The New York Times
...Software can be deployed and updated faster in cloud systems because of the central control. If you make changes to a calendar function, for example, or patch a potential security flaw, it can show up on everyone’s machines the next time they log in.
You can also change the way that other programmers and consultants approach work. Appirio, based in New York, is attempting to build a crowdsourced method of writing custom business software applications. Called CloudSpokes , it involves companies submitting “challenges” in exchange for cash rewards. Programmers from around the world can compete to write the best software, possibly winning jobs as well as money.
“Companies pay for the top one or two submissions, but they get to look at multiple versions of the work,” said Narinder Singh, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Appirio. His company often gets a commission for managing the work, and can more easily spot talent around the globe. “You aren’t paying for labor before you have a sense of the person’s skills,” he said. The system also works for designers, he said. Much the way Cloud Sherpas sells Salesforce as well as Google, Appirio is increasingly selling more software from Workday, another cloud-based software company.
The new approaches to consulting underline how much collaboration figures in cloud technology. Google is gaining traction partly because its products have better features; even more important, traditional enterprises have come to accept cloud-based systems, and workers are used to communicating constantly, thanks in part to the habits of “sharing” information over Facebook and Twitter...
Read more
Appirio in the News
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
HR In The Cloud: Allowing For A Connected Workplace
Forbes
Guest post written by Jason Averbook. Jason Averbook is chief business inovation officer of Knowledge Infusion, a unit of Appirio.
Many of us would describe ourselves as digitally connected to our personal lives. We know what our friends are up to (and what they had for lunch) in near real time. Often the books we read, music we listen to, products we buy and even relationships we enter into are fed to us from the cloud, based on our habits and preferences. As a culture, for better or worse, we are becoming "plugged into" or connected to our own lives.
Yet as employees, many of us can't say the same about our workplaces. Without question, organizations are improving when it comes to accommodating a virtual workforce, as most have accepted the idea that employees can work efficiently from anywhere. However, the impetus for employees working from home or a remote office is often rooted in company-centric benefits like cost savings, productivity gains, or access to global talent.
To support these virtual factions of workers, HR is compelled to provide ways for remote employees to connect with headquarters. What's often still missing is giving thought to connecting employees with one another. The notion that "face time" equals being "plugged in" at work is still prevalent, but cloud technology is changing that. And let's face it: even those who work in a physical office daily would probably claim that their manager and co-workers don't know exactly what they're working on, past/current project contributions, newly acquired skills, or career interests. Likewise, most employees would tell you they aren't really sure how their day-to-day activities are contributing to the organization's mission or business goals. Being connected isn't necessarily a matter of proximity...
Read more
Guest post written by Jason Averbook. Jason Averbook is chief business inovation officer of Knowledge Infusion, a unit of Appirio.
Many of us would describe ourselves as digitally connected to our personal lives. We know what our friends are up to (and what they had for lunch) in near real time. Often the books we read, music we listen to, products we buy and even relationships we enter into are fed to us from the cloud, based on our habits and preferences. As a culture, for better or worse, we are becoming "plugged into" or connected to our own lives.
Yet as employees, many of us can't say the same about our workplaces. Without question, organizations are improving when it comes to accommodating a virtual workforce, as most have accepted the idea that employees can work efficiently from anywhere. However, the impetus for employees working from home or a remote office is often rooted in company-centric benefits like cost savings, productivity gains, or access to global talent.
To support these virtual factions of workers, HR is compelled to provide ways for remote employees to connect with headquarters. What's often still missing is giving thought to connecting employees with one another. The notion that "face time" equals being "plugged in" at work is still prevalent, but cloud technology is changing that. And let's face it: even those who work in a physical office daily would probably claim that their manager and co-workers don't know exactly what they're working on, past/current project contributions, newly acquired skills, or career interests. Likewise, most employees would tell you they aren't really sure how their day-to-day activities are contributing to the organization's mission or business goals. Being connected isn't necessarily a matter of proximity...
Read more
Cloud Service Brokerages Emerge As New Integrators
CIO
When the Museum of Modern Art in New York took on two cloud projects, it decided to reach outside the organization for some extra help.
MoMA sought to migrate from its on-premises email system to a Google-hosted environment and adopt Salesforce.com's CRM offering to gain more insight into donors and members. MoMA CTO Juan Montes read up on Appirio, a San Francisco-based services provider, after receiving a tip that the company was "a vendor with cloud chops." A meeting with Appirio's CEO sealed the deal: The museum tapped Appirio for guidance on both the Gmail and Salesforce deployments.
Montes cited Appirio's cloud expertise and specialized tooling as factors in its selection. "In the case of Gmail, they had the tools and methods to take information as it was in the on-premise context and port it to a cloud context," he says. "It would have been very difficult for us to develop those tools in a timely way. It would have been very costly to us. They had the tools and the know-how and were ready to go and we could do the implementation in a very short period of time."..
Read More
When the Museum of Modern Art in New York took on two cloud projects, it decided to reach outside the organization for some extra help.
MoMA sought to migrate from its on-premises email system to a Google-hosted environment and adopt Salesforce.com's CRM offering to gain more insight into donors and members. MoMA CTO Juan Montes read up on Appirio, a San Francisco-based services provider, after receiving a tip that the company was "a vendor with cloud chops." A meeting with Appirio's CEO sealed the deal: The museum tapped Appirio for guidance on both the Gmail and Salesforce deployments.
Montes cited Appirio's cloud expertise and specialized tooling as factors in its selection. "In the case of Gmail, they had the tools and methods to take information as it was in the on-premise context and port it to a cloud context," he says. "It would have been very difficult for us to develop those tools in a timely way. It would have been very costly to us. They had the tools and the know-how and were ready to go and we could do the implementation in a very short period of time."..
Read More
'Workforce Technology' Combines Tech, HR Strategies
Enterprise Conversation
...Though he continues to be listed as the CEO of Knowledge Infusion, the company he co-founded is being acquired by Appirio, a cloud applications provider for IT, finance, and HR. Now Averbook, one of the most outspoken advocates of maintaining human initiative, human capital, and human decision making in an organization, is being retitled chief business innovation officer for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.
How does Averbook reconcile his vision of human capital management with the rising tide of cloud-based services automation?
He said his vision is based on an evolving concept he calls "workforce technology." For the past two decades, organizations have developed a "people strategy" and then searched for whatever packaged software fit that vision. (Averbook speaks as a PeopleSoft veteran.)
Somewhere between the time when they sit for the demo -- and ooh and aah and drool over the robotic nature of this artificially intelligent software -- and when it gets implemented and "goes live," when they have their big party, that chasm between the two becomes gigantic.
These people strategies tend to deteriorate over this widening interval. HR departments sacrifice elements of their vision in the interest of implementing what they can, cutting their losses, and expediting their go-live time. "If that's the approach, pure implementation, you almost never get to the strategic level," Averbook said.
Most HR departments in the past [thought] of everything as a science. The big reason HR departments came into existence was a) for compliance purposes, and b) to be able to do compensation and payroll, which had to be done to the penny. Talent management is never going to be a science. Talent management is an art. Art is a combination of data and a strategy of where the organization is trying to go....
Read more
...Though he continues to be listed as the CEO of Knowledge Infusion, the company he co-founded is being acquired by Appirio, a cloud applications provider for IT, finance, and HR. Now Averbook, one of the most outspoken advocates of maintaining human initiative, human capital, and human decision making in an organization, is being retitled chief business innovation officer for a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.
How does Averbook reconcile his vision of human capital management with the rising tide of cloud-based services automation?
He said his vision is based on an evolving concept he calls "workforce technology." For the past two decades, organizations have developed a "people strategy" and then searched for whatever packaged software fit that vision. (Averbook speaks as a PeopleSoft veteran.)
Somewhere between the time when they sit for the demo -- and ooh and aah and drool over the robotic nature of this artificially intelligent software -- and when it gets implemented and "goes live," when they have their big party, that chasm between the two becomes gigantic.
These people strategies tend to deteriorate over this widening interval. HR departments sacrifice elements of their vision in the interest of implementing what they can, cutting their losses, and expediting their go-live time. "If that's the approach, pure implementation, you almost never get to the strategic level," Averbook said.
Most HR departments in the past [thought] of everything as a science. The big reason HR departments came into existence was a) for compliance purposes, and b) to be able to do compensation and payroll, which had to be done to the penny. Talent management is never going to be a science. Talent management is an art. Art is a combination of data and a strategy of where the organization is trying to go....
Read more
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Advisory services: Businesses turn to brokers to get more from the cloud
The Financial Times
...Companies want brokers to help them get more out of their disparate cloud software programmes. Mr Nucci says: "To do any analysis on these services you need to integrate them. Let's say you want to analyse whether your hiring strategy is working. You need to touch at least three or four different systems, including human resources and payroll."
