Uppercut Podcasts By Upperedge

While Microsoft may want to overwhelm you with new products and solutions at NRF’s Big Show, don’t forget to leave with insight that is valuable to you. Definitely understand what is new and what is coming, but also prepare to ask the right questions of Microsoft. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

Salesforce had another stellar quarter, beating analysts’ expectations in its third-quarter earnings last night. Revenue is up 26% y-o-y and the Remaining Performance Obligation (RPO) is now at $21.2B, up 34%. The company raised FY 2019 guidance and expects 2020 revenue to reach $16B, expecting continued growth in cloud computing sales. Marc Benioff has even higher expectations for Q4, putting some pressure on co-CEO Keith Block. The strategic acquisition of Mulesoft, which was finalized in May, is already showing success with its ability to unlock data from legacy systems and accelerate digital transformation – a current focus for C-suite executives. Mulesoft helps power Customer 360, Salesforce’s multiconnected cloud product which combines Sales, Service, Einstein AI, and analytics into a single platform. This offering a competitive advantage for Salesforce which they will continue to push in order to increase product adoption. In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield covers what th

In September, Thomas Kurian took a leave of absence from Oracle after 22 years at the company. Just two months later, he joined Google as the head of cloud computing, heightening underlying tensions between the two companies that have been in an ongoing legal battle for the past 8 years. At Oracle, Kurian led cloud transition efforts but he and Larry Ellison reportedly had differences with respect to Oracle's Cloud vision. Ellison believed in a closed system while Kurian wanted to open up their cloud solutions and allow them to run on AWS, Google, etc. UpperEdge’s Oracle Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, discusses his first impressions and what he’ll be paying attention as this plays out.

Many organizations are enticed to move to Microsoft Office 365 or even Microsoft 365 by the belief that their cost profile would decrease and that their pricing would come with special one-time discounting. Too often, organizations later discover after closer examination that the discounting not only wasn’t special but it didn’t come with the proper downstream price protections. This is one reason too many Microsoft customers are faced with significant and unexpected price increases come renewal time. Before moving to one of Microsoft’s cloud products, it is critical you assess the true competitiveness of your discounting and ensure you have the proper price protections in place.

The sourcing and selection of your IT Services partner often spans over several months and requires significant time and effort from your cross-functional teams. Closing your services contract on time while preserving the complete integrity of your negotiated commercial construct requires a plan. You must maintain momentum throughout the process and execute an approach that helps mitigate the risks of unforeseen hurdles in a low-leverage environment.

Despite the upbeat and high-fiving tone of SAP’s Q3 2018 earnings call, analysts were not enthusiastic about SAP’s latest results. Although SAP reported 41% growth...

Microsoft had another strong quarter with earnings and revenue beating expectations. Commercial Cloud revenue is up 47% driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 36%, Dynamics 365 grew 51% and Azure revenue is up 76%. Current and potential customers should expect Microsoft to continue to aggressively push adoption of their strategic cloud bundle, Microsoft 365, which includes Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility and Security. It is critical that all organizations ensure they have the proper downstream protections and the appropriate level of flexibility in place as Microsoft will look to increase revenue per user over time.

ServiceNow had another strong quarter. Subscription revenue was up an impressive 39% with 25 net new deals with over $1M in annual contract value. With the goal of landing more net new customers and upselling their current base, ServiceNow has changed their go-to-market approach. They now describe their product portfolio as the Now Platform and three (3) workflow clouds (IT, Employee Experience and Customer Service). ServiceNow will continue to rely heavily on their established CIO relationships and partner ecosystem to sell more ServiceNow products while also ramping up both their company and product brand awareness.

Larry Ellison made some bold statements in his opening keynote at this year's OpenWorld conference. Oracle redid its entire cloud infrastructure and claims that this second generation cloud offering is very different and better than anything else out there. Ellison then spent a significant amount of time taking aim at Amazon's AWS. Listen to Oracle practice leader, Jeff Lazarto's quick recap for more opening keynote highlights.

After attending Oracle OpenWorld sessions focused on Universal Credits and Bring Your Own License (BYOL), Oracle Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, shares what customers should know about these pricing options. Those considering these options should proceed with caution and take steps to ensure they are making the best choice for their organization before making a commitment.

Too many companies fail to negotiate the right cloud deal with their cloud vendor come renewal. Ultimately, the common culprit is simply poor preparation. Failing to allocate the necessary amount of time, relying to heavily on a perceived strong relationship, and being overly confident in your standard processes can all lead to an unfavorable cloud deal.

Back in April of this year, SAP finally provided some guidance on how it planned to address Indirect Access, or as SAP refers to it, “Digital Access,” for current and future customers. Specifically, they articulated three options for existing customers: Do Nothing, License Exchange or Contract Conversion. New customers would be licensed under the new model, measured by the 9 document types defined in the SAP ERP Pricing for the Digital Age.

Too many ServiceNow customers are starting to see a less accommodating and flexible ServiceNow. Especially when it comes time to renew their cloud subscription. Unexpected price increases being forced onto their customer base with contract terms that are less favorable than what have been in place previously are too common. It is critical that you prepare appropriately for these changes as you embark on your renewal negotiations.

Thomas Kurian's leave of absence results in him leaving Oracle altogether. According to various news outlets, the main reason for his leaving was due to a dispute with Larry Ellison over whether or not to allow Oracle's Cloud software to work with other Cloud software such as AWS and Azure.

It is very clear that, after attending the various product keynotes (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Einstein Analytics..etc), Salesforce is going to be aggressively pushing the Customer Success Platform (Customer 360) and all the products it includes into as many customers’ ecosystems as they can and as quickly as they can.

Beyond the announcement of the new partnership with Apple and coverage of Einstein Voice, It is very clear that Salesforce wanted it to be known that they are completely focused on their Customer Success Platform. This focus will bring an aggressive sales organization pushing its customers to adopt more of the products and solutions that it encompasses.

It is an understatement to say that enterprises are severely impacted when their subscribed to cloud solutions are down and not available. Downtime issues can be disastrous and costly. While Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are a standard in cloud subscription agreements, they are often boilerplate that simply don’t cut it. Regardless of which cloud vendor your enterprise is relying on (Salesforce, Microsoft, Workday, ServiceNow, etc.), having the proper SLA structure in place with proper remedies for failure is critical.

With Oracle OpenWorld 2018 just weeks away, Oracle has posted Q1 FY19 earnings that lack luster and have missed Wall Street's expectations. In Q4 Oracle stopped breaking out its revenue streams so it's hard to tell where the company may be struggling with their various products and services. Oracle users aren't seeing a business case to migrate to their cloud solutions.

Oracle’s Thomas Kurian has taken a leave of absence from his role as Senior VP President of Product Strategy. It seems Kurian wants to make more of Oracle’s cloud software run on other cloud platforms such as Azure and AWS, where as Ellison wants everything to run on Oracle. Clients need to be aware of Oracle’s eventual strategy as they become accustomed to using Azure and AWS; they may or may not work with Oracle's software in the near future.

Thomas Kurian, President of Product Development at Oracle is taking a leave of absence. Kurian has been at Oracle since 1996, in his email address to employees his leave hints at being more permanent than temporary, and with Oracle OpenWorld just weeks away, it can be assumed he will be absent for the event. Kurian was responsible for Oracle's move to the Cloud and with poor Cloud financials last quarter it could be speculated there's a correlation.