SaaS Research Firm Announces Plans to Add 2.2 Million Company Profiles to Its Database

Stratascope is proud to announce it has signed a contract to add 2.2 million company profiles to its database.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stratascope Inc., a leading provider of independent financial and operational research services, today announced that it has signed a contract to add 2.2 million global company profiles to its database. This expansion of the Stratascope Company Repository will help Stratascope client’s effectively research any company, on a global basis, with annual revenues in excess of USD 2.5 Million. The expanded database will also include more than 350,000 subsidiaries for over 60,000 parent companies.

“Our global clients continue to reach out to the worlds emerging markets as well as downmarket to smaller and smaller businesses, where it is very difficult to get accurate research and analysis. With this new database acquisition and our research teams in both the United States and India, we are able to provide the most effective research and sales intelligence available” said Bruce Brien, CEO of Stratascope Inc.

Brien also indicated that since Stratascope is already licensing data from this provider, users should see the full effects of the expansion in a matter of weeks, targeting mid to late January for the complete rollout.

About Stratascope Inc.

Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, Stratascope Inc., through its on-line expertise and on-demand collateral, help clients to establish an automated link between their solutions and the value that they bring to the business issues that their clients are facing. When our clients walk into a customer meeting they are prepared to talk about their customer’s current situation and real business issues. Through our expertise and collateral, we help our clients read their customer’s mind, looking at sales cycles from their customer’s “buying” point of view, so that they can address the customer’s needs resulting in a mutually beneficial relationship.

For more information visit www.stratascope.com.

Stratascope^® is a registered trademark of Stratascope Inc.

Contacts

Stratascope Inc.
Bruce A. Brien, CEO, 1-508-624-8900
bruce_brien@stratascope.com

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Business Intelligence on the Web

Since the turn of the century, management has had a growing fascination with “The Dashboard”. A set of metrics and visual representations of performance that allows C-level executives to understand:

- Where the company is going,

- Where it has been, and

- Provide the information to take decisions about where they want it to go.

A recent Aberdeen Group report has highlighted that there has recently been a turn in the way that companies implement Business Intelligence in their Enterprises. This indicates a large swing away from the “build-it” approach, and towards the “buy-it” approach.

For Aberdeen Group this represents not only a swing away from traditional Business Intelligence models, but also that companies are beginning to see the value in outsourcing the BI and IT skills.

In their report, they go on to say, “The current use of traditional information delivery technologies among Best-in-Class organizations will give way to emerging methods within the next 12-24 months, according to survey responses.”

Again, the potential opportunity for consultants here is enormous. Facilitating a company’s transition to a SaaS type BI model, reviewing the business processes underlying the entire data structures, and providing the expertise required to embed the Business Intelligence initiatives.

Regardless of whether your clients are leaning towards off-premise BI or not, there are still areas where you can help them.

- Asses their skill sets for BI – Poor performing companies are three times more likely to be deficient in this area.

- Determine the data sources and the timeframes that information would be required. Sixty percent of poor performing companies do not have information available to them until after one week.

- Embed the use of BI, to do this you will need to make sure that:

o Information is Actionable – relevance is tied to business goals;

o Information is Timely – information must be delivered within a time-frame that provides opportunity to act

o Information is Accessible – knowledge workers and decision makers must be able to grasp the meaning of the information and take advantage of the BI tools.

- Help them establish a BI centre of Excellence – an independent internal organization that represents all departments.

- Beware of Information overload – Ensure the right information is there to facilitate decisions, but avoid paralysis by analysis. Ensure your BI center of excellence makes sure that all measures are useful for optimal decision-making.

- Help them progress toward a self-service BI environment – Get them to a point where end users can reduce their dependence on a central IT function,

Growing areas of SaaS consulting

The SaaS revolution is starting to take on an air of inevitability.

Oracle’s online business currently brings in a surprisingly large percentage in revenues, and Charles Fisher has recently signaled that the new Fusion technology will also be available in a SaaS framework. SAP has entered the BusinessByDesign product line amid little fanfare, and Microsoft recently started to champion their Microsoft Dynamics toolset.

