CloudTrigger-IBM CIO Dinner Lauren States keynote slides

The convergence of social media, mobility, analytics and cloud technology is creating incredible outcomes, from how business are marketing and managing their brands to transforming business processes – driving new transparency, productivity, and collaboration within organizations – and in the medical profession, crossing international boundaries to save lives.

Information is front and center in this convergence – big data, growing at 6 terabytes per second!  Other fascinating stats about the impact of this paradigm shift: IP traffic will accelerate to over 1 trillion gigabytes, 30 billion RFID tags in the landscape, and 1 trillion devices connected to the Internet.  Big data is driving a whole new class of business, especially the relationship between the cloud and everything else, including those devices.

The possibilities for rethinking and reinventing IT are seemingly endless – especially in deploying the cloud to drive efficiency and optimization within data centers.  With the cloud as a delivery model, clients are able to access data and run analytics in real-time to quickly understand patterns, drive insight, and adapt their response with agility and efficiency.  Now the cloud is more than a delivery model with attractive economics – it enables competitive advantage and drives new revenue.

It can even save lives.  Ms. States described the success story of Children’s Hospital Boston.  Inspired by the real-time feeds, stats, and community created around the Masters golf tournament, Children’s Hospital deployed the cloud in a very substantive way to share information and build a community where doctors can share and learn across country lines, creating a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit without Boundaries and save lives.  Now that’s truly a remarkable opportunity.

• Leading-edge developer of mobile phones and wireless communications equipment for businesses and consumers worldwide required a CRM system to handle Service Requests for their call centers and Document Management for their Authorized Service Centers (ASC).
• The key business drivers for implementing a CRM System at Kyocera Communications Inc. (KCI) were elimination of existing separate systems and data center and consolidation for cost efficiencies.
• Project included implementation of the software and data conversions from the legacy system.

Solution

• Kyocera chose Salesforce CRM for its case management features; email capability, including direct case creation by end users; and its knowledge base warehouse, including ability for end users to access its web interface and search for documents.
• The scope of the project includes implementing the following modules of CRM for KCI.
  • Call Tracking
  • Case Logging & Dispositioning allows for warranty validation thru frequent updates from Kyocera (and/or interface)
  • Account Research
  • Reporting
  • Email capability including Web Interface
  • Knowledge Base Warehouse (Web Interface and Searchable by End User)
  • Customer Registration
  • Direct Case Creation by End User
  • Hosted Services
• Deployed the Service Cloud to 200 users across the globe, including North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, within 3 months.
• Added customer portal solution, customized to Kyocera brand standards, to enable customer self and product registration.
• Data mapping, conversion, and validation from the legacy system included hundreds of thousands of customer records with multiple case notes, KB files, and documents with associated meta data.
• Developed customized training curriculum to drive user adoption, including management, admin, and train-the-trainer sessions onsite, and extend the value of the deployment.
• Post-implementation services included ongoing optimization, creation of additional customized reporting and dashboards, ongoing training, and best practices consultation.
• Installed InstantService Chat and Email from the AppExchange to let agents click to create cases from chat and email.
• Consolidated hundreds of thousands of contacts for lead generation, opportunity management, and forecasting.

Results

• Cost savings resulting from elimination of separate ERP and data center and synergies resulting from consolidation of systems and data centers.
• Increase in service and support productivity.
• Process efficiencies including decrease in case resolution time, increase in customer satisfaction, increase in customer retention, and decrease in service/support costs.

Next month, CloudTrigger will be participating in a discussion over dinner with our partners at IBM about driving operating efficiency and business transformation through cloud-based delivery models. Contact us with your ideas for strategies to deliver innovation and efficiency. We’ll be writing about the key take-aways from the discussion in next month’s newsletter.

The business challenge
Dacor Inc. is a 40-year-old company, owned and managed by the founding family’s third generation, known for making the highest quality kitchen appliances, including top-notch ranges and ovens. Its sales staff of about 35 road warriors, scattered mostly around the U.S., used a combination of different software programs, including email and spreadsheets, to track customer and contact data. As the economy tightened and Dacor prepared to launch eight new products, it needed its sales reps to work more collaboratively and efficiently, and to provide management with visibility into sales workstreams.