The trouble is, the cloud-based human resources system will not necessarily talk to your in-house payroll programme, without either some complex internal engineering or the help of an external expert.
Such help is not cheap. Appirio says companies can pay between $10,000 and single-digit millions for help in making the transition and in running the cloud system subsequently.
However, Chris Barbin, chief executive at Appirio, says this is less than companies would have spent in the past on IT contractors who would spend three to five years designing an IT transformation project that would often fail. The results of transferring IT to the cloud are quicker and come in increments that can be tested along the way. Changes, even at big companies, can be made in four to six weeks or less...
Read More
...Companies want brokers to help them get more out of their disparate cloud software programmes. Mr Nucci says: "To do any analysis on these services you need to integrate them. Let's say you want to analyse whether your hiring strategy is working. You need to touch at least three or four different systems, including human resources and payroll."
The trouble is, the cloud-based human resources system will not necessarily talk to your in-house payroll programme, without either some complex internal engineering or the help of an external expert.
Such help is not cheap. Appirio says companies can pay between $10,000 and single-digit millions for help in making the transition and in running the cloud system subsequently.
However, Chris Barbin, chief executive at Appirio, says this is less than companies would have spent in the past on IT contractors who would spend three to five years designing an IT transformation project that would often fail. The results of transferring IT to the cloud are quicker and come in increments that can be tested along the way. Changes, even at big companies, can be made in four to six weeks or less...
Read More
Management: Caution needed over decision to migrate
The Financial Times
...Indeed, some companies, particularly those most recently founded, already do everything on the cloud.
"We don't own a single server and we never plan to," says Chris Barbin, the chief executive of Appirio, based in San Francisco.
Given that Appirio is a company that offers other businesses help in moving to the cloud, this stance is perhaps not surprising. But the cloud does give the 600-person business an enviable agility.
Mr Barbin says: "We acquired a company and, on the day the acquisition was announced, we had all the staff from the acquired company already up on our internal social networking system. In the old days you couldn't even requisition a server in less than a few weeks."...
Read More
...Indeed, some companies, particularly those most recently founded, already do everything on the cloud.
"We don't own a single server and we never plan to," says Chris Barbin, the chief executive of Appirio, based in San Francisco.
Given that Appirio is a company that offers other businesses help in moving to the cloud, this stance is perhaps not surprising. But the cloud does give the 600-person business an enviable agility.
Mr Barbin says: "We acquired a company and, on the day the acquisition was announced, we had all the staff from the acquired company already up on our internal social networking system. In the old days you couldn't even requisition a server in less than a few weeks."...
Read More
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Salesforce.com's Complexity Brings CIOs, Partners Together
CIO
...The business-critical nature of some Salesforce.com deployments also contributes to the need for partnering. A SaaS deployment may simply focus on the application, with little or no need for professional services. However, Salesforce.com deployments don't always exist in isolation. They are often embedded in broader projects to revamp sales or customer service in a department or across an organization.
K12, a company that provides online K-12 education, fits that model. The organization decided to replace its legacy customer system as part of an effort to provide a more personal and relevant customer experience, according to Dianne Conley, vice president of marketing systems at K12. The company selected Salesforce.com over Oracle as its software provider; Salesforce.com recommended Appirio, a San Francisco-based services provider specializing in the cloud, as an implementation partner.
K12 planned to hire a partner for the project, whether the nod went to Salesforce.com or Oracle. "It wasn't even something we thought twice about for an undertaking on the scale we were doing," Conley says...
Read more
...The business-critical nature of some Salesforce.com deployments also contributes to the need for partnering. A SaaS deployment may simply focus on the application, with little or no need for professional services. However, Salesforce.com deployments don't always exist in isolation. They are often embedded in broader projects to revamp sales or customer service in a department or across an organization.
K12, a company that provides online K-12 education, fits that model. The organization decided to replace its legacy customer system as part of an effort to provide a more personal and relevant customer experience, according to Dianne Conley, vice president of marketing systems at K12. The company selected Salesforce.com over Oracle as its software provider; Salesforce.com recommended Appirio, a San Francisco-based services provider specializing in the cloud, as an implementation partner.
K12 planned to hire a partner for the project, whether the nod went to Salesforce.com or Oracle. "It wasn't even something we thought twice about for an undertaking on the scale we were doing," Conley says...
Read more
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Kindred Healthcare Empowers Sales Reps With iPads And Salesforce.com
Forbes
Sales executive Barry Somervell has a passion for arming his team with tools that yield productivity; he believes in the power of technology to transform the selling process. Barry was asked to come into Kindred Healthcare, a $5 billion supplier of post-acute-care services, to energize and modernize its nursing center division's sales process to bring patients into its 224 skilled nursing and transitional care centers. Barry quickly saw that the tools that the "clinical liaisons" carried were lacking. This group of sales professionals, from a clinical or nursing background, needed better ways to collaborate with colleagues and with hospital medical staff to offer the right services to patients about to be discharged and in need of rehabilitation services. You can see Barry and his team in this video.
The problems were subtle but persistent. Even when powered by salesforce.com, Windows Slate computers didn't cut it -- the poor connectivity and awkwardness of the device interfered with good engagement with hospital staff and patients and their families. The sales resources were largely paper-based and inconsistently applied. The results of a meeting were often lost in a morass of documentation done online in the evenings from home, resulting in lost sales, missed opportunities to share and learn, and a data vacuum that prevented management from knowing what was wrong and how to fix it.
The team was determined to find a solution and decided to find the best technology to drive collaborative engagement with the discharge planners responsible for getting patients onto the next phase of their recovery and rehabilitation, engage directly with patients and their families through video and rich media, and make each sales interaction a resource to be mined for insight and improvement.
But which tools would make this group of sales reps successful? That's what the sales and marketing collaboration council wanted to know in their monthly planning meeting. This steering committee, 15 people strong, is headed by the president and staffed by sales, marketing, field operations, and IT.
The answer, created by cloud integrator Appirio, was to use a smart combination of iPads for engagement; salesforce.com for content access, contacts, and sales process and analysis; Cisco WebEx for training; email for collaboration; and MobileIron for tablet security and app management.
Appirio worked with Barry and his core sales operations team for managing the salesforce.com environment and doing the analytics, with the IT department for device management, with the marketing team for content creation and porting, and with the regional sales directors to drive adoption, use, and collaboration....
Read More
Sales executive Barry Somervell has a passion for arming his team with tools that yield productivity; he believes in the power of technology to transform the selling process. Barry was asked to come into Kindred Healthcare, a $5 billion supplier of post-acute-care services, to energize and modernize its nursing center division's sales process to bring patients into its 224 skilled nursing and transitional care centers. Barry quickly saw that the tools that the "clinical liaisons" carried were lacking. This group of sales professionals, from a clinical or nursing background, needed better ways to collaborate with colleagues and with hospital medical staff to offer the right services to patients about to be discharged and in need of rehabilitation services. You can see Barry and his team in this video.
The problems were subtle but persistent. Even when powered by salesforce.com, Windows Slate computers didn't cut it -- the poor connectivity and awkwardness of the device interfered with good engagement with hospital staff and patients and their families. The sales resources were largely paper-based and inconsistently applied. The results of a meeting were often lost in a morass of documentation done online in the evenings from home, resulting in lost sales, missed opportunities to share and learn, and a data vacuum that prevented management from knowing what was wrong and how to fix it.
The team was determined to find a solution and decided to find the best technology to drive collaborative engagement with the discharge planners responsible for getting patients onto the next phase of their recovery and rehabilitation, engage directly with patients and their families through video and rich media, and make each sales interaction a resource to be mined for insight and improvement.
But which tools would make this group of sales reps successful? That's what the sales and marketing collaboration council wanted to know in their monthly planning meeting. This steering committee, 15 people strong, is headed by the president and staffed by sales, marketing, field operations, and IT.
The answer, created by cloud integrator Appirio, was to use a smart combination of iPads for engagement; salesforce.com for content access, contacts, and sales process and analysis; Cisco WebEx for training; email for collaboration; and MobileIron for tablet security and app management.
Appirio worked with Barry and his core sales operations team for managing the salesforce.com environment and doing the analytics, with the IT department for device management, with the marketing team for content creation and porting, and with the regional sales directors to drive adoption, use, and collaboration....
Read More
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Why the CIO Must Give Up Something for the Greater Good
The Wall Street Journal
A CIO once told me that it's impossible to be perceived as strategic when you're person the CEO calls when email isn't working. The quote stuck with me for a reason beyond his specific predicament. Software, in the words of venture capitalist Marc Andreesen, "Is Eating the World". So, in this time of disruption and downward pressure on costs, how can a CIO manage commoditized technologies and also be responsible for making technology a key part of every business strategy?