When added to the already impressive list of Tier 1 SaaS providers, such as WorkDay, NetSuite and Salesforce.com we can see how opportunity draws competition. An interesting recent development is a global contract awarded to Salesforce.com, the sector pioneer, by Citibank; totally debunking the myth that SaaS is for SME’s only.

So what other changes are in the offing for the world of management consultants? Where are the big opportunities within this area?

As we pointed out in a previous article, VAR’s and channel companies are already starting to embrace this change by focusing on Business Process work and the work of implementing, rather than relying on license fees for their revenue. Charles Prince has also underlined this by recent claims that after the first 2.5 years the SaaS model can be even more profitable through sales of value add services, rather then the old technology models.

Salesforce.com is again setting the pace in this area starting another wave of tremendous change and tremendous opportunity. Force.com is just one of the waves of emerging platforms that companies and consultants alike can use to create their own online systems. Coghead, SuccessFactors, the coming Microsoft platform, are all examples of how companies can be able to take the next step in software on demand.

One possible hook for consultants is to use these platforms to generate their own niche tools, driving into areas where there is still little or no SaaS coverage. Thus providing them with a grab bag of niche applications to deploy at will. Exchanges like AppExchange are already bristling with niche tools that consultants can draw from to suit client needs. Coupled with the implementation services above it can provide a range of niche areas for consultants to build on through partnerships and other mechanisms.

However, all of this does beg the question; if companies can easily build and deploy small niche business applications globally, why would they rent them from a SaaS provider?

This, I feel, is one of the real growth areas for consulting professionals at the dawn of the SaaS age. The case for SaaS is established, most IT managers are coming, kicking and screaming, to embrace this advance in technology, and the platforms and tools now exist to develop these applications quickly, easily and economically.

There is a need for specialist companies to provide the development skills, post deployment implementation experience, and the culture change techniques to make these systems permanent. Specialists who can work with HTML, Ajax, Flex and any number of emerging programming languages to take advantage of the online tools now available.

Why would companies dedicate their own resources to this? It is niche work, given the size of the systems in use it is often not gigantic systems, and the consultant can and should also bring additional experience for developing and embedding work processes, providing training, and providing an external point of view. Allowing everybody else to focus on their line roles, this is why they are there in the first place.

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Leveraging off new technologies

Consulting is about change, always about change. In fact, more than any other managerial discipline, consultants need to be the ambassadors of new technologies, new ways of working and thinking, and new ways of getting even greater performance.

SaaS is a change that most consultants didn’t see coming to be frank, and those that did are now offering products as part of the continual barrage of emerging online applications.

Regardless of whether you are championing changes to work processes, new technologies, a different configuration to SAP or Oracle (say), or even different strategies and corporate structures; at all times we need to be the most up to date with the changes in our area of expertise, and know how our clients could benefit from them.

So how can consultants tap into this growing trend, by joining in the game of course!

Today’s technological offerings allow consultants to be even more productive than ever before in delivering their solutions. The Force.com visual programming language premiered by Salesforce.com this year gives everybody the ability to rapidly develop online programs, and they will also host it for you on their market-tested servers.

But wait – there’s more, Adobe Flex is a free programming tool that can be learned easily and is able to deliver very smart looking products quickly. Or if you are in a hurry to deliver a turnkey product for your clients then just plough through some of the commodity-priced programs already on offer through AppExchange.com, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

If you are not able to provide coding services yourself, then there is already a burgeoning market in outsourced independent coders for you to work with. Check out Rent-a-Coder.com if you like, a meeting place for freelance technical consultants and product developers. Auctioning is the name of the game here and you can pick up a good deal quickly. I have used it twice and it has served me well. Today I have ongoing relationships with a couple of coders I met online there and they often deliver small services for me.

