Cloud Computing? On-Demand? Saas? What's in a Name?

Much substantive debate and meaningful discussion remains before universal consensus is achieved on the true meanings of Cloud Computing, On-Demand and SaaS.

But let’s put aside nebulous terms and amorphous labels just long enough to answer a single straightforward question: 

How interested are you in learning about a hosted, subscription-based model available today (other than Business ByDesign) for running your business on SAP?

Eyes right. Weigh in with your vote. Learn what your peers are thinking. Thank you for voting!

Now, on with this post…

Technology landscapes are transitioning right now before our eyes, particularly for small and midsize companies with tight budgets and aggressive growth goals.

The well-known benefits of – Cloud Computing, On-Demand, SaaS (pick your term) – are, in large part, driving this rapid transition.

Fast implementation. Minimal upfront expense. Little-to-no training. Low total cost of ownership. No internal management. No capacity planning, etc.

This is not to say that the current offering of commercially available, pure-play – pick your term – solutions are without blemish or risk.

Questionable scalability. Limited functionality. Governance and security. Generic industry-indifference. Well-publicized outages. Lack of historical performance data, etc.

The reigning, more pressing question: When will the larger, well-established software vendors SAP and Oracle have a viable – pick your term – solution commercially available for fast-growing small and midsize companies?

According to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, the transition from the traditional on-premise model to the emergent – pick your term  – model will take his company about 10 years.

You read that right. Straight from the horse’s mouth. 10 years. That's eons in the world of technology innovation.

Read Global CIO Blog post by Bob Evans: Oracle And SAP Race For Mid-Market Opportunities

SAP’s time frame for Business ByDesign, while markedly tighter than Oracle’s, has been derailed by well-documented setbacks.

Read Optimal SAP Advisor blog post: Media Overweights Business ByDesign

Equally telling is the stark difference between SAP and Oracle’s approach to developing a commercially available – pick your term – offering.

In the September 2009 issue of SAP Spectrum, John Wookey, vice president in charge of SAP’s on-demand offering for large enterprises, matter-of-factly states:

“From the very start of the development process, we have to have an intimate knowledge of the customer problem that we’re trying to solve.”

Contrast this with Larry Ellison's thoughts on his company’s – fill in your term – offering, shared during a recent Q&A event.

Reportedly, Ellison touched on virtually every technological and competitive aspect of the question, but surprisingly made little-to-no mention of the customer’s perspective.

Said Bob Evans, TechWeb's senior vice-president and content director, who attended the event: 

“It just seemed a bit odd – actually, maybe more than a bit – to see these sweeping and penetrating and candid comments from one of the world's top executives with so little mention of the role that customers are playing in [Ellison’s] thinking.”

Read InformationWeek article by Bob Evans: An Open Letter To Oracle CEO Larry Ellison

In his article comparing and contrasting SAP and Oracle’s mid-market strategy, particularly on the – fill in the blank – front, Bob Evans posits the following, poignant and arguably decisive question:

“Will [SAP and Oracle] try some customer-focused experiments with SaaS products and services to give these medium-sized companies additional choice and flexibility?”

Answering the bell, SAP premier consulting firm and channel partner Optimal Solutions Integration recently launched the company’s innovative FlexChoice Advantage program, a hosted, subscription-based delivery of SAP for midsize companies via fixed monthly payments over 3, 5 or 7-year contracts that comprise SAP licensing, maintenance, implementation, hardware, hosting, delivery and support.

Read Optimal Solution’s press release: Optimal Solutions Announces Hosted, Subscription-Based Model for Buying, Implementing and Supporting SAP Solutions

So as not to muddy the marketing waters around SAP’s on-demand Business ByDesign product and Wookey’s – pick your term – project under development for larger customers, SAP has requested that Optimal Solutions refrain from using – fill in your term – when describing the company’s innovative FlexChoice Advantage offering.

No worries. Not a problem for Optimal. Benefits speak louder than industry jargon.

In the spirit of preserving its long-standing harmonious and productive partnership with SAP, Optimal does its utmost not to use – fill in your term – verbiage when discussing its FlexChoice Advantage program, available for the company’s growing portfolio of OPTIMIZE qualified SAP Business All-in-One solutions for fast-growing small and midsize customers.

After all, what's in a name? That which we call - fill in your term - by any other name would smell as sweet...

Provided the business benefits are real, tangible, meaningful and measurable - which in the case of FlexChoice Advantage they are.

So, if you voted for wanting more information about a hosted, subscription-based model available today (other than Business ByDesign) for running your business on SAP, give the expert SAP consultants at Optimal Solutions a ping: info@optimalsol.com.

And if you're looking for a great source of breaking - fill in your term - news and insightful analysis, be sure to check out Mary Hayes Weier's blog: Plug Into the Cloud.

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