Some of my 2009 prediction are picked up here...
A Perfect Storm for Cloud Computing and other IT Weather Predictions for 2009
The truth is, and we all know it, 2009 will be about survival and cost savings. The number one factor we are already seeing is that if you cannot show a quick ROI, forget it. Whereas for the last 5 or 6 years, ROI has often funded new architecture changes (even when the ROI is unproven), in 2009 the must-have-identifiable savings will go to the bottom line to show shareholders you have costs under control. Businesses that do not spend quickly, when the spend will save money, will have their shareholders and employees to answer to.
I know this will sound biased but OpenSpan has consistently shown, that automating user desktops can reap savings in months. And large $ savings at that.
Enterprise desktops are awash with too many unintegrated applications bringing back the long forgotten integration phrase known as "Swivel Chair Syndrome"
If your in IT, grab a coffee or cup of tea and watch over the shoulder of one of your enterprise users. Tell me, they wouldn't benefit, BIG TIME from desktop automation?
2009 will be the year of desktop optimization and automation - this year, my 2009 prediction is easy!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Desktop Optimization leads the way for cost savings!
I am also pleased to be blogging over at TMCnet on the subject of Desktop Productivity, something very close to my heart as you all know. You can find the link here http://blog.tmcnet.com/desktop-productivity/
But for now, I'll post the text here as well, just for y'all :)
There are 3 Priorities for IT and Business in 2009 for immediate and dramtic cost savings!
Optimize what your users already have and do
Optimize what your users already have and do
Optimize what your users already have and do
OK, a little tongue in cheek but it's TRUE.... Have you ever looked at a real user lately in your company? Really looked at their desktop and what they do with it? Please, stop what you are doing and go and look. This is really the only place you can see with your own eyes the results of your organizations labors for SOA, Integration, BPM, BAM, Mash-ups, Web 2.0 and what ever other technology you've been working on for the last 5 years! Your users are your consumers!
What do you think you your users will be looking at or doing on their desktops? I am not a mind reader but I'd be surprised if it isn't at least 4 of the 5 below;
Viewing more than 5 applications daily, possibly 10 or more. This will include completely different UI models such as Windows GUI apps, Web Apps, Java Apps, Mainframe apps and maybe even some DOS apps.
Entering common keystrokes 1000's of times a day to integrate the above applications which will include ALT-C, ALT-TAB, ALT-V and mouse clicks, Focus, double-click, right click, copy, Focus, right click, paste. Also typing in the same text twice (SSN, Phone etc.,)
Executing laborious repetitive workflows, like looking up in two or more systems to see if the customer exists in two or more of the systems, copying data out of spreadsheets to do a trade and moving the data back to another system
Logging in with user name and passwords repetitively to at least one of the applications, maybe all of them, even SAAS applications or ones you wrote a few years ago
Writing text on a notepad or post-it-note to be used later (to enter data back into a spreadsheet or notes log).
I could go on, but you get the point. Enterprise has spent a fortune on the server integration technologies but rarely do they focus on what business is demanding. That is, the optimization what our users already have and do. If you deliver your users yet another application, make sure it doesn't just sit there and add to the desktop conundrum of too many un-integrated applications. It kills desktop productivity and adds to your enterprise costs. Fact.
Optimizing the desktop allows enterprises to save hundreds of millions of dollars by automating even the simplest of workflows on their user's desktops. Think of the time wasted daily by your users and what you would save through automation. I have seen desktop automation be implemented in less than 4 weeks that saves over $500k a year by automating the tasks of less than 20 users. I've also seen companies save over $20m a year by pushing out just one small automation across 20,000 users.
The time has come. There are products out there today that can be rapidly implemented to integrate, automate and ultimately optimize all of the applications your users have on their desktops. IT can be trained in days and massive savings to the bottom line can be seen in weeks!
With automation and desktop productivity improvements comes better monitoring, compliance, less errors and elimination of duplication. 2009 - will be the year of desktop integration and dramatic productivity increases. Remember, I said it here first.
My company, OpenSpan has one such product and I encourage you to look at a demonstration that you can view on line. Do your own math? What would just 2% increase in user productivity mean to your CFO in 2009?
But for now, I'll post the text here as well, just for y'all :)
There are 3 Priorities for IT and Business in 2009 for immediate and dramtic cost savings!
Optimize what your users already have and do
Optimize what your users already have and do
Optimize what your users already have and do
OK, a little tongue in cheek but it's TRUE.... Have you ever looked at a real user lately in your company? Really looked at their desktop and what they do with it? Please, stop what you are doing and go and look. This is really the only place you can see with your own eyes the results of your organizations labors for SOA, Integration, BPM, BAM, Mash-ups, Web 2.0 and what ever other technology you've been working on for the last 5 years! Your users are your consumers!
What do you think you your users will be looking at or doing on their desktops? I am not a mind reader but I'd be surprised if it isn't at least 4 of the 5 below;
Viewing more than 5 applications daily, possibly 10 or more. This will include completely different UI models such as Windows GUI apps, Web Apps, Java Apps, Mainframe apps and maybe even some DOS apps.
