. Imagine the creative apps that will spring up around this content (including KnowledgeTree’s ability to support some of your user’s business objectives).

I think KnowledgeTree’s collaboration and other business features, leveraged alongside the iCloud offering on your gorgeous devices would make for a beautiful relationship.

Oh, and Apple, please approve KnowledgeTree's iPad and iPhone apps. It’s been a long wait, and as you’ve seen from the above, we’d love to play with you. And so would our customers.

10 Cloud-Based Apps That Give Mid-Sized Companies a Competitive Edge

There’s really no excuse for not using cloud-based applications. There are so many B2B cloud apps that are proven and popular. It’s more about a mindset change. Recently, I was delighted to read in InformationWeek that 74 percent of SMBs will be increasing their spending on cloud-based software this year. After all, with SaaS, what’s not to like – scalability, no expensive hardware to maintain, anytime/anywhere accessibility and, one of my favorites, constant innovation cycles.

I’m always eager to find out which cloud apps are being used by mid-market organizations to fuel their business engines and, based on my discussions with peers and customers of KnowledgeTree’s cloud-based document management solution, here’s the list I compiled:
Recruitment/HR

1. Resumator – online recruiting, resume reviews and applicant tracking. I’ve used Resumator recently as we’ve been expanding and hiring. Resumator has turned out to be a real lifesaver, and an awesome app for managing hiring workflow.
2. Paychex – streamlines payroll, taxes, and employee processes. The big benefit of Paychex for mid-sized is that it allows one person to perform those processes while still having time to complete other tasks. Paychex alleviates a lot of paperwork burden and ensures your company is compliant with federal and state employee laws.

Sales/customer service/marketing

1. SugarCRM– the customer relationship management application launched in 2004. The free, open source edition has been downloaded more than seven million times.  A use case on the Sugar website cites how Brighter Business uses Sugar for business processes and customer needs, including e-commerce, financial sector best practices, credit card payments, and custom workflows.
2. Pardot – this on-demand marketing automation app is being used by 400+ SMBs to dramatically drive lead generation. It boasts a rich feature set, ease of use, and flexibility as its winning ingredients.
3. ZenDesk – these guys are making online helpdesk and customer support cool and fun.  The company touts more than 5,000 customers, including Twitter and SAP, and aims to “fully democratize the ‘help desk,’ making it possible for any company small or large to provide superior customer service while also empowering their customers.”

Collaboration/communication

1. GoToMeeting – Nearly everyone in business uses GoToMeeting or another online meeting service nowadays. Users can share presenting capabilities with colleagues around the world, and enjoy more productive meetings than the simple conference call. 
2. Skype – Probably my favorite business tool, and ironically, possibly my favorite personal application as well.  With many of my KnowledgeTree colleagues based in South Africa, we use Skype daily for planning meetings, and general catching up.  The face-to-face functionality adds a personal touch I particularly enjoy.  Best of all, it’s free to use.
3. Evernote – This is an incredibly useful tool for me.  Oftentimes when I travel, I’ll think of an idea I want to share with colleagues, but many times I’d not write it down, and alas, my great ideas might be lost forever, were it not for Evernote.  I use it capture and store information from any device – my iPhone, iPad, laptop – and it will be stored safely in the cloud.  Evernote’s indexing capabilities make it easy to organize thoughts, ideas, and anything else on my mind.
4. Google Docs – A free web-based office productivity offering, allowing users to share documents, spreadsheets, and other business applications. Google has done very well in bringing these features to small business owners who don’t require the sophistication of document management solution.

Backup

1. Carbonite – Makes backing up multiple computers simple and hassle-free.

All or some of these great apps are being used by many of the savviest, fastest-growing organizations, including Bump Technologies, Fat Wallet, TheaterMania, Orbitz, ShareCare, ZoomInfo, Deposco and hundreds more. In fact, to me, for any company that’s no longer a start-up but not quite an enterprise, cloud apps are the perfect fit.
Which cloud apps are you using to ensure your business is competitive?

KnowledgeTree at CloudInno November 2010

I had the pleasure of presenting KnowledgeTree's story at the inaugural CloudInno event in Boston this past week. Coach Wei and his team from Yottaa did a remarkable job for a 1.0 event: it was packed full of interesting speakers, including Yahoo's CTO, Raymie Stata, and presentations from Aprigo, BackupIfy, Basho, Performable, and Yottaa.

KnowledgeTree CloudInno 2010

View more presentations from KnowledgeTree.

All the start-up presentations were obviously cloud-themed and were less a pitch of the start-up business and more an exploration of what the cloud meant for each company: the value it brought to their customers and the company itself, and how the company used the cloud.