The implications
Chief Information Officer Hugo Valldejuli needed to create a central repository of customer data, while still ensuring they had the tools needed to close sales and grow revenue. He wanted to have all of the data tightly integrated in real-time, so executives at headquarters would have visibility into the sales operation. In addition, he needed to keep his total cost of ownership down.

The solution implemented
Dacor called on CloudTrigger not only to install its preferred choice, Salesforce.com, but also to help integrate Salesforce with other legacy systems at Dacor, including an ERP system that had been built in-house. Dacor chose CloudTrigger because it was looking for a partner who would stick around even after implementation to make sure Dacor succeeded in getting value from the technology. They had the system up and running within 35 days, and CloudTrigger has stayed with the company for more than a year, uploading the old data to the new system, training employees and adding mobile solutions. Valldejuli says CloudTrigger has become a trusted partner in advising Dacor on how to extract the most value from the cloud.

“IT leaders need to look at how they can bring more value and do more with less,” Valldejuli says. “Cloud computing is efficient, secure, and is here to stay. It’s the way of the future.”

The benefits realized from the solution
Sales managers at Dacor now have all the data they need at their fingertips. They know what the salespeople in the field are up to – where they are training retailers on Dacor products, which leads they are following, and how they are interacting with the consumers putting Dacor ranges in their kitchens. “It really has made the sales management more efficient and proactive,” Valldejuli says. “Everybody has that perspective now that the data is at the forefront. There is a lot more accountability.”

CloudTrigger went the extra mile and also interviewed the salespeople to determine their needs, allowing CloudTrigger to introduce a system that worked for Dacor’s sales team while also avoiding common pitfalls. “Our CloudTrigger project manager steered us in the right direction to deal with the challenges we faced, and he and the developer designed a system that steered us away from future problems,” Valldejuli says.

The sales team now uses Salesforce and its social networking software, Chatter, to share ideas about what’s working in the marketplace. Dacor salespeople often stage cooking demonstrations in retail stores, and they use the new software to exchange ideas, even recipes that proved popular at a store. “I’ll see in Chatter that someone went in on a Saturday and had a barbecue at a particular dealer to demonstrate kitchen cooking efficiencies,” Valldejuli says. “Our sales occur when someone at a retailer remembers something about our product and tells the consumer as they’re looking for a new oven or a new range. I can see that happening now, in real-time, in our system.”

General information
About Dacor: Family-owned since its beginning in 1965, Dacor is the innovator of stylish, American-made, luxury kitchen appliances that provide a premium culinary experience for those who are passionate for the details and finer points of gourmet cooking. Based in Costa Mesa, Calif., Dacor employs 300 people. The company has introduced many industry firsts including an outdoor grill with built-in halogen lights, Illumina™ Burner Controls with blue LED lights, the patented RapidHeat™ Bake Element, color-infused glass appliances. Offering a complete line of luxury kitchen appliances, which includes wall ovens, ranges, cooktops, dishwashers, warming drawers, microwaves, ventilation hoods, refrigerators, wine storage and outdoor appliances, the company also features an affordable line of designer appliances to bring the luxury of Dacor to a broader range of consumers. Dacor is committed to reducing the energy demands of its operations, maximizing the efficiency of its products and implementing sustainable business practices. For more information on Dacor, its product line and local dealer locations, visit www.dacor.com, contact Customer Care at (800) 793-0093 or visit the Dacor Design & Culinary Centers in Atlanta or San Francisco.

Sidebar with a quote from the customer
“The CloudTrigger staff understood how we needed the software to work, and what the process was. They moved us in the direction that was the best way to use the software.”

– Hugo Valldejuli, Chief Information Officer, Dacor Inc.

Pervasive DataSolutions™ offers out of the box, easy-to-use packaged data integrations.  The presentation from Pervasive will be held 8:00 – 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time.  Jacaruso will discuss the challenges of data quality, the cost of poor data quality both upstream and downstream in the business process and how to get more value from Salesforce through data integration.

More information about the meeting can be found at http://usergroups.salesforce.com/sandiego/.