Entering common keystrokes 1000's of times a day to integrate the above applications which will include ALT-C, ALT-TAB, ALT-V and mouse clicks, Focus, double-click, right click, copy, Focus, right click, paste. Also typing in the same text twice (SSN, Phone etc.,)
Executing laborious repetitive workflows, like looking up in two or more systems to see if the customer exists in two or more of the systems, copying data out of spreadsheets to do a trade and moving the data back to another system
Logging in with user name and passwords repetitively to at least one of the applications, maybe all of them, even SAAS applications or ones you wrote a few years ago
Writing text on a notepad or post-it-note to be used later (to enter data back into a spreadsheet or notes log).
I could go on, but you get the point. Enterprise has spent a fortune on the server integration technologies but rarely do they focus on what business is demanding. That is, the optimization what our users already have and do. If you deliver your users yet another application, make sure it doesn't just sit there and add to the desktop conundrum of too many un-integrated applications. It kills desktop productivity and adds to your enterprise costs. Fact.
Optimizing the desktop allows enterprises to save hundreds of millions of dollars by automating even the simplest of workflows on their user's desktops. Think of the time wasted daily by your users and what you would save through automation. I have seen desktop automation be implemented in less than 4 weeks that saves over $500k a year by automating the tasks of less than 20 users. I've also seen companies save over $20m a year by pushing out just one small automation across 20,000 users.
The time has come. There are products out there today that can be rapidly implemented to integrate, automate and ultimately optimize all of the applications your users have on their desktops. IT can be trained in days and massive savings to the bottom line can be seen in weeks!
With automation and desktop productivity improvements comes better monitoring, compliance, less errors and elimination of duplication. 2009 - will be the year of desktop integration and dramatic productivity increases. Remember, I said it here first.
My company, OpenSpan has one such product and I encourage you to look at a demonstration that you can view on line. Do your own math? What would just 2% increase in user productivity mean to your CFO in 2009?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
SOA - quick wins rule..
I read this blog today by Loraine Lawson (To SOA or Not to SOA During Economic Turmoil?) and it contains so much applicability around SOA in one place, that I had to comment.
I think this blog says a lot. No doubt at all I am seeing many IT budgets being slashed and no doubt most people think SOA means big IT budgets. So, how could you not conclude SOA is stalling? Easy, because we are seeing the opposite. What is different and is reflected in the article, is that we are clearly seeing people looking to more innovative approaches to SOA to match the depleting budgets. We see this because OpenSpan is a perfect fit. As the article makes clear and we all now know, there is real value from quick iterative approaches to SOA. However, since SOA often means a rewrite of working (for many years) business processes, or a lot of integration around existing processes, it’s hard to imagine the words quick, iterative and SOA all being used in the same article, let alone the same sentence!
But, that is exactly what OpenSpan is all about. Taking working legacy applications that users use every singe day and quickly wrapping them to expose their workflows as services. Real-world, working Web Services that can be consumed by other enterprise services or other automated workflows. Take the applications out of the users eyes and hands and have those existing application workflows become a set of services! Everyone gets to see quickly what services offer up the most ROI. The ROI (which can be big with quick wins) can go towards funding a long-term strategy of the re-architecture. Since many existing legacy applications are too hard to rewrite anyway, OpenSpan’s almost “instant-on” web service enablement of existing applications has never been more applicable in today’s’ economy. The continued OpenSpan growth says it all. Feel free to comment.
I think this blog says a lot. No doubt at all I am seeing many IT budgets being slashed and no doubt most people think SOA means big IT budgets. So, how could you not conclude SOA is stalling? Easy, because we are seeing the opposite. What is different and is reflected in the article, is that we are clearly seeing people looking to more innovative approaches to SOA to match the depleting budgets. We see this because OpenSpan is a perfect fit. As the article makes clear and we all now know, there is real value from quick iterative approaches to SOA. However, since SOA often means a rewrite of working (for many years) business processes, or a lot of integration around existing processes, it’s hard to imagine the words quick, iterative and SOA all being used in the same article, let alone the same sentence!
But, that is exactly what OpenSpan is all about. Taking working legacy applications that users use every singe day and quickly wrapping them to expose their workflows as services. Real-world, working Web Services that can be consumed by other enterprise services or other automated workflows. Take the applications out of the users eyes and hands and have those existing application workflows become a set of services! Everyone gets to see quickly what services offer up the most ROI. The ROI (which can be big with quick wins) can go towards funding a long-term strategy of the re-architecture. Since many existing legacy applications are too hard to rewrite anyway, OpenSpan’s almost “instant-on” web service enablement of existing applications has never been more applicable in today’s’ economy. The continued OpenSpan growth says it all. Feel free to comment.
Friday, September 26, 2008
FInancial Services - a silver lining
There are a lot of things to come from this financial crises we are now in but most of what we hear is on the negative side. That doesn't always have to be the case. Therefore, I thought it was about time I blogged about why, for these financial companies, the right technology choices are even more critical to make the most of what is going on in their world.