For the most part, the answer is that the CIO can't. The skills, approaches, tools, and executive qualities required to drive operational aspects of commodity IT services are different, if not antithetical, to driving strategic use of technology for competitive market differentiation. Instead CEOs should look to split the role into two. The first drives commoditized technology improvements, basing performance on cost reduction and maintenance of service levels. While it's possible to do this in innovative ways, the ultimate goal is to allow for investment to shift towards more impactful technology that directly drives the business...
Read more here
...Narinder Singh is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Appirio
A CIO once told me that it's impossible to be perceived as strategic when you're person the CEO calls when email isn't working. The quote stuck with me for a reason beyond his specific predicament. Software, in the words of venture capitalist Marc Andreesen, "Is Eating the World". So, in this time of disruption and downward pressure on costs, how can a CIO manage commoditized technologies and also be responsible for making technology a key part of every business strategy?
For the most part, the answer is that the CIO can't. The skills, approaches, tools, and executive qualities required to drive operational aspects of commodity IT services are different, if not antithetical, to driving strategic use of technology for competitive market differentiation. Instead CEOs should look to split the role into two. The first drives commoditized technology improvements, basing performance on cost reduction and maintenance of service levels. While it's possible to do this in innovative ways, the ultimate goal is to allow for investment to shift towards more impactful technology that directly drives the business...
Read more here
...Narinder Singh is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Appirio
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Dilbert disses cloud (or at least cloudwashing)
GigaOM
When Dilbert takes aim at cloudwashing, maybe it is the beginning of the end for that annoying practice which threatens the credibility of tech companies.
Dilbert’s boss (he of the awesome two-point hairdo) tells Dilbert to move some of the company’s functions to the Internet but to call the Internet “cloud.” Why? Because no one “will take us seriously unless we’re doing something in the cloud,” says Mr. Two-Points, aka PHB or Pointy-headed Boss. The remedy is to apply mindless jargon to what they’re already doing. This has been the practice of 95 percent of software companies for the past few years –put out an update and call it “cloud.”
Last year, Appirio inaugurated a “Cloudwashies” contest to give the most shameless perpetrators of cloudwashing the dubious acknowledgement they so richly deserved. Oracle and its CEO Larry Ellison — whose miraculous “come-to-cloud” conversion made him the no brainer choice — were winners. So were Salesforce.com and Microsoft — for it’s beyond-irritating “to the cloud” ads. (InformationWeek has its own take here.)
When Dilbert takes aim at cloudwashing, maybe it is the beginning of the end for that annoying practice which threatens the credibility of tech companies.
Dilbert’s boss (he of the awesome two-point hairdo) tells Dilbert to move some of the company’s functions to the Internet but to call the Internet “cloud.” Why? Because no one “will take us seriously unless we’re doing something in the cloud,” says Mr. Two-Points, aka PHB or Pointy-headed Boss. The remedy is to apply mindless jargon to what they’re already doing. This has been the practice of 95 percent of software companies for the past few years –put out an update and call it “cloud.”
Last year, Appirio inaugurated a “Cloudwashies” contest to give the most shameless perpetrators of cloudwashing the dubious acknowledgement they so richly deserved. Oracle and its CEO Larry Ellison — whose miraculous “come-to-cloud” conversion made him the no brainer choice — were winners. So were Salesforce.com and Microsoft — for it’s beyond-irritating “to the cloud” ads. (InformationWeek has its own take here.)
Monday, October 15, 2012
Knowledge Infusion Takes Next Step
Human Resource Executive Online
...KI has long been a Workday consulting and advisory partner; new owner Appirio, an implementation partner. Together they will have strategy and technology covered in The Cloud. Vendor agnostic to the end, KI has recently become a deployment partner for SuccessFactors and Salesforce.com's Work.com, as well.
Says Corsello, once KI's No. 3, "What made KI unique is that they got to know their clients' business and help build their HR and talent management strategy from there. Most others just focus on the technology. Appirio has quickly become the Accenture of the Cloud world and, by all indications, appears to be a great match."
KI plans to expand its brief under Appirio with Heidi building a people-centric, work-centric practice across the other corporate domains besides HR, including marketing and customer relationship management (CRM).
...KI has long been a Workday consulting and advisory partner; new owner Appirio, an implementation partner. Together they will have strategy and technology covered in The Cloud. Vendor agnostic to the end, KI has recently become a deployment partner for SuccessFactors and Salesforce.com's Work.com, as well.
Says Corsello, once KI's No. 3, "What made KI unique is that they got to know their clients' business and help build their HR and talent management strategy from there. Most others just focus on the technology. Appirio has quickly become the Accenture of the Cloud world and, by all indications, appears to be a great match."
KI plans to expand its brief under Appirio with Heidi building a people-centric, work-centric practice across the other corporate domains besides HR, including marketing and customer relationship management (CRM).
Monday, October 8, 2012
Appirio beefs up, acquires Knowledge Infusion
ZDNet
Appirio on Monday said it will acquire Knowledge Infusion in a deal aimed at implementing cloud-based human capital management software at a broader scale.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
The news, which should be good for companies like Workday and Salesforce, will create an organization with 600 consultants. Appirio has specialized in cloud and software as a service deployments. Knowledge Infusion has primarily focused on the HCM market.
Appirio on Monday said it will acquire Knowledge Infusion in a deal aimed at implementing cloud-based human capital management software at a broader scale.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
The news, which should be good for companies like Workday and Salesforce, will create an organization with 600 consultants. Appirio has specialized in cloud and software as a service deployments. Knowledge Infusion has primarily focused on the HCM market.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Looking for the 'Next Big Thing'? Ranking the Top 50 Start-Ups
The Wall Street Journal
Venture capitalists are still investing in flashy Internet start-ups, but the "Next Big Thing" is more likely to be a maker of humdrum Internet plumbing for businesses.
The Wall Street Journal's third annual ranking of the top 50 venture-capital-backed companies shows a crop of contenders that overall are focused less on online consumers than in years past.
The top three ranked companies are all business-product makers: Genband Inc., a supplier of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology to telecom companies; Xirrus Inc., a provider of wireless networking equipment; and Tabula Inc., which makes semiconductors for electronic products.
Several other companies on the list offer products or services designed to help businesses run more efficiently, such as data-storage company Nimble Storage Inc. (No. 26) and business-analytics software provider Marketo Inc. (No. 20), cloud-computing services provider Appirio Inc. (No. 29)...
Venture capitalists are still investing in flashy Internet start-ups, but the "Next Big Thing" is more likely to be a maker of humdrum Internet plumbing for businesses.
The Wall Street Journal's third annual ranking of the top 50 venture-capital-backed companies shows a crop of contenders that overall are focused less on online consumers than in years past.
The top three ranked companies are all business-product makers: Genband Inc., a supplier of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology to telecom companies; Xirrus Inc., a provider of wireless networking equipment; and Tabula Inc., which makes semiconductors for electronic products.
Several other companies on the list offer products or services designed to help businesses run more efficiently, such as data-storage company Nimble Storage Inc. (No. 26) and business-analytics software provider Marketo Inc. (No. 20), cloud-computing services provider Appirio Inc. (No. 29)...
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
5 ways to think like a cloud architect
ZDNet
In a new post, Chris Bruzzi and Nick Hamm, both with Appirio, a cloud services provider, share their experiences in cloud application development. They point to the five changes in mindset that needs to take place as application development and deployment evolves to the cloud world.
For architects and developers who have been working within the service-oriented architecture realm, most of these best practices will look terribly familiar. But Bruzzi and Hamm point out that SOA in the past was more constrained, since it typically stopped at the enterprise walls. Now, as more and more of IT gets hooked up into the cloud, it's time to really promote "service-oriented" thinking...
In a new post, Chris Bruzzi and Nick Hamm, both with Appirio, a cloud services provider, share their experiences in cloud application development. They point to the five changes in mindset that needs to take place as application development and deployment evolves to the cloud world.
For architects and developers who have been working within the service-oriented architecture realm, most of these best practices will look terribly familiar. But Bruzzi and Hamm point out that SOA in the past was more constrained, since it typically stopped at the enterprise walls. Now, as more and more of IT gets hooked up into the cloud, it's time to really promote "service-oriented" thinking...
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The State of Social Media at Work In One Quick Infographic
Forbes
After surveying over 300 professionals, technology service provider Appirio determined that most people are far more social personally than they are at work.
Interestingly, 41% believe their company should be doing more to become a social enterprise, and twice as many managers are using social media compared to their employees they manage. So the takeaway here seems to be that employees either are not allowed to engage in social networking activities at work, or don't see the value in it.