About Pervasive Software
Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW) helps companies get the most out of their data investments through embeddable data management, agile data integration software and revolutionary next generation analytics. The embeddable Pervasive PSQL™ database engine allows organizations to successfully embrace new technologies while maintaining application compatibility and robust database reliability in a near-zero database administration environment. Pervasive’s multi-purpose data integration platform accelerates the sharing of information between multiple data stores, applications, and hosted business systems and allows customers to re-use the same software for diverse integration scenarios. Pervasive DataRush™ is an embeddable high-performance software platform for data-intensive processing applications such as claims processing, risk analysis, fraud detection, data mining, predictive analytics, sales optimization and marketing analytics. For more than two decades, Pervasive products have delivered value to tens of thousands of customers in more than 150 countries with a compelling combination of performance, flexibility, reliability and low total cost of ownership. Through Pervasive Innovation Labs, the company also invests in exploring and creating cutting edge solutions for the toughest data analysis and data delivery challenges. Robin Bloor, founder of Bloor Research and partner at Hurwitz and Associates recently cited Pervasive as one of the 10 IT Companies to Watch in 2009. For additional information, go to www.pervasive.com.
Cautionary Statement
This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon information available to Pervasive as of the date hereof, and Pervasive assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement.
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All Pervasive brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pervasive Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

CloudTrigger is focused on developing core business applications leveraging Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms like Salesforce.com, Google and Amazon.com to deliver CloudTrigger solutions and services. “Our goal at CloudTrigger is to ensure our customers can maximize the efficiencies and rapidly deploy comprehensive Cloud based applications,” said Lonnie Wills, CEO.

About CloudTrigger

CloudTrigger is the leader in SaaS application development and services. For further information, please contact us at www.cloudtrigger.com or email us at info@cloudtrigger.com

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As a friend often says, Life isnt about waiting for the storm to pass; It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

Backdrop:

Over the past several months I have been meeting with customers and getting some really interesting questions, like what is this new buzz word, “PaaS”? Someone told me at a board meeting that their company was going to start leveraging cloud computing, is that SaaS? As the CIO should I be considering a SaaS strategy? SaaS Department? Cloud? Have you heard of adlizard, they are the next SaaS application for advertising companies? SAP will Host their CRM product too, isnt that the same thing as SaaS and multi-tenant architecture?

What is the real problem:

Interesting question that has several derivatives. Cost, Cost of data centers, bandwidth, power, people, etc.

Basically in 199x many companies invested in significant client server architecture that was the evolution of application development and moving from a mainframe based “glass house” to the future of computing. In moving to this model, many companies have invested Billions of dollars in Data Centers, IT resources, software development and application software. What they are left with is expensive, non-performing systems, processes and frustrated business users which impact the bottom line of every company.

Today, CIO’s are looking back over the past two decades and realizing that the applications that were once created to solve business problems, created more problems then they really solved. They also realize that the soaring costs to support the monster they created is almost impossible to keep feeding while the demand from their end users grows exponentially. What they want it is a simple interface like Salesforce.com or facebook for those serious social networkers. Could you imagine coming to your virtual workspace in facebook everyday? It would be just like your cubicle in your office at work, only virtual with applications like SFDC, Clickability, or Xeequa displaying the latest metrics of your business.

Now CIO’s are looking for ways to reduce cost, reduce complexity and they are looking at SaaS, PaaS, Utility Computing, etc.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/29/ingres-data-center-tech-cio-cx_es_0630ingres.html?partner=yahootix
What is this thing called Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing is a set of web based services ranging from web 1.0 to web 2.0, from complete applications to storage services and spam filtering. Included in this definition is grid computing or utility-style computing from providers like Amazon, OpSource and SaaS providers such as Salesforce.com, Xactly, Clickability, and Eloqua.

What you get with web services:

Today, cloud computing can be one way increase your computing capacity or add functionality or capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing is an extension of Web 2.0 Services reaching into the IT organization and extending IT’s existing capabilities. Unfortunately, IT must plug into tnese web based services as silo’s in the cloud, but SaaS/PaaS (platform as a Service) aggregators and integrators like Boomi and Pervasive are emerging to create one stop shopping for web services like the Opsource Service Bus has done for ISV’s moving to a SaaS/PaaS model.