Financial IT executives have to deal with the brunt of the fall-out around Acquisitions, Mergers, Layoffs, retraining etc., IT and business are expected to continue to build a consistent experience for their customers (existing and acquired) whilst bringing on significantly more applications and processes and doing so with tighter and tighter budgets. Business is expected to deliver improving customer service because M&A tends to mean customer loyalty is tested and they will start migrating to competitors after even just one bad customer service experience. Less people, dealing with more customers makes this a very challenging environment to say the least.
It's almost the perfect storm for IT and business because even without all this change, they were struggling to improve customer service because of the shear number of applications and manual processes in their front, middle and back offices. IT and business need to seek out technologies that can not only weather the storm, but can actually calm it. The big ol' "we need to do more, with less", whilst sounding like an old record sometimes, has never been more relevant than today.
At OpenSpan, it is no surprise that in this quarter alone, we will see sales of over 30,000 seats sold into financial services and contact centers globally. Companies that were feeling this pain even before this crises began are benefitting quickly from the unique OpenSpan integration approach. OpenSpan has shown over and over, that automating existing manual user processes reaps massive rewards for business and IT. It goes without saying, that this approach reduces costs, increases security, compliance, accuracy and just plain makes sense because customer satisfaction levels are raised . The whole customer experience is improved.
In the past, "doing more with less, quickly" has been difficult. That's where OpenSpan is unique. OpenSpan can, iteratively tackle the everyday burden of users manually navigating their way through a multitude of desktop applications and just automate them in the most robust and secure manner available. In the OpenSpan studio, as we build out those automations quickly, we can insert new business processes or controls, we can add new rules or ensure compliance on existing rules. In addition, OpenSpan does this in such a way that users may not even need to see or touch many of those applications again! This is not an all or nothing approach that most people think about integration, which would typically mean potentially years before any results or benefits are seen. OpenSpan does this so you can choose to automate the manual processes that cause the most pain immediately and roll automations quickly to users for immediate ROI. Then you can build on that, adding more and more benefits, so you see progress constantly (and ever increasing ROI).
With OpenSpan 4.0, taking those automated user processes and moving them (along with the applications) to the server side, means we can at last also start thinking about getting those applications off of the desktop. OpenSpan can take any automated process and expose it as a web service and access them from any mid-tier architecture technology. Game changing.
So, I did say, you need technologies that can not only weather, but calm the storm. That's exactly what OpenSpan is doing for it's customers and it's doing it every single day. Our growth and width and breath of our growing customers in the financial services sector, speaks for itself.
Financial IT executives have to deal with the brunt of the fall-out around Acquisitions, Mergers, Layoffs, retraining etc., IT and business are expected to continue to build a consistent experience for their customers (existing and acquired) whilst bringing on significantly more applications and processes and doing so with tighter and tighter budgets. Business is expected to deliver improving customer service because M&A tends to mean customer loyalty is tested and they will start migrating to competitors after even just one bad customer service experience. Less people, dealing with more customers makes this a very challenging environment to say the least.
It's almost the perfect storm for IT and business because even without all this change, they were struggling to improve customer service because of the shear number of applications and manual processes in their front, middle and back offices. IT and business need to seek out technologies that can not only weather the storm, but can actually calm it. The big ol' "we need to do more, with less", whilst sounding like an old record sometimes, has never been more relevant than today.
At OpenSpan, it is no surprise that in this quarter alone, we will see sales of over 30,000 seats sold into financial services and contact centers globally. Companies that were feeling this pain even before this crises began are benefitting quickly from the unique OpenSpan integration approach. OpenSpan has shown over and over, that automating existing manual user processes reaps massive rewards for business and IT. It goes without saying, that this approach reduces costs, increases security, compliance, accuracy and just plain makes sense because customer satisfaction levels are raised . The whole customer experience is improved.
In the past, "doing more with less, quickly" has been difficult. That's where OpenSpan is unique. OpenSpan can, iteratively tackle the everyday burden of users manually navigating their way through a multitude of desktop applications and just automate them in the most robust and secure manner available. In the OpenSpan studio, as we build out those automations quickly, we can insert new business processes or controls, we can add new rules or ensure compliance on existing rules. In addition, OpenSpan does this in such a way that users may not even need to see or touch many of those applications again! This is not an all or nothing approach that most people think about integration, which would typically mean potentially years before any results or benefits are seen. OpenSpan does this so you can choose to automate the manual processes that cause the most pain immediately and roll automations quickly to users for immediate ROI. Then you can build on that, adding more and more benefits, so you see progress constantly (and ever increasing ROI).
With OpenSpan 4.0, taking those automated user processes and moving them (along with the applications) to the server side, means we can at last also start thinking about getting those applications off of the desktop. OpenSpan can take any automated process and expose it as a web service and access them from any mid-tier architecture technology. Game changing.