Most importantly, as the survey suggests, enterprise workers now understand that culture and ownership of the social business transformation are key factors to the success of a social enterprise. That's a welcome shift from past surveys I have seen.
After surveying over 300 professionals, technology service provider Appirio determined that most people are far more social personally than they are at work.
Interestingly, 41% believe their company should be doing more to become a social enterprise, and twice as many managers are using social media compared to their employees they manage. So the takeaway here seems to be that employees either are not allowed to engage in social networking activities at work, or don't see the value in it.
Most importantly, as the survey suggests, enterprise workers now understand that culture and ownership of the social business transformation are key factors to the success of a social enterprise. That's a welcome shift from past surveys I have seen.
Appirio on the state of social at work: It needs more time
ZDNet
As Salesforce.com's annual Dreamforce conference continues this week, Appirio has released a new report examining the state of social technologies in the workplace.
The bottom line is that the social enterprise/revolution/whatever-you-want-to-call-it concept has a long way to go before it is consider the de facto way of doing business.
Before that can happen, the concept of social enterprise might need to be defined better as a recent Bluewolf survey also concluded that many businesses still don't understand what this means exactly.
Overall, Appirio's results concur with those of Bluewolf. For example, nearly a third of businesses surveyed had no idea what the term "social enterprise" meant.
That doesn't mean that businesses aren't on-board with the idea of integrating social media throughout work infrastructures. Researchers found that more than 35 percent of respondents said their companies had set aside budgets or resources to make business processes more social. Furthermore, 57 percent of respondents said they currently use social tools to do their job.
As Salesforce.com's annual Dreamforce conference continues this week, Appirio has released a new report examining the state of social technologies in the workplace.
The bottom line is that the social enterprise/revolution/whatever-you-want-to-call-it concept has a long way to go before it is consider the de facto way of doing business.
Before that can happen, the concept of social enterprise might need to be defined better as a recent Bluewolf survey also concluded that many businesses still don't understand what this means exactly.
Overall, Appirio's results concur with those of Bluewolf. For example, nearly a third of businesses surveyed had no idea what the term "social enterprise" meant.
That doesn't mean that businesses aren't on-board with the idea of integrating social media throughout work infrastructures. Researchers found that more than 35 percent of respondents said their companies had set aside budgets or resources to make business processes more social. Furthermore, 57 percent of respondents said they currently use social tools to do their job.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Appirio's CloudSpokes: an update
ZDNet
Apart from the fact that Appirio puts on by far the best party at Dreamforce, it also happens to be one of the real disrupters in the SI market. One of the ways it does this is through the CloudSpokes community. In this 4:04 minute video, co-founder Narinder Singh talks through how the company is going about disrupting cloud implementation and development consulting.
This is impressive by any standards. Off camera, Singh said the company has taken its foot off the gas a little bit as it manages community growth. Of greater interest to me was the Singh's claim that on certain projects, it doesn't make sense to use Appirio's own development teams but to turn the project over to CloudSpokes with Appirio maintaining a watching brief.
He gave the example of one project where CloudSpokes brought the project in at a significant reduction to the fully loaded cost that Appirio would have needed to charge but at higher margin. "We believe that if you're going to disrupt the SI market then you have to apply it to yourself in order for it to make sense. We're doing that by putting our own work into challenges. It's producing better results for us and customers. It's a genuine win-win," said Singh.
I asked about engagement given that of the reported 50,000 members it seems that there have only been some 2,600 submitted entries. "You've got to remember that developers sign up for communities for more than one reason. Money certainly helps but they like to learn from their peers. Despite what the numbers suggest, when we take out the skewed results. the median number of entries per challenge is four. That's four different ideas per challenge. We think that's pretty good going...
Apart from the fact that Appirio puts on by far the best party at Dreamforce, it also happens to be one of the real disrupters in the SI market. One of the ways it does this is through the CloudSpokes community. In this 4:04 minute video, co-founder Narinder Singh talks through how the company is going about disrupting cloud implementation and development consulting.
This is impressive by any standards. Off camera, Singh said the company has taken its foot off the gas a little bit as it manages community growth. Of greater interest to me was the Singh's claim that on certain projects, it doesn't make sense to use Appirio's own development teams but to turn the project over to CloudSpokes with Appirio maintaining a watching brief.
He gave the example of one project where CloudSpokes brought the project in at a significant reduction to the fully loaded cost that Appirio would have needed to charge but at higher margin. "We believe that if you're going to disrupt the SI market then you have to apply it to yourself in order for it to make sense. We're doing that by putting our own work into challenges. It's producing better results for us and customers. It's a genuine win-win," said Singh.
I asked about engagement given that of the reported 50,000 members it seems that there have only been some 2,600 submitted entries. "You've got to remember that developers sign up for communities for more than one reason. Money certainly helps but they like to learn from their peers. Despite what the numbers suggest, when we take out the skewed results. the median number of entries per challenge is four. That's four different ideas per challenge. We think that's pretty good going...
Appirio tallies the technical debt in your Salesforce instance
ZDNet
...Today, cloud integrator Appirio is unveiling a tool that for the first time allows Salesforce customers to quantify the technical debt built into their instances. Cloud Metrics is an automated test that uses OAuth credentials to access a Salesforce.com instance and compare it to Appirio's database of over 1,000 Salesforce implementations it has worked on. The tool generates a report that compares what it finds to the norms in its database, highlighting areas where the instance has become more complex or cumbersome than it probably needs to be. The basic tool is free at launch, and Appirio offers a paid service to assess and map out a plan for eliminating the debt. Whether the customer does so will depend on the business impact of the debt when set against other priorities.
"We think about, is it worth paying down that technical debt now? How that plays out is very situationally dependent," Appirio's chief strategy officer Narinder Singh explained to me in a pre-briefing late last week. "By running our tool, you can count your technical debt. [We give you] a path that shows you where you're at, where you're going and lets you take corrective action where appropriate...
...Today, cloud integrator Appirio is unveiling a tool that for the first time allows Salesforce customers to quantify the technical debt built into their instances. Cloud Metrics is an automated test that uses OAuth credentials to access a Salesforce.com instance and compare it to Appirio's database of over 1,000 Salesforce implementations it has worked on. The tool generates a report that compares what it finds to the norms in its database, highlighting areas where the instance has become more complex or cumbersome than it probably needs to be. The basic tool is free at launch, and Appirio offers a paid service to assess and map out a plan for eliminating the debt. Whether the customer does so will depend on the business impact of the debt when set against other priorities.
"We think about, is it worth paying down that technical debt now? How that plays out is very situationally dependent," Appirio's chief strategy officer Narinder Singh explained to me in a pre-briefing late last week. "By running our tool, you can count your technical debt. [We give you] a path that shows you where you're at, where you're going and lets you take corrective action where appropriate...
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Employees See Big Potential For Social Business
InformationWeek
Appirio study shows disconnect between how companies and individuals use social technologies.
Employees are interested in the potential of social business, but often unclear about what their employer is doing to take advantage of it, according to a survey.
The study sponsored by Appirio, a services firm that helps organizations with their cloud computing initiatives, was conducted by the independent research firm iTracks based on responses from 300 managers and employees from across the U.S. and U.K.
Although the study showed awareness of the potential of social media and social tools, only 57% of respondents said they used social tools in their daily work, whereas about 90% used them in their personal lives. Thirteen percent of respondents would go as far as to label their company "anti-social," meaning it is making no investment in social. Forty-four percent say their company is still just researching or testing social tools or strategies, and 43% are using one or more social tools.
Appirio study shows disconnect between how companies and individuals use social technologies.
Employees are interested in the potential of social business, but often unclear about what their employer is doing to take advantage of it, according to a survey.
The study sponsored by Appirio, a services firm that helps organizations with their cloud computing initiatives, was conducted by the independent research firm iTracks based on responses from 300 managers and employees from across the U.S. and U.K.
Although the study showed awareness of the potential of social media and social tools, only 57% of respondents said they used social tools in their daily work, whereas about 90% used them in their personal lives. Thirteen percent of respondents would go as far as to label their company "anti-social," meaning it is making no investment in social. Forty-four percent say their company is still just researching or testing social tools or strategies, and 43% are using one or more social tools.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Top 4 gamification apps
NetworkWorld
Companies should not attempt to jump into gamification all at once. Here are four specific applications that are excellent places to start your gamification program...
...3. Crowdsourcing
Appirio is a 500-person Silicon Valley cloud solutions vendor that was trying to compete against much larger consulting firms, like Accenture and Deloitte. Two years ago the company launched CloudSpokes, an online community that now counts around 45,000 developers as members - developers who compete to solve programming challenges.
To make it work, the company involved the developers themselves in making sure that there were no loopholes in the contests and in judging the results, says Narinder Singh, the company's chief strategy officer...