Fiddling while Rome Burns

photo © 2007 Luke | more info(via: Wylio)
Now that the mid-term elections are behind us, I’m still haunted by the perennial debate between the left and the right about big government versus small government. Where the money gets spent. The bureaucracy.

Now I’m not going to get embroiled in a political debate here but I recently came across a situation that illustrates the issue and how “government 2.0” – or software-as-a-service can really make a difference.

Here at KnowledgeTree we recently received a weighty RFP for a document management application from a local government agency. I began plowing into the 50-page tome and, after reading through the first 10 pages, learned that the application was destined for use by 20 – yes 20 – users!

I found this rather puzzling – were there even 20 people in this particular local government office? It turns out that the town had commissioned an expensive team of consultants to develop this lengthy RFP and review all the proposals submitted. And, given the RFP’s density, chances were that only the really expensive vendors traditionally servicing large enterprises would be those likely, or able, to respond.

Given the financial state of local government in the US, with many town and cities seeing drastic reductions in spending and services, this is truly horrifying for taxpayers.

Naturally, governments are concerned about data security, integrity and so on. But is an expensive, complex, on-premise software solution the answer? If only local governments were to “dare” to use the cloud, they’d find that software-as-a-service is, yes, revolutionary! On-demand, nimble, easy to scale, low capital investment required. Safe, secure and always accessible.

Hint: Some even come with free or low cost trials. Maybe that’s the best route for handling a hefty RFP in a way that would save you and I some of our hard-earned tax dollars.

A Few Words About Cloud Jargon from the CEO of an On-Demand, SaaS Document/Content Management Platform Vendor

I had to laugh when I read Stacey Higginbotham’s tweet earlier today – “So. Many. Buzzwords. Why must all cloud conversations be cloaked in BS?”  Stacey, the GigaOM writer, is absolutely right – there is far too much BS/acronym use/jargon in the cloud industry.  And it’s why I, a purveyor of the cloud and guilty as anyone of driving the cloud terminology forward, offer a mea culpa to Stacey and anyone else fed up with the buzzwords.  IaaS, PaaS, private clouds, public clouds – yes, perhaps we’ve gone a bit overboard.

But let me also add this: there’s significant benefit to the cloud once you get past all the jargon.  Despite all the BS you’ll hear and read, the cloud delivers value. Sure, it’s a rather nebulous term, but the cloud offers simplification and ease of use for many practical solutions you need.  And for some SMBs, the software-as-a-service model puts them on an equal footing with larger competitors in terms of cheaper investments in technology and resources.

Some other benefits of software delivered as a service?

Easy, quick deployment – Set up in minutes instead of weeks.  Salesforce.com, which now has more than 80,000 customers, popularized this concept for business.

Customer support – Most, if not all, SaaS (OK, last acronym I’ll use today, I promise) vendors provide helpdesk support as part of the user’s subscription fee.

Improve business processes – This helps you focus on your core business, while automating approval-based workflows.  Such is the case with two KnowledgeTree customers, Purity Products and CanPrev Premium Natural Health Products, which use our product for managing documents and following good manufacturing practices.

Security – I’d be surprised if your cloud vendor doesn’t house their applications in world-class data centers with state-of-the-art security and power features.

I could go on, but I do believe the benefits brought on by the cloud outweigh the annoying buzzwords used to describe it.  But in the meantime, let’s we cloud vendors focus on the benefits of the cloud model, and describe those benefits to the world in a clear, non-BS’d style.  Stacey and others will thank us, I’m sure.

Dissatisfied SharePoint users are the next SaaS customers

In case you missed it, Global360 this week released survey results that showed many SharePoint users are not happy with the service. 78 percent of respondents reported that SharePoint "user experience was inadequate," and only 17.6 percent chose that SharePoint was "great and adequately met their needs.”

This study got me thinking, if enterprise users – most equipped with vast IT resources – are dissatisfied with SharePoint, what about the midmarket business, where SharePoint is supposed to deliver its strongest value? And is the demand for SaaS document management indicative that we are at the tip of the iceberg in terms of dissatisfaction with current ECM offerings?

Today, vendors hold the balance of power, but the cloud and SaaS solutions are shifting this equation. Cloud-based SaaS applications allow SMBs and midmarket companies to gain access to the applications and functionality that previously was available only to large enterprises with deep pockets. And equally important, these new applications do not requires teams of IT professionals to implement them.

SaaS applications provide immediate improvement to the user experience, including low financial risk, easy implementation, comprehensive support, high security, and immediate access from anywhere. For the midmarket business that’s grown dissatisfied with the SharePoint experience, SaaS has a lot of upside and will help it grow and stay competitive.