So, I did say, you need technologies that can not only weather, but calm the storm. That's exactly what OpenSpan is doing for it's customers and it's doing it every single day. Our growth and width and breath of our growing customers in the financial services sector, speaks for itself.
Monday, August 25, 2008
WOA or SOA or SO-A-WOT
Thought this was a neat snippet entitled;
I replied to the blog but upon reflection felt it was worth while adding a link here to see if anyone is inclined to comment further. I did.
To me, the aged ol' problem with SOA is not that there's anything wrong with it, but more, it really is nothing new. If anything, many people still fail to understand that SOA, like EDI or any "distance" API is really hard to implement and benefit from wide reuse. Heck, even a simple subroutine in a piece of code on the same system is hard to reuse and more often, is copied and modified. Welcome to "legacy" application support. SOA does not change that. IMHO.
If anyone tries to convince themselves that an SOA is not going to be a legacy problem a few months or years from now, perhaps they need to re-read the techno history books. The problem has never been how hard it is to write re-usable components, the problem always is, the legacy code needed to bring those components together. There's always something else someone wants to do with a component but you can't risk breaking it so you copy it instead. And/or as soon as you break this compatibility (which is a no-no), your break re-use.
So, is WOA any different? I think so as it really reminds me of the difference between solving the problem for the business or waiting forever for IT. You can have something that works right now or get in the back of the queue (read years) until I (maybe) write perfection. Businesses cannot wait, especially today.
At OpenSpan, we can quite literally turn any business user process into a Service and consume it from anywhere else - RIGHT NOW. It also helps IT, because they get time to do it right whilst not sacrificing what business needs - RIGHT NOW. Is that WOA?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Web 2.0 - "near its dreaded Trough of Disillusionment"
I found this article, it's implications and comments very interesting. Good News, Bad news for Web 2.0 (Gartner's Hype Cycle). In relation to enterprise Web 2.0 I have a few points of note;
You see, I had Web 2.0 down really as primarily asynchronous communications between browser and something else ( real time events). The Web 1.0 as was, led to mostly uninteresting web pages based on the mainframe synchronous concept (fill in a form, submit and get another form (page) of results). After the mainframe came the unix/dec mid-range systems that supported asynchronous applications - Enter a field, see real-time results/validation/events - All sounds like Web 2.0 to me ;)
I love all asynchronous applications, emulation, client server or web (2.0). The concept of instant event based communications is not only great, it's for the most part, the only right way. I remember building asynchronous web applications in 1998 (using a legacy host to activex as the "broker"). It was really cool and now it's Web 2.0. What's missing now, is how to take enterprise applications to the next level with it.
Sure with CSS/XML/DHMTL/JSCRIPT/VBSCRIPT (Ajax), you can get a web page (Web 2.0) looking good but it's a real lot of work. Did I hear someone say legacy applications were hard to support - good luck supporting web 2.0!
I can say I saw this coming - because I did - the hype description around web 2.0 is hardly surprising because it's wrapped around old thinking (The Browser legacy). New mash-up vendors are out there, competing to be the next 4GL (power builder) for the web and in my view, whomever REALLY gets that right, will have the killer Web 2.0 IDE on their hands. I can't wait, I feel someone is really really close. Will it be Adobe (Flex) or Microsoft (SilverLight).. Jackbe.. Wavemaker... We shall see. Let the fun begin.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
OpenSpan has a new CEO
I am excited to announce the appointed of Eric Musser to CEO of OpenSpan. After an extensive search, we found an awesome candidate who is now at the helm to take OpenSpan to the next level. After 3 - 1/2 years as CEO of OpenSpan with an awesome team by my side, I am excited to now have Eric here. He shares the same passion as myself in the OpenSpan technology, it's customers and partners and the markets in which we serve. His track record (see Press release to the left) is second to none and there could be no more of a perfect match for his talents here. Welcome Eric.
I am very pleased to announce also, I will be moving into the role of Chief Evangelist, where I can continue to play a major role, well yes, continuing to Evangelize our unique approach to integration. The technology over the last 3 - 1/2 years has progressed beyond even my own expectations. The real problems we are solving right now for large customers, whom have been strangled by integration problems for many years, is personally rewarding to see. There's a clear reason OpenSpan saw 440% plus growth in 2007 and already exceeding that revenue in the first half of 2008 - the product solves real pain points and the product works. That my friends, is proof beyond doubt.
So, I am very excited about the future, as now with Eric on board, I'll have more time to devote to the technology and working with our customers, prospects and partners to share our joint visions for the future of the product and the company. I look forward to blogging more too.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Virtualization - bursting the bubbles
Today apparently is the dawn of the end of XP. Microsoft no longer sells it from tomorrow.
If running your enterprise applications on Vista is giving you problems, you can always run them in a (win 2k or XP) Virtual Machine on Vista. The problem with that alone however, is that you would then have your enterprise applications running in a “Virtual bubble” and all you’d have integration wise is copy and paste (at best). Virtual bubbles are not good for inter-application communication. Not good at all.