Companies should not attempt to jump into gamification all at once. Here are four specific applications that are excellent places to start your gamification program...
...3. Crowdsourcing
Appirio is a 500-person Silicon Valley cloud solutions vendor that was trying to compete against much larger consulting firms, like Accenture and Deloitte. Two years ago the company launched CloudSpokes, an online community that now counts around 45,000 developers as members - developers who compete to solve programming challenges.
To make it work, the company involved the developers themselves in making sure that there were no loopholes in the contests and in judging the results, says Narinder Singh, the company's chief strategy officer...
Friday, September 7, 2012
Appirio Defining Systems Integration in the Cloud
SaaS in the enterprise
Ever wonder why a business looking to adopt a cloud-based application would need a systems integrator? Doesn't the cloud shift systems complexity to the provider?
Appirio, a six-year old cloud integrator, is not just redefining systems integration, it is in the hunt for a big chunk of the $500 billion spent globally on SI services.
Cloud systems integration (SI) is very different from traditional SI. SI in the cloud does not require a team of engineers at the customer site. In fact, the engineers or developers could be anywhere in the world. In the case of San Francisco-based Appirio, the engineer or developer could be working on a customer's Workday or a Salesforce.com instance from Singapore, Ireland, India, UK, or Japan. One of the sharp differences between cloud SI and traditional SI is the fact that everyone's Salesforce.com or Workday application is the same. There are no trade secrets buried in the configuration.
"A developer anywhere in the world can spin up an instance of a Google App engine or whatever and you can start building code for me," Nara Balakrishna, Appirio's senior director of strategy and business operations, told SaaS in the Enterprise. "You could not do that if you had SAP. There is no way I can expose my configuration to you somewhere in the world where I don't even know you."
That allowed Appirio to assemble a cloud-sourcing community of 45,000 developers located all over the world to supplement its staff of 500.
Ever wonder why a business looking to adopt a cloud-based application would need a systems integrator? Doesn't the cloud shift systems complexity to the provider?
Appirio, a six-year old cloud integrator, is not just redefining systems integration, it is in the hunt for a big chunk of the $500 billion spent globally on SI services.
Cloud systems integration (SI) is very different from traditional SI. SI in the cloud does not require a team of engineers at the customer site. In fact, the engineers or developers could be anywhere in the world. In the case of San Francisco-based Appirio, the engineer or developer could be working on a customer's Workday or a Salesforce.com instance from Singapore, Ireland, India, UK, or Japan. One of the sharp differences between cloud SI and traditional SI is the fact that everyone's Salesforce.com or Workday application is the same. There are no trade secrets buried in the configuration.
"A developer anywhere in the world can spin up an instance of a Google App engine or whatever and you can start building code for me," Nara Balakrishna, Appirio's senior director of strategy and business operations, told SaaS in the Enterprise. "You could not do that if you had SAP. There is no way I can expose my configuration to you somewhere in the world where I don't even know you."
That allowed Appirio to assemble a cloud-sourcing community of 45,000 developers located all over the world to supplement its staff of 500.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Gov. Daniels announces new jobs
WISH TV 8
Governor Mitch Daniels and executives with Appirio, a global technology-enabled cloud service provider, to announce the company's plan to open a new office and cloud computing development center that would create 300 high-wage jobs by 2015.
The San Franciso-based company plans to invest more than $2 million to grow its team and presence in Indianapolis, including leasing, renovating, and equipping 12,500 square feet of space in the Pan American Office Tower in Indianapolis.
This new office is expected to open in October and will be the company's second U.S. office and a key location for training and developing its cloud architects.
Read More
Governor Mitch Daniels and executives with Appirio, a global technology-enabled cloud service provider, to announce the company's plan to open a new office and cloud computing development center that would create 300 high-wage jobs by 2015.
The San Franciso-based company plans to invest more than $2 million to grow its team and presence in Indianapolis, including leasing, renovating, and equipping 12,500 square feet of space in the Pan American Office Tower in Indianapolis.
This new office is expected to open in October and will be the company's second U.S. office and a key location for training and developing its cloud architects.
Read More
Cloud Computing Firm to Expand in Indy
WIBC 93.1FM
A cloud-computing firm is opening an Indianapolis office in the former home of the Hoosier Lottery.
San Francisco-based Appirio plans to hire 300 workers over the next three years to work out of offices in the Pan Am office tower downtown.
Company co-founder Narinder Singh says Appirio was drawn to the pipeline of fresh computing talent available from Purdue and other universities, and says by opening offices away from Silicon Valley, there will be less competition from the likes of Facebook and Twitter to snap them up.
Appirio will receive five-point-six-million dollars in state tax credits if it fulfills its hiring promises.
Read More
A cloud-computing firm is opening an Indianapolis office in the former home of the Hoosier Lottery.
San Francisco-based Appirio plans to hire 300 workers over the next three years to work out of offices in the Pan Am office tower downtown.
Company co-founder Narinder Singh says Appirio was drawn to the pipeline of fresh computing talent available from Purdue and other universities, and says by opening offices away from Silicon Valley, there will be less competition from the likes of Facebook and Twitter to snap them up.
Appirio will receive five-point-six-million dollars in state tax credits if it fulfills its hiring promises.
Read More
Tech company Appirio plans to open Downtown Indy office, hire 300 over 3 years
Indy Star
A California-based technology company plans to open an office and a cloud computing development center in Downtown Indianapolis in October, bringing about 300 jobs over the next three years.
Appirio said Wednesday it will occupy the 11th floor of the Pan American Plaza tower and has an option to expand to the 10th floor.
The company will invest about $2 million for leasing, renovation, equipment and hiring new employees. Executives said they hope to hire 100 employees each year for the next three years. Appirio now has about 20 workers in the Indianapolis area...
Read More
A California-based technology company plans to open an office and a cloud computing development center in Downtown Indianapolis in October, bringing about 300 jobs over the next three years.
Appirio said Wednesday it will occupy the 11th floor of the Pan American Plaza tower and has an option to expand to the 10th floor.
The company will invest about $2 million for leasing, renovation, equipment and hiring new employees. Executives said they hope to hire 100 employees each year for the next three years. Appirio now has about 20 workers in the Indianapolis area...
Read More
Web services firm plans downtown office, 300 jobs
Indianapolis Business Journal
Appirio Inc., a cloud-computing service provider, announced Wednesday morning that it plans to spend $2 million to open a downtown Indianapolis office that will employ 300 people by 2015.
The company, which has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, will initially occupy 12,500 square feet on the 11th floor of the Pan American building. The investment will go toward leasing, renovating and equipping the space, the company said. The company has options to lease additional floors as it expands.
The Indianapolis location, expected to open in October, is the company's second in the United States.
"Opening an office and cloud development center in Indianapolis gives Appirio access to a large, highly educated talent base with close proximity to customers and partners," Appirio CEO Chris Barbin said in a prepared statement...
Read More
Appirio Inc., a cloud-computing service provider, announced Wednesday morning that it plans to spend $2 million to open a downtown Indianapolis office that will employ 300 people by 2015.
The company, which has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, will initially occupy 12,500 square feet on the 11th floor of the Pan American building. The investment will go toward leasing, renovating and equipping the space, the company said. The company has options to lease additional floors as it expands.
The Indianapolis location, expected to open in October, is the company's second in the United States.
"Opening an office and cloud development center in Indianapolis gives Appirio access to a large, highly educated talent base with close proximity to customers and partners," Appirio CEO Chris Barbin said in a prepared statement...
Read More
Cloud computing firm to create 300 jobs, build local office
FOX 59
Governor Mitch Daniels announced Wednesday that cloud-computing firm Appirio would open a new office in Indianapolis, creating up to 300 high-wage jobs within the next three years.
The San Francisco-based company has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Appirio will invest more than $2 million to grow in Indianapolis. The company will lease and renovate 12,500 square feet of space in the Pan American Office Tower.
The Indy office will be Appirio's second U.S. office. It's set to open in October....
Read More
Governor Mitch Daniels announced Wednesday that cloud-computing firm Appirio would open a new office in Indianapolis, creating up to 300 high-wage jobs within the next three years.
The San Francisco-based company has offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Appirio will invest more than $2 million to grow in Indianapolis. The company will lease and renovate 12,500 square feet of space in the Pan American Office Tower.
The Indy office will be Appirio's second U.S. office. It's set to open in October....
Read More
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Cloud service brokers must differentiate as cloud market matures
SearchCloudProvider
Cloud service brokers must be a trusted partner to the customer while maintaining strong ties with cloud providers, said Glenn Weinstein, chief technology officer of Appirio, a cloud service broker that offers its 300 enterprise customers cloud services and platforms from public cloud providers Google, Amazon, Salesforce and Workday.