What you no longer need:

By extending web based services, IT organizations can begin to reduce the data center foot print by removing servers, applications, IT support resources, and minimize or reduce cost of power, internet bandwidth and telephony.

What are your options for adoption:

There are several options ranging from SaaS Platforms which would be considered application platforms like Salesforce.com, Xactly, Eloqua, Zuora (on-line Billing System), Sierena(mashups) to Utility based platforms like Ec2(elastic Cloud computing from Amazon), S3 for storage to aggregators like Opsource or integrators like Boomi and Pervasive.

The current Breakdown of the “Cloud” or Web Services:

1. SaaS
This type of “Web Services” or “Cloud Computing” delivers an application through a browser to customers around the world using a multitenant architecture. Customers can focus on business continuity while reducing upfront investments on servers or software licensing. One of the best examples of this SaaS architecture is Salesforce.com, they exemplify the capabilities of a SaaS based mutitenant architecture. Another emerging player in this space is Workday and Coda. Interestingly enough, Coda is rebuilding there entire app on Force.com, leveraging the salesforce.com platform. Another much needed player in this space is a true SaaS based architecture for billing and Zuora has come to the rescue with an innovative approach to managing your billing from A to Z. We also have the emergence of SaaS desktop applications, such as Google Apps and Zoho Office to create a new SaaS type model.

2. Platform as a service
Another SaaS variation, this form of cloud computing delivers development environments as a service. You build your own applications that run on the provider’s infrastructure and are delivered to your users via the Internet from the provider’s servers. Like building blocks, these services are constrained by the vendor’s design and capabilities, so you don’t get complete freedom, but you do get predictability and pre-integration. Prime examples include Salesforce.com’s Force.com, Coghead and the new Google App Engine. For extremely lightweight development, cloud-based mashup platforms abound, such as Yahoo Pipes or Dapper.net.

3. The Grid or the “Cloud”
This form of “cloud computing” is getting new life from companies like Amazon.com, Sun, IBM, and others who now offer storage and virtual servers that IT can access on demand. Early enterprise adopters mainly use utility computing for supplemental, non-mission-critical needs, but one day, they may replace parts of the datacenter. Other providers offer solutions that help IT create virtual datacenters from commodity servers, such as 3Tera’s AppLogic and Cohesive Flexible Technologies’ Elastic Server on Demand. Liquid Computing’s LiquidQ offers similar capabilities, enabling IT to stitch together memory, I/O, storage, and computational capacity as a virtualized resource pool available over the network.

4. API’s Heaven… Somewhere in the clouds
API’s allow SaaS providers to extend their applications as web services for use between applications via the web. It also allows web developers to extend their own applications functionality over the Internet as a web service. They range from providers offering discrete business services — such as Strike Iron and Xignite — to the full range of APIs offered by Google Maps, ADP payroll processing, the U.S. Postal Service, Bloomberg, and even conventional credit card processing services.

5. Integration in the Cloud
I remember talking to several of the integration players three years ago about the power of the cloud and needing to have integration capability in a SaaS based model. Today Pervasive and Boomi are taking this challenge head on. Pervasive is one of the oldest technology players in this space who continues to be innovative and delivering smart technology to solve complex integration problems. Another player in this space is Boomi, Bob Moul and his team have created a great multi-tenant architecture with smart “atoms” for those still lagging in the client server world. We also are seeing aggregator’s emerging in this space as well with innovative companies like OpSource where Treb Ryan and John Rowell are leading the way in this space . If you are an ISV looking for a clear path to becoming the best of breed in SaaS, Opsource should be on your radar.
So everyone is asking the question, Why “Cloud” computing?

It’s simple:

• Scalable
• Flexible
• Reliable
• Fast Setup
• Affordable Enterprise Solution
• Environmentally More Efficient

Cloud computing increases capacity or adds capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing extends IT’s existing capabilities while reducing cost of infrastructure, support, etc.

How do you get started or enhance your current SaaS strategy?

How do we enable cloud computing? Here at CloudTrigger we start with a project charter and then review your business to define the criteria and SaaS strategy that needs to be developed for your organization. Based on those criteria, it will fall into one of the five cloud computing buckets or a combination of the cloud computing buckets. Once we understand the scope of the application then we can price the application, then design, and deploy using the Agile approach.