Until now that is. OpenSpan can bridge XP and Vista environments and integrate the applications that run in each easily. Use OpenSpan to create a web service API to any of your desktop applications (including office) and from there, use OpenSpan to integrate these applications, across whatever virtual machine they run in, easily.
OpenSpan can even if you so desire, enable you to integrate Apple and Microsoft applications together using the same technique. We have examples of Apple Mac machines directly integrating with Microsoft applications running in a virtual session on the same Mac. Pretty cool. I'll post some screen shots soon of all the above examples.
Virtualization – in my view – is game changing. And with OpenSpan… even more so.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
OpenSpan Enterprise Edition 4.0
There is a revolution here now in the integration space. I promised to update you all on some dramatic new functionality in the OpenSpan platform and now it is here. Sorry for the long post, but this is one of the most important ones for me today because I am proud of what the team here has built and we are already seeing high demand for it!
We all know the vast majority of enterprise users have to have way too many applications running and visible on their desktop. The goal has always been to try and move these applications off of the desktop and out of the users view but that has not happened, it’s just too difficult because all the applications have some process/information a user needs to do their job. A recent survey sponsored by OpenSpan in fact shows that the problem is getting worse, not better. Even virtualization of client applications only moves where the application physically runs and the users themselves see no real benefits because they still have to be trained to use all aspects of the applications.
That is about to change my friends. The OpenSpan technology, as you already know has been hugely successful in breaking up and exposing desktop applications as usable services for powerful integration and automation of user workflows on the desktop. However, what is new, is that now you can take those same desktop applications, move them off of the desktop to a virtualized server (farm or grid) and expose those automations as services to any other application in the mid-tier or client architecture. The journey towards moving the multitude of applications off the desktop and out of the users view altogether, whilst providing all of the same rich functionality to the user, has finally begun.
A simple example. Imagine just one of the many workflows a user has to run through uses just 2 applications (we know there’s usually a lot more). A CRM and a provisioning application to do a password reset for a customer when they phone into customer care. Today, every user who answers the phone in the customer care center has to have those application installed, running and logged in (and be trained in) to drive to the screens/security checks to do the password reset.
What the new OpenSpan 4.0 enterprise edition enables is for those desktop applications (and probably a lot less of them) to be installed and running on virtual machines in the enterprise, known as a Grid or Fabric or Farm of Virtual Clients (Citrix, VMware, Virtual PC). OpenSpan integrates these same desktop applications and exposes the automated business processes (in this case, the password reset) as methods through web services to be consumed by any technology that can consume a web service. 1 instance of a desktop application running on a server, could now also serve 10, 100 or more physical internal or external users depending upon load balancing and scalability. The ROI and other benefits are huge as you can imagine.
The original applications needed (CRM/Provisioning) for the password reset never need to run on the desktop again for this purpose. The user never needs to even see the applications if not necesary as the automation of that business process in now simply driven through a Web Service. That same web service could be called by a new portal application, a simple button say in a dashboard on the users desktop, or even be integrated directly into the PBX switch to enable the caller to do the reset themselves. Take the same password reset web service and call it from a consumer side web page, phone device or trigger by an automated text message. It’s the same application that’s running in all cases so you know it works, it’s just the new automated version of the business process is available to the enterprise architecture as a web service. Imagine doing this with the 5, 10 , 20 or even 100’s of business processes your users have to run today through lots of installed and running desktop applications. I think this is revolutionary. I don’t think there are many other companies doing this, if any, and certainly not with the breath of Technologies OpenSpan can integrate and automate, in an extremely robust manner. This includes Java Applications, Web Applications (with embedded Java and ActiveX or DHTML or AJAX), Lotus, Green Screen emulators, Windows Applications and yes, even DOS (and a mix of any and all of the above). If it run’s on the desktop, its highly likely OpenSpan will integrate with it out of the box and then it can be moved off of the desktop by simply and rapidly creating the integrations, automations and web services as you need them. The OpenSpan 4.0 Enterprise edition, with it’s virtual broker to manage the desktop applications in this server environment becomes the “new mainframe” of desktop applications, serving up the business functionality of robust desktop applications, as powerful web services.
Let me know what you think, we have 1000’s of use cases, what are yours? Questions? Fire away.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
What float? What Bloat?
First, completely off topic (not like me eh?). Before any flight take-off, we’ve all sat and listened to the important rules of what to do in an emergency landing on water. Has anyone noticed this statement?;
“most seat cushions can be used as a floatation device”…
Shouldn’t it be “ALL seat cushions can be used as a floatation device…”. There’s only one way of knowing if you grabbed one that doesn’t float eh? Glug Glug !!
OK, so back on topic. I love my job. I get to meet some really interesting people and just as equally, I get to work with some awesome talent. For the last 3+ years (and longer in past lives), we the team at OpenSpan, have been striving to help companies solve a problem that really hasn’t been solved before.