Appirio works with its public cloud partners via consulting or technology partnerships. "We are recommending their services based on the customer's needs," Weinstein said, noting that their cloud provider partners recommend Appirio to prospective customers looking for a partner to do complex implementations.
"When [cloud providers and cloud service brokers] are working with large enterprises, there typically is a great deal of implantation work," he said.
Cloud service brokers should focus on cloud federation, said Weinstein, as some customers are usually shopping for more than one public cloud solution or application.
Cloud service brokers must be a trusted partner to the customer while maintaining strong ties with cloud providers, said Glenn Weinstein, chief technology officer of Appirio, a cloud service broker that offers its 300 enterprise customers cloud services and platforms from public cloud providers Google, Amazon, Salesforce and Workday.
Appirio works with its public cloud partners via consulting or technology partnerships. "We are recommending their services based on the customer's needs," Weinstein said, noting that their cloud provider partners recommend Appirio to prospective customers looking for a partner to do complex implementations.
"When [cloud providers and cloud service brokers] are working with large enterprises, there typically is a great deal of implantation work," he said.
Cloud service brokers should focus on cloud federation, said Weinstein, as some customers are usually shopping for more than one public cloud solution or application.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Survival guide: Do's and don'ts for next-gen IT
Computerworld
"The first thing you need to realize is that your business customers can leave or go around you in any number of ways," says Singh. "If people have an iPhone, they're going to use that for work, whether you want them to or not. If IT doesn't provide cloud storage, they'll sign up for their own Dropbox account. They aren't going to wait six to eight weeks for you to provision something for them. You can no longer treat business users as a captive entity. Instead, you'll have to become a consultant to the business and prove to them the value of what IT can do."
IT departments that wish to stay relevant in a BYOD and cloud-based world will need to redefine themselves as service providers. They'll need to make the leap from being technicians responsible for maintaining systems to experts who offer a menu of services and offer intelligent recommendations about which ones will help drive the business forward...
"The first thing you need to realize is that your business customers can leave or go around you in any number of ways," says Singh. "If people have an iPhone, they're going to use that for work, whether you want them to or not. If IT doesn't provide cloud storage, they'll sign up for their own Dropbox account. They aren't going to wait six to eight weeks for you to provision something for them. You can no longer treat business users as a captive entity. Instead, you'll have to become a consultant to the business and prove to them the value of what IT can do."
IT departments that wish to stay relevant in a BYOD and cloud-based world will need to redefine themselves as service providers. They'll need to make the leap from being technicians responsible for maintaining systems to experts who offer a menu of services and offer intelligent recommendations about which ones will help drive the business forward...
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Memo From Appirio: Public Cloud Is A Partner Opportunity
Talkin' Cloud
How can you survive and thrive through the cloud revolution? Appirio Chief Strategic Officer Narinder Singh offered his views on public cloud computing opportunities during the Ingram Micro Cloud Summit today in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here is a live blog covering Singh’s views.
The keynote is especially interesting since so many pundits say VARs, MSPs and cloud consultants should focus on private cloud and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) opportunities. But Appirio offers a healthy reminder that IT projects involving the public cloud represent big opportunities. Here’s more…
How can you survive and thrive through the cloud revolution? Appirio Chief Strategic Officer Narinder Singh offered his views on public cloud computing opportunities during the Ingram Micro Cloud Summit today in Scottsdale, Ariz. Here is a live blog covering Singh’s views.
The keynote is especially interesting since so many pundits say VARs, MSPs and cloud consultants should focus on private cloud and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) opportunities. But Appirio offers a healthy reminder that IT projects involving the public cloud represent big opportunities. Here’s more…
Monday, June 4, 2012
Salesforce.com's front office suite play
ZDNet
Right now it is convenient for Salesforce.com to hammer home the ’social business’ play because that’s how it drives attention as the leader in that space. They also have the benefit of encouraging a large subset of otherwise under employed PR and marketing people to declare expertise in this field and so amplify the broader message. The projected numbers are impressive as well. From the Benioff conference call:
Gartner says that CRM is 15% of the purchase intention of global CIOs this year. That’s the number one global purchasing intention.
While I am usually down on Gartner I’m not going to argue about that prediction for several reasons. It is sufficiently near term for there to be good reasons to assume they’re not far off the mark and from soundings in the market, CRM as a broad category within the ERP framework is still a big draw. There are other factors in play that reinforce this idea....
3. The explosive growth in demand at Appirio for applications that stitch together elements of the marketing online puzzle with Salesforce.com implies there is much experimentation going on...
Right now it is convenient for Salesforce.com to hammer home the ’social business’ play because that’s how it drives attention as the leader in that space. They also have the benefit of encouraging a large subset of otherwise under employed PR and marketing people to declare expertise in this field and so amplify the broader message. The projected numbers are impressive as well. From the Benioff conference call:
Gartner says that CRM is 15% of the purchase intention of global CIOs this year. That’s the number one global purchasing intention.
While I am usually down on Gartner I’m not going to argue about that prediction for several reasons. It is sufficiently near term for there to be good reasons to assume they’re not far off the mark and from soundings in the market, CRM as a broad category within the ERP framework is still a big draw. There are other factors in play that reinforce this idea....
3. The explosive growth in demand at Appirio for applications that stitch together elements of the marketing online puzzle with Salesforce.com implies there is much experimentation going on...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Inside the mind of a cloud consultant with Appirio
ZDNet
Earlier today I caught up with Narinder Singh, co-founder Appirio and a great sounding board for cloud consulting and implementation topics.
As background, Appirio has around 500 consultants and an ecosystem of around 42,000 developers on Cloudspokes. The company recently raised $60 million in its bid to become a one stop cloud integration and implementation shop.
This video is a prequel to a video conversation I shall be recording between Jon Reed and myself tomorrow evening (7pm CET. 6pm GMT, 1pm ET, 10am PT.) I want to put Jon on the spot to discuss what needs to happen and especially around the skillset and change management required. Both of us are very familiar with the SAP ecosystem as an example but this is not just about that company. The same challenges are going to hold true for other players like Oracle which is set to announce its public cloud offerings on 6th June. I wonder what they will have to say about this topic?...
Earlier today I caught up with Narinder Singh, co-founder Appirio and a great sounding board for cloud consulting and implementation topics.
As background, Appirio has around 500 consultants and an ecosystem of around 42,000 developers on Cloudspokes. The company recently raised $60 million in its bid to become a one stop cloud integration and implementation shop.
This video is a prequel to a video conversation I shall be recording between Jon Reed and myself tomorrow evening (7pm CET. 6pm GMT, 1pm ET, 10am PT.) I want to put Jon on the spot to discuss what needs to happen and especially around the skillset and change management required. Both of us are very familiar with the SAP ecosystem as an example but this is not just about that company. The same challenges are going to hold true for other players like Oracle which is set to announce its public cloud offerings on 6th June. I wonder what they will have to say about this topic?...
Sunday, May 20, 2012
In One Adjective, Please Tell Me Who You Are
The New York Times
This interview with Chris Barbin, chief executive of Appirio, an information technology company that focuses on cloud services, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. What are some important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
A. I would start with transparency — it is a huge part of our culture, and what I think makes a company and team really thrive and work. You should never surprise an employee. I’ve had experiences in my career where you’re building something, you think everything’s great and all of a sudden there’s a layoff. That should never happen. The team should know. We have meetings every other week in the company, and we use a system of red light, yellow light, green light on the key attributes of the business, like financials, customers and team.
From my experience at bigger companies, I think there’s a tendency to overanalyze, with too many metrics. It can be confusing, so you have to boil it down to simple, crisp goals that you hammer and repeat. That’s part of transparency, too...
This interview with Chris Barbin, chief executive of Appirio, an information technology company that focuses on cloud services, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. What are some important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
A. I would start with transparency — it is a huge part of our culture, and what I think makes a company and team really thrive and work. You should never surprise an employee. I’ve had experiences in my career where you’re building something, you think everything’s great and all of a sudden there’s a layoff. That should never happen. The team should know. We have meetings every other week in the company, and we use a system of red light, yellow light, green light on the key attributes of the business, like financials, customers and team.
From my experience at bigger companies, I think there’s a tendency to overanalyze, with too many metrics. It can be confusing, so you have to boil it down to simple, crisp goals that you hammer and repeat. That’s part of transparency, too...
Thursday, May 17, 2012
10 More Hot Products From Interop 2012
CRN
Cloud provider Appirio introduced new features for its CloudFactor application, which is a part of its Cloud Enablement Suite of applications, analytics and a crowdsourcing community for managing enterprise cloud initiatives.
CloudFactor brings Salesforce.com information into Google Apps and allows users to access Salesforce CRM information in Gmail. CloudFactor was first introduced in 2010 as CloudWorks.