WordPress, Blogger, Microsoft Dynamics, WebScribble.com, and so on, the list grows every time you look. All these products are out there for you to use in delivering productivity improvement to your clients. A fascinating time for consultants, particularly those that are keen to tie small technological offerings into their overall service portfolios.

SaaS and the new VAR landscape

As Internet Access becomes faster and more widespread SaaS is starting to gain some real traction as the next evolution of business software.

This is forcing radical change throughout the IT community, with impacts on technology providers as well as VAR’s and Channel companies. How will this dramatic shift in technology impact on this area of consulting activity?

A map of the internet published by Technology Review

Under the old-technology architecture of SAP and Oracle value added resellers were a viable part of the distribution landscape. Their income streams were largely generated from margins on hardware and technology sales, and the high yield consulting rates due to their particular specialty.

SaaS is emerging as a large scale disrupter in this area. While the large E.R.P vendors are playing it down and trying desperately to relegate it to the Small and medium Enterprise level, there is growing evidence that globally, industries of all sizes are tapping into the benefits that SaaS offers.

And why wouldn’t they? Reduced cost of ownership, infrastructure as a browser, access throughout the world, commodity pricing and increasingly functional platforms is a very enticing proposition. Particularly where data security and transactional speed can also be guaranteed.

And the big players are sitting to attention, on one hand talking down the technology as something for Mid market companies, while on the other hand making sure they have a position on the playing field.

Oracle chief Larry Ellison is currently having a bet each-way with his investment in NetSuite, the company that launched its IPO recently. SAP has also launched into the space with its Business ByDesign offering, but has stopped short of driving this product into its existing Enterprise Software marketplace.

Channel distributorship will continue to exist, and maybe become even more profitable. The Enterprise market is still strong and it will take some years for this change to become universal one would assume.

However, as always it will be the first-movers that benefit the most, while those trying to hang onto recognizable business models will see their sectors becoming increasingly threatened by improving online offerings.

So how can VAR’s adapt? Experts seem to be divided on this, and even divided over whether they will all need to change their business models.

Jim Collins, CEO of Affinity Internet Inc, sees this as a positive for VAR’s “By removing the more mundane aspects of application installation, the alternative delivery models allow the VAR to focus on what will most please the client, and that is the successful implementation of applications that clarify, secure and simplify business processes.”

In his view those VARs who have focused on building the resources for implementation, adaptation and training will be well positioned for renewed growth.

This is an interesting point and one worth considering further. When the technology has become a commodity in terms of price, other perspectives also change. A client could easily decide to switch between (say) Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics based solely on the ongoing price of ownership.

Why wouldn’t consultants look at representing several SaaS applications? There are more and more springing into this space everyday, and there are even platforms for generating online applications.

Joe Bevk, a Partner at ServiceVantage Corporation sees it this way “In the transition, partners will have to protect current “resale” revenues and grow new revenues throught a combination of referral fees (the new resale revenue base) and changing the service model to business process re-engineering (BPR).”

But what about new business opportunities? And if everybody is focusing on services then who will be able to tell the difference? Jim Holt actually saw things a little differently, with a belief that those companies who “get it” will will “create unique bolt-on application adders and and use the application exchanges that are becoming popular with the leading SaaS and HaaS players. (Such as Appexchange)

Their are changes on the horizon. No doubt about it. The extent of these changes is yet to be fully understood. Will they do to SAP-style architecture models what Google did to Yahoo? Or will it ultimately be more of what Skype failed to do to landlines and mobile phones (Despite the early promise)

regardless of the scale of change, there is definitely an opportunity within this space. Emerging service delivery options within this redefined landscape will definitely include sharper and more developed focus on pre and post implementation services, business process engineering and providing a one-stop shop for add ons, additional packages and extent ions.

It will also force a dramatic change in the way that VAR’s and vendors form agreements. Finders fees, ongoing revenue sharing and other (as yet) undefined models could point the way for technology companies and their consulting partners in this scenario. Models that will provide incentive for both parties to stay loyal and to specialize, rather than offering a bit of everything depending on their mood.

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