Now there is a bold claim, OpenSpan having a unique technology that once and for all fixes a long overdue problem that effects almost every computer user. I know it’s true simply because enterprises would not put up with this huge problem if they didn’t have to. The idea that almost all users in all enterprises (Financial Services, telecommunications, Healthcare, Government the whole gambit), have to manually integrate the desktop applications they use is incredible. Billions of $dollars$ a year are wasted through users having to manually navigate through hoards of legacy application screens on their desktop. Rather than getting better, it’s actually getting worse. A new Web application is often un-integrated too and adds to the manual tasks a user has to deal with. When I first talk to enterprises, they often think they are the only organizations with 5, 10, 20 or more bloated applications that users have to deal with in any one day. Time for a wake-up call Ladies and Gentlemen – almost EVERY enterprise we talk to has the same problem. I think just maybe 2 in 100 companies we meet do not believe they have this problem. It’s an epidemic of massive proportions, of copy and paste, alt-tab, guesswork, over-training and manual processes around old and new unintegrated desktop applications.
So I say, ENOUGH. It's 2008. Let’s nail this 20+ year old problem once and for all. I love the fact that a quick demo of OpenSpan technology makes it clear to CIO’s, Business, IT, just about anyone, how easy it is to fix this problem. Your not alone, don’t be shy, the solution is here today, it works and it works fast.
Now if that sounds like an infomercial then so be it. If that’s what it takes to get people to understand that they do not have to put up with un-integrated applications any longer, then so be it. You are going to hear more loudly from me here, and in the press. We are taking a stand, to let people know, we are here with the solution, and our customers are really glad we are.
“most seat cushions can be used as a floatation device”…
Shouldn’t it be “ALL seat cushions can be used as a floatation device…”. There’s only one way of knowing if you grabbed one that doesn’t float eh? Glug Glug !!
OK, so back on topic. I love my job. I get to meet some really interesting people and just as equally, I get to work with some awesome talent. For the last 3+ years (and longer in past lives), we the team at OpenSpan, have been striving to help companies solve a problem that really hasn’t been solved before.
Now there is a bold claim, OpenSpan having a unique technology that once and for all fixes a long overdue problem that effects almost every computer user. I know it’s true simply because enterprises would not put up with this huge problem if they didn’t have to. The idea that almost all users in all enterprises (Financial Services, telecommunications, Healthcare, Government the whole gambit), have to manually integrate the desktop applications they use is incredible. Billions of $dollars$ a year are wasted through users having to manually navigate through hoards of legacy application screens on their desktop. Rather than getting better, it’s actually getting worse. A new Web application is often un-integrated too and adds to the manual tasks a user has to deal with. When I first talk to enterprises, they often think they are the only organizations with 5, 10, 20 or more bloated applications that users have to deal with in any one day. Time for a wake-up call Ladies and Gentlemen – almost EVERY enterprise we talk to has the same problem. I think just maybe 2 in 100 companies we meet do not believe they have this problem. It’s an epidemic of massive proportions, of copy and paste, alt-tab, guesswork, over-training and manual processes around old and new unintegrated desktop applications.
So I say, ENOUGH. It's 2008. Let’s nail this 20+ year old problem once and for all. I love the fact that a quick demo of OpenSpan technology makes it clear to CIO’s, Business, IT, just about anyone, how easy it is to fix this problem. Your not alone, don’t be shy, the solution is here today, it works and it works fast.
Now if that sounds like an infomercial then so be it. If that’s what it takes to get people to understand that they do not have to put up with un-integrated applications any longer, then so be it. You are going to hear more loudly from me here, and in the press. We are taking a stand, to let people know, we are here with the solution, and our customers are really glad we are.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
OpenSpan, Apple Mac, Virtualization and SOA (together in Harmony)
I am just about to set off on a weeks vacation and then to Europe so I thought I'd leave you with some of my musings.
So, my Apple Mac I got a couple of weeks back - I love it.
Running VMWARE on a mac is sweet. I have multiple VM machines and it truly creates a discipline of keeping "machines" loaded with software specific for those purposes so they are fast. I can honestly say, my VMWare sessions on my Mac are 2-3 times faster than my standalone Dell PC (My PC was probably more cluttered than it should have been but even so, it's incredibly responsive on the Mac).
Now what is really cool, is I have written a little Mac application that calls a Web Service that OpenSpan exposes in a VMWARE session running on the same machine. This means my "legacy" applications services can now be accessed by building portals/apps on the MAC as well as the PC - inside the same machine. Integrating virtualized applications together this way has been hard, to near impossible and this is no longer the case with OpenSpan. I'll post some screen shots in a few weeks so you can see. It's lightening fast and what it really demonstrates is that any Legacy Application is no longer tied to just one presentation interface and can be mashed up virtually anywhere. We released our OpenSpan SOA addition just a few weeks ago and the power of it in the enterprise is readily apparent. We have lived for years with limited or mostly in fact, zero API's for our desktop applications. No more. It's like legacy applications can finally come alive and participate in the new world of technologies (SOA, Web 2/3.0, Mashups, portals, virtualization). Combine that with the speed in which OpenSpan enables you to build integrations into virtually any legacy application and expose that as service, and what you have is pretty incredible. When we say our customers can be in production with solutions in weeks, we can really demonstrate it.
