Technology, Social Media, Supply Chain, and Industry Analysis
Technology / Software / Social Media / Supply Chain / Industry Analysis in the Emerging, Small-to-Medium (SMB), Midmarket and Enterprise sectors.
There were several pieces of interesting news this week in the Business Intelligence world:
SMB Research listened in closely to IBM this past week on their announcement of IBM’s Cognos Express v9.5.
The always insightful Bill Ives over at the FASTforward Blog has alerted me to a study from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth‘s Center for Marketing Research (CMR) study on the use of social media by the Fortune 500 and Inc. 500.
What was the best SMB or technology-related piece you read this past year?
When we at SMB Research started talking a few weeks ago about what we thought were some of the most interesting and valuable articles from 2010, we realized that once again this year there has been a great deal of very good (however you define this) research and writing. If you struggle to find the time to read to read everything that deserves your attention, we share your pain.
To help you out, SMB Research decided to take a look back at some of what has been written and published this past year, and to identify some of our favorite reads.
SMB Research’s Top 20 Favorite Reads, 2010:
(in chronological order)
Data Center Infrastructure Group (DCIG, www.dciginc.com), and SMB Research are nearing completion on the DCIG Virtual Server Backup Software Buyer’s Guide.
While you will have to wait just awhile longer, we don’t mind giving you a sneak peek at some of the great learnings you can expect to get from the finished product.
SMB Research is working with the Data Center Infrastructure Group’s Jerome Wendt to produce a Virtual Server Backup Software Buyer’s Guide.
Talking to Jerome and other folks, it has become apparent that the virtual server backup area is rapidly growing and evolving, and there is a lot of resulting end-user interest (and confusion).
So DCIG and SMB Research are jumping into the breach, as it were, and working on a Buyer’s Guide that should be the best source yet of information on this market segment.
[Read more...]
When a company over $14B focuses on a market, even if this represents a smaller percentage of their total revenue such as 5% to 10% , that could represents nearly a $1B business. That can probably be said about EMC‘s Small-to-Medium (SMB) focus. [Read more...]
If you are new to the world of supply chain management, there is no dearth of sources and resources for you to tap into to learn what supply chain management is, and what it means for you. There are also no dearth of sources to find out where these resources are.
Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey school of Business, long renowned for its supply chain management program, has just put out the first in a series of 12 video modules on supply chain management. (Which I would not have perhaps noticed but for ReliablePlant.) [Read more...]
There are some fascinating facts and figures in this presentation by Jeff Bussgang of FlyBridge Capital Partners, “What Makes Boston’s Technology Start-Up Scene Special?“ Watch and Enjoy. [Read more...]
We find it amazing how often large vendors in either ERP, Supply Chain, or some other category of software, come in to a deal and do not offer the prospect the best information to help make a decision. References are not provided or slowly given, prices are kept at a premium, and in some cases the prospect is mislead on the functionality of the software. While vendors do need to use their references wisely, users do need to know where to turn when they are not getting answers. [Read more...]
Welcome to SMB Research’s blog, a new blog by Miles Prescott and Bob Eastman. The goal of this blog will be to offer some ideas and insights from our combined 25 years worth of experience, and continuing work, advising enterprises large and small on matters relating to enterprise IT and technology, as well as to highlight ideas, trends, insights that we find particularly interesting and relevant for the small-medium (sub-$1B revenues) market.
This blog holds no ambitions as a news portal. The SMB Research Blog will instead report on and discuss ideas, trends, advice, and yes, some news, that we think you should take a closer look at. Consider this blog to be a journal of sorts of the work that we are doing as SMB Research. Needless to say, our rigorous observance of any nondisclosures that we work under, and our trusted client relationships are paramount, and so there will be