CloudFactor allows users to access and manage relevant customer information to improve data quality and decision making. The application supports Group and Professional Edition Salesforce tenants and is available to install via the Salesforce AppExchange and Google Apps Marketplace.
The CloudFactor upgrades include Salesforce.com Chatter integration, an embedded Twitter search widget, and customization and administration options.
Cloud provider Appirio introduced new features for its CloudFactor application, which is a part of its Cloud Enablement Suite of applications, analytics and a crowdsourcing community for managing enterprise cloud initiatives.
CloudFactor brings Salesforce.com information into Google Apps and allows users to access Salesforce CRM information in Gmail. CloudFactor was first introduced in 2010 as CloudWorks.
CloudFactor allows users to access and manage relevant customer information to improve data quality and decision making. The application supports Group and Professional Edition Salesforce tenants and is available to install via the Salesforce AppExchange and Google Apps Marketplace.
The CloudFactor upgrades include Salesforce.com Chatter integration, an embedded Twitter search widget, and customization and administration options.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
6 Tools to Build a Mobile App on the Cheap
Mashable
Dave Messinger, chief architect of CloudSpokes, says his company is "the first developer community that matches the cloud with the crowd — a true market where businesses tap into skills and pay for results versus effort, and where developers get access to a new world of opportunity to earn money for cloud development.”
The service, built by cloud solutions brand Appirio, allows companies to outsource any form of public cloud development work — entire mobile applications, Facebook pages and technical components for enterprises — in the form of a competition. After customers post a deadline alongside technical specifications, developers in the community submit entries, which are then judged by the customer or the CloudSpokes team.
“For developers, this approach creates a market for their talents, lets them develop new skills with real world assignments and transitions their careers to the cloud while establishing street cred as skilled practitioners,” Messinger says. “For companies (including Appirio), this means tapping into a developer ecosystem and paying only for the components of work that meet pre-agreed upon requirements.”
The success of CloudSpokes reflects the effectiveness an entirely unique approach to app development: A gamified network of freelance contributors. Current challenges range from the bizarre — a Python-based app that can create a route guiding users to every train station on a given system within 24 hours — to the highly practical, including an app to facilitate financial aid application processes by extracting information from existing tax files. (Original Article)
Dave Messinger, chief architect of CloudSpokes, says his company is "the first developer community that matches the cloud with the crowd — a true market where businesses tap into skills and pay for results versus effort, and where developers get access to a new world of opportunity to earn money for cloud development.”
The service, built by cloud solutions brand Appirio, allows companies to outsource any form of public cloud development work — entire mobile applications, Facebook pages and technical components for enterprises — in the form of a competition. After customers post a deadline alongside technical specifications, developers in the community submit entries, which are then judged by the customer or the CloudSpokes team.
“For developers, this approach creates a market for their talents, lets them develop new skills with real world assignments and transitions their careers to the cloud while establishing street cred as skilled practitioners,” Messinger says. “For companies (including Appirio), this means tapping into a developer ecosystem and paying only for the components of work that meet pre-agreed upon requirements.”
The success of CloudSpokes reflects the effectiveness an entirely unique approach to app development: A gamified network of freelance contributors. Current challenges range from the bizarre — a Python-based app that can create a route guiding users to every train station on a given system within 24 hours — to the highly practical, including an app to facilitate financial aid application processes by extracting information from existing tax files. (Original Article)
Monday, April 23, 2012
These Newly Funded Start-Ups Are Hiring
The Wall Street Journal
...After six years in business with a staff of 500, it’s questionable whether Appirio is still a start-up, but after raising $60 million in March it’s got a lot of job openings. The San Mateo, Calif., company is hiring 200 this year as it cashes in on what it calls the “cloud [computing] gold rush.” Appirio helps companies plan their cloud strategies and migrate onto remote servers. It’ll be hiring engineers with cloud experience, quality assurance engineers and architects. Administrative jobs in finance, human resources and corporate development are also available...
Friday, April 13, 2012
Appirio to Hire 200 New Employees for Cloud Biz
FINS
Cloud computing consultancy Appirio plans to hire 200 new employees this year after raising $60 million in venture capital financing last month. The funding round was led by General Atlantic. Founded in 2006, the company currently has about 500 employees.
Appirio sees itself as displacing consulting companies as businesses increasingly move their operations into the cloud. The company helps businesses identify a cloud strategy, move data into the cloud, develop custom cloud applications and provide cloud management services.
"In the cloud gold rush, we're the picks and shovels," said Chief Executive Chris Barbin...
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
SAP database and mobility strategies: genius or madness?
ZDNet
...What I do know is that the new breed of SI like Appirio is able to deliver value based custom apps in the $100,000 range and is now working towards making that model repeatable as a service:
What Appirio has mastered is the automation of professional services using today’s global networked connections — part of a trend I call frictionless enterprise. It’s not just a matter of automating repeatable processes within the service model (though that’s a helpful starting point). It’s also breaking them down into more readily assembled components so that some can be productized or cloudsourced, as appropriate.
I don’t see evidence that SAP or its large SI partners have truly understood this model. Instead, I continue to see legal roadblocks that prevent developers from gaining easy and affordable platform access...
Monday, April 2, 2012
Diabetes Foundation Takes to the Cloud for More Donor Revenues
The Wall Street Journal
...Szmak said this software is much more intuitive, providing employees with dashboard views of customer’s past fundraising activities and preferences. The software also helps donors choose the information they want to receive at a time when software used by some non-profits spam donors with poorly targeted e-mails about fundraising activities.
This will help better serve existing and potential supporters, eventually enabling the agency to increase the money it’s able to spend on research to find a cure, develop treatments and prevent type-1 diabetes, he said. Salesforce.com also provides mobile support the previous application lacked.
Szmak and his small IT staff lacked the technical wherewithal to move the data created in file formats from their older application to Salesforce.com. So the foundation hired Appirio, a cloud service provider that capitalizes on data integration challenges...
3 Ways APIs are Changing IT Consulting
Silicon ANGLE
...Dave Messinger, chief architect and evangelist for CloudSpokes at Appirio, agrees with Pisoni and points out that most “custom” solutions that customers build are really not as custom as they’d like to think. “In software development, code re-use is a holy grail,” he says. “APIs take this to a whole new level.” SIs are now turning to integration-as-a-service providers like e SnapLogic, Talend and Informatica to make integration go quicker and easier...
Monday, March 26, 2012
A how-to guide for Web APIs
SD Times
...Narinder Singh, cofounder of Appirio and CloudSpokes, said there are more hard-and-fast rules regarding APIs than just not changing them. CloudSpokes is a site where developers collect bounties on application requirements. Companies put up requests, typically along the lines of “use Google Maps' API and our Salesforce application to make maps of deliveries.” Due to the nature of modern Web development, almost every CloudSpokes solution uses at least a few Web APIs.With all those developers building with Web APIs, Singh has seen what it takes to make a successful API. “[Cloud VOIP service] Twilio has done a good job with their API,” he said. “How do I know? Because every time we run a contest on CloudSpokes that has requirements like 'Pick two things and mash them up,' Twilio shows up a disproportionate number of times, even when the use case doesn't quite fit.”
For its Valentine’s Day contest, CloudSpokes asked developers to build applications that could get them a date. Three of the five final entries used Twilio. One of those applications, said Singh, automatically found potential suitors via dating sites, then connected the possible couple via VOIP using Twilio...
Monday, March 19, 2012
Appirio masters the automation of professional services
ZDNet
By now, we’re used to enterprise cloud application vendors paving their IPO roadmap with mega funding announcements, but last week saw the first such news for an enterprise cloud integrator. Appirio’s $60 million Series D round mostly from General Atlantic is a different order of funding from its previous total of $20 million. It’s especially notable in the context of my suggestion a week earlier that we might see “the virtual extinction of the traditional systems integrator” as the new breed of cloud integrators “scale up their own more customizable automation to address the high-end enterprise market.” Or as the Forbes headline more bluntly expressed it, Appirio Raises $60M to Take on Accenture...
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Appirio Rises As Businesses Gaze Into The Cloud
The Wall Street Journal
...Appirio will face competition from big systems integrators like Accenture and Deloitte Development LLC that are several times its size, but Barbin believes that his company’s experience and its intellectual property give it a head start.
His team has done deployments of Salesforce.com, Google, Amazon.com and Workday software, among others, and will continue to add other specialties, possibly including Service-now.com, which offers software for IT management. Barbin said he gets eight to 10 requests a week from potential partners wanting Appirio to set up a practice around their software.
Appirio has offices in Japan, India, Singapore and the U.K., which it entered in September through the acquisition of Saaspoint, a Salesforce and Google partner, and expects to make more acquisitions...
Appirio Raises $60M to Take on Accenture
Forbes
...this is the opportunity for Appirio, whose mission includes helping customers get the maximum value from cloud implementations.
But Appirio is not just a group of high-paid consultants. The company actually has some innovative systems, such as CloudSpokes — a community of more than 35,000 developers who submit their solutions, then are awarded prizes by a panel of judges.
“One of our clients ran a contest to implement complex timezone calculations in their Salesforce application that would have cost several thousand dollars for a traditional systems integrator to do,” Appirio CEO Chris Barbin said. “But with CloudSpokes, we got multiple working solutions for just $750 in prize money.”..
Appirio founder on cloud-services firm's latest funding round -- and Chicago as a startup hub
Crain's Chicago Business
Appirio Inc., which offers technology and professional services to companies' cloud applications, today announced a $60 million investment led by General Atlantic, with participation from Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital.
Appirio is based in San Mateo, Calif., but the company's chief executive, Chris Barbin, spends at least a third of his time in Chicago, where he calls Glenview home.
Mr. Barbin, 41, who early in his career worked for Lake Forest-based W.W. Grainger Inc., says the latest round of funding is the largest of its kind in a cloud services provider and will allow Appirio not only to continue developing its crowdsourcing development platform, CloudSpokes, but also will enable the company to snap up other consulting firms...
Appirio raises $60M to be your one-stop cloud service shop
VentureBeat
...“We are seeing more companies going cloud first, saying they’re not ever going to buy another server,” said Chris Barbin, Appirio chief executive, “We’re also seeing companies making the migration to 100% cloud to reduce costs and help them scale faster.”
The five-year-old company started out helping big companies adopt cloud services such as Google Apps, Salesforce, and Workday. It then turned its attention to cloud app development, creating apps that tie together multiple cloud services and social networks. For example, it developed an app that integrates Google Calendar and contacts with Salesforce calendar and contact lists.
Appirio’s current offerings run the gamut of cloud services. The company will help you decide which cloud service is right for your company, build custom apps to work with the cloud, move your data to the cloud, and manage the cloud services it’s set up for your business. Essentially, it hopes to move your business away from in-house IT departments and run it solely in the cloud...
New-look integrator Appirio raises $60M
GigaOM
...The company built its business by diving into the then-relatively new world of software as a service, helping companies deploy and customize services from Salesforce.com and Google and ensuring that they worked with customers’ older legacy software.
Appirio Chief Strategy Officer Narinder Singh said the company’s revenue has grown 80 percent every year since it was founded almost six years ago, but would not comment on profitability...
Appirio: Cloud Makes Global Systems Integrators Obsolete
SiliconANGLE
...Narinder Singh, co-founder of cloud integrator Appirio, reached out directly to CIOs in a blog entry today to explain in no uncertain terms just how critical the global cloud system integrator model is to the future of IT – and just how painfully obsolete the existing global systems integrator business has become.
“After the first World War, the French constructed the Maginot Line - a set of fortifications, tanks obstacles and other fixed positions to defend the country. It was ‘extolled as a work of genius‘ up until the point of World War II, when it became clear that armies were structurally more mobile and agile than ever before. The Maginot Line was essentially driven around and France was successfully invaded in just a few days. The global systems integrator model is the Maginot Line of the cloud world,” writes Singh...
Cloud-consulting company Appirio wins $60 million
Reuters
Cloud-consulting company Appirio said it raised $60 million, in a round of funding led by General Atlantic, that will allow it to buy other companies and build out its development platform, CloudSpokes.
The funding, from General Atlantic and existing investors Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital, underscores the venture's continuing belief in the cloud, which allows businesses to buy computing resources such as software applications and data management much as they buy utilities. Previously, companies typically maintained their own computing infrastructure.
Appirio helps companies such as Avon, Motorola and Starbucks move to cloud-based services offered by companies including Amazon, Google, Salesforce.com and Workday...
Appirio Receives $60 Million In VC Funding, Plans More Acquisitions
CRN
Cloud provider Appirio said it has received $60 million in venture funding, much of which it plans to use for mergers and acquisitions to bolster its worldwide cloud consulting practice.
The funding, one the largest of its kind according to Appirio, will also be invested in its technologies and in its CloudSpokes crowdsourcing developer community, which has more than 30,000 developers in more than 65 countries.
The Series D funding is being provided by the investment firm General Atlantic, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and GGV Capital, Appirio said...
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Appirio: Cloud Makes Global Systems Integrators Obsolete
SiliconANGLE
Narinder Singh, co-founder of cloud integrator Appirio, reached out directly to CIOs in a blog entry today to explain in no uncertain terms just how critical the global cloud system integrator model is to the future of IT – and just how painfully obsolete the existing global systems integrator business has become.
“After the first World War, the French constructed the Maginot Line - a set of fortifications, tanks obstacles and other fixed positions to defend the country. It was ‘extolled as a work of genius‘ up until the point of World War II, when it became clear that armies were structurally more mobile and agile than ever before. The Maginot Line was essentially driven around and France was successfully invaded in just a few days. The global systems integrator model is the Maginot Line of the cloud world,” writes Singh...
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Cloud Software Use Accelerates, Says Citi
Barron's
Citigroup‘s Walter Pritchard today writes that the software-as-a-service, or SaaS, market for enterprise applications has arrived at a “ripping point,” by which he means that the practice of ripping out older software and replacing it with cloud-based, hosted applications, appears to be accelerating.
Based on a conversation with Appirio, a San Mateo, California systems integrator for SaaS, Pritchard observed there is a hefty amount of removal being done of older enterprise resource planning, or “ERP,” applications...
Next-gen integrators automate how you buy IT
ZDNet
...There’s still a demand from larger customers for sophisticated custom capabilities, but the new generation of providers such as Cloud Sherpas, Appirio and others offer that custom service on top of a bedrock of highly automated processes. As CEO of the newly enlarged Cloud Sherpas David Northington confirmed to me this week, “Work can be carried out offsite, in many ways automated. There’s clearly an industrialized approach that works in many segments of the market and people are quite happy with that.”..
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
How to build a developer community from scratch
VentureBeat
Whether you’re a company in need of development work, or someone with an open source project that needs contributions, leveraging a developer community can seem like a simple and cost-effective solution.
The promise of having hundreds or even thousands of independent, talented workers solving your development problems around the clock appears to be a dream come true.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that easily. You can’t add the word “developer” to your website and expect hundreds of developers to suddenly support your initiatives and grow organically.
Developer communities are called communities for a reason — they are beneficial to everyone involved and take a lot of work to both grow and maintain. Work that includes time, transparency, and in some cases, significant funding...
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Gmail Integration Battle - Cirrus Insight vs Appirio Cloudworks
Trineo
...It’s great to see these products that customers have been craving finally come to market. It’s a shame that Salesforce.com didn’t build an official integration like this a long time ago.
After using the 2 products side by side (literally with Cirrus Insight to the right of an email and Cloudworks underneath) I’d give the slight edge to Cloudworks at this time. They are both very good products but Cloudworks is slightly cheaper and offers a little bit more functionality.
No longer can it be an excuse that it’s too hard to keep the CRM up to date!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Cloud service broker Appirio: Focus on fewer partners, avoid the hype
SearchCloudProvider
Editor's note: If there's any concrete evidence of how cloud computing is changing the channel, it might be the emergence of a new species of channel partner, the cloud service broker -- part consultant, part integrator and all cloud.
Glenn Weinstein, CTO of cloud service broker Appirio, shared his vision for 2012 in the third of our four-part Q&A series on cloud provider strategy for the year ahead. Appirio -- which partners with Amazon, Google, Salesforce.com and Workday -- is on a mission to expose what it sees as the market's biggest liability: cloud washers. The cloud service broker's tongue-in-cheek awards ceremony, the Cloud Washies, modeled after Hollywood's unofficial "Razzies" (honoring the worst movies of the year), took aim at Oracle and Microsoft as some of the worst offenders.
It's unclear what marketing tricks Appirio has up its sleeve for 2012, but Weinstein told SearchCloudProvider.com that its business and technical strategy as a cloud broker is well-defined: Go global and go enterprise...
Thursday, January 5, 2012
How Appirio can help transform your sales and business process
WWWireframe.com
Despite the countless advantages cloud computing offers to enterprises, adoption has been steady yet slow. Now one company in San Mateo is changing all that.
Appirio, founded in 2006 by Chris Barbin, Narinder Singh, Glenn Weinstein, and Mike O’Brien, offers a full range of cloud computing services that is helping businesses make the transition to cloud computing easier, faster and in a more cost-effective way. Apart from offering a predefined set of solutions and services — they’re also working on innovation in cloud integration, mobile cloud and social enterprise. And here’s the best part, they do all this serious work while still maintaining a very healthy sense of humor.
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Appirio at a glance
Introduction to Appirio
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