It's hard to get the stats but I'm willing to bet that OpenSpan now has more licensed customers than all of the desktop integration vendors combined. The number of new clients we are signing up each quarter is amazing. Well I guess it's not really amazing, we have a great product :)
We will also be announcing relationships with some of the core mash-up vendors shortly, so watch this space for that too.
On another important note before I depart on my cruise around the Caribbean in a few hours. Damon Lockwood, our VP of Development and one of the OpenSpan founders (btw - he really is a smart cookie and I have really enjoyed the pleasure of working with him now for 3+ years), has just started his own Blog at DO IT ON THE DESKTOP - The term "Do it on the Desktop" was always a funny term we bantered around now and again for Marketing but it never quite made it to the outside world - I wonder why ;) I can see the tee shirts now :)
So, my Apple Mac I got a couple of weeks back - I love it.
Running VMWARE on a mac is sweet. I have multiple VM machines and it truly creates a discipline of keeping "machines" loaded with software specific for those purposes so they are fast. I can honestly say, my VMWare sessions on my Mac are 2-3 times faster than my standalone Dell PC (My PC was probably more cluttered than it should have been but even so, it's incredibly responsive on the Mac).
Now what is really cool, is I have written a little Mac application that calls a Web Service that OpenSpan exposes in a VMWARE session running on the same machine. This means my "legacy" applications services can now be accessed by building portals/apps on the MAC as well as the PC - inside the same machine. Integrating virtualized applications together this way has been hard, to near impossible and this is no longer the case with OpenSpan. I'll post some screen shots in a few weeks so you can see. It's lightening fast and what it really demonstrates is that any Legacy Application is no longer tied to just one presentation interface and can be mashed up virtually anywhere. We released our OpenSpan SOA addition just a few weeks ago and the power of it in the enterprise is readily apparent. We have lived for years with limited or mostly in fact, zero API's for our desktop applications. No more. It's like legacy applications can finally come alive and participate in the new world of technologies (SOA, Web 2/3.0, Mashups, portals, virtualization). Combine that with the speed in which OpenSpan enables you to build integrations into virtually any legacy application and expose that as service, and what you have is pretty incredible. When we say our customers can be in production with solutions in weeks, we can really demonstrate it.
It's hard to get the stats but I'm willing to bet that OpenSpan now has more licensed customers than all of the desktop integration vendors combined. The number of new clients we are signing up each quarter is amazing. Well I guess it's not really amazing, we have a great product :)
We will also be announcing relationships with some of the core mash-up vendors shortly, so watch this space for that too.
On another important note before I depart on my cruise around the Caribbean in a few hours. Damon Lockwood, our VP of Development and one of the OpenSpan founders (btw - he really is a smart cookie and I have really enjoyed the pleasure of working with him now for 3+ years), has just started his own Blog at DO IT ON THE DESKTOP - The term "Do it on the Desktop" was always a funny term we bantered around now and again for Marketing but it never quite made it to the outside world - I wonder why ;) I can see the tee shirts now :)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Long time no see !
Well a few interesting updates from my last Blog!
First, I have turned over to the dark side and brought my self an Apple MacBook Pro (my first Apple since about 1985 !). Of course, I have VMWARE on it and running both XP and Leopard at the same time. My first integration problems were human (aghast, no mouse right-click). I also tried to move my Apple Itunes music from my XP but Apple assumes I am a thief and won’t let me migrate most of my music or even my pictures. My 16 year old son assures me there is a way to do it but likely it will not involve integrated Apple software :)
Second, I am finally hip as I have added a song to my verizon phone (which you'll hear when you call me!). Thick as Thieves. A little biased because the single of this track from the Dashboard confessional album is out next month and my son made the video (and is the star doing the magic – in one take…).
OK, so now onto business. This month saw OpenSpan release it’s version of Studio that enables existing and new automations to be turned into consumable web services with just approximately 10 clicks of a mouse and a few property settings. I show a Microsoft Excel function calling a web service to extract information out of an old VB billing system (hidden), on the fly. It is so fast and robust. What’s really cool too is that Excel and the automation are running in different virtual machines so it is fun to see MS Office and legacy applications work together over virtual machines. I’ve been tracking analysts who started to pass on that enterprises are finding the lack of Virtual-Virtual machine integration a stumbling block! Not any more!
I also have a server, running automations in VMWARE sessions exposing web services to the world. The VMWARE / OpenSpan sessions are integrating into previously closed applications and presenting a web service API (in this case as a REST function). Who would have thought some idiot (me) would web service enable the win32 windows calculator – just to prove a point – LOL – but wickedly cool.
Going to be announcing two other major enhancements in the next few weeks so watch this space. This technology gets more exciting by the minute and judging by the new customer and partner wins we are not alone in this excitement.
Signing off (next post will hopefully be from the Mac ;) ).
First, I have turned over to the dark side and brought my self an Apple MacBook Pro (my first Apple since about 1985 !). Of course, I have VMWARE on it and running both XP and Leopard at the same time. My first integration problems were human (aghast, no mouse right-click). I also tried to move my Apple Itunes music from my XP but Apple assumes I am a thief and won’t let me migrate most of my music or even my pictures. My 16 year old son assures me there is a way to do it but likely it will not involve integrated Apple software :)
Second, I am finally hip as I have added a song to my verizon phone (which you'll hear when you call me!). Thick as Thieves. A little biased because the single of this track from the Dashboard confessional album is out next month and my son made the video (and is the star doing the magic – in one take…).
OK, so now onto business. This month saw OpenSpan release it’s version of Studio that enables existing and new automations to be turned into consumable web services with just approximately 10 clicks of a mouse and a few property settings. I show a Microsoft Excel function calling a web service to extract information out of an old VB billing system (hidden), on the fly. It is so fast and robust. What’s really cool too is that Excel and the automation are running in different virtual machines so it is fun to see MS Office and legacy applications work together over virtual machines. I’ve been tracking analysts who started to pass on that enterprises are finding the lack of Virtual-Virtual machine integration a stumbling block! Not any more!
I also have a server, running automations in VMWARE sessions exposing web services to the world. The VMWARE / OpenSpan sessions are integrating into previously closed applications and presenting a web service API (in this case as a REST function). Who would have thought some idiot (me) would web service enable the win32 windows calculator – just to prove a point – LOL – but wickedly cool.
Going to be announcing two other major enhancements in the next few weeks so watch this space. This technology gets more exciting by the minute and judging by the new customer and partner wins we are not alone in this excitement.
Signing off (next post will hopefully be from the Mac ;) ).
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Desktop Integration and Virtualization
There is no doubt, the adoption and acceptance of Desktop Integration technologies is now a fundamental and crucial piece of ammunition in the integration arsenal - across the entire enterprise. More un-integrated applications are actually popping up on user’s desktops - not less! Virtualization is now just adding to the problem of complex integration issues of these desktop applications (yes, they are now less open for integration than before!). OpenSpan has approached this problem wisely as we believe virtualization has a phenomenal future. You can now integrate, not just desktop applications in physical machines, but also integrate applications across virtual machines too - even on remote virtual servers! This is game changing because it paves the way, not just for physical desktop application integration, but brings virtualized integrated applications into reality - even before some users had recognized there was going to be a problem!
A couple of news / items worthy of putting on my blog too. Be back soon.
Shepherd Chartered Surveyors Selects OpenSpan to Streamline Business Processes across Desktops
Serve Customers more Effectively with Microsoft CCF 2008 and OpenSpan Platform
.
A couple of news / items worthy of putting on my blog too. Be back soon.
Shepherd Chartered Surveyors Selects OpenSpan to Streamline Business Processes across Desktops
Serve Customers more Effectively with Microsoft CCF 2008 and OpenSpan Platform
.
Friday, January 11, 2008
OpenSpan record 2007 year
Wow – is it really 2008 already ?
A phenomenal year for OpenSpan with 440% revenue growth, over 30 New customers, New OEM channels, New major SI Partner relationships. Customers in UK, Germany, Singapore, Australia and South America isn’t too bad a reach either :)
5 of Fortune 30 are now OpenSpan customers. 5 of top 40 global telcos and 4 of the top 20 US Banks. Yep, an extremely awesome year for OpenSpan.
Some nice very recent recognition too with:
10 IT Companies to Watch in 2008 (Robin Bloor – Hurwitz Analyst)
10 It Companies to Watch in 2008
The Redmond 2008 Editors Choice Awards (Easiest to Use/Manage Category)
Redmond 2008 Editors Choice Award
Integrate your World from Peter Varhol at Redmond
Integrate Your World
I'm off on a trip to Europe today but will blog in the next few weeks about some major technology advances we have made recently with regards web services and also virtualization. I'll talk about OpenSpan and the game changing technology we have. As they say, “you ain’t seen nothing yet” ..... keep on watching..
Speak soon.
A phenomenal year for OpenSpan with 440% revenue growth, over 30 New customers, New OEM channels, New major SI Partner relationships. Customers in UK, Germany, Singapore, Australia and South America isn’t too bad a reach either :)
5 of Fortune 30 are now OpenSpan customers. 5 of top 40 global telcos and 4 of the top 20 US Banks. Yep, an extremely awesome year for OpenSpan.
Some nice very recent recognition too with:
10 IT Companies to Watch in 2008 (Robin Bloor – Hurwitz Analyst)
10 It Companies to Watch in 2008
The Redmond 2008 Editors Choice Awards (Easiest to Use/Manage Category)
Redmond 2008 Editors Choice Award
Integrate your World from Peter Varhol at Redmond
Integrate Your World
I'm off on a trip to Europe today but will blog in the next few weeks about some major technology advances we have made recently with regards web services and also virtualization. I'll talk about OpenSpan and the game changing technology we have. As they say, “you ain’t seen nothing yet” ..... keep on watching..
Speak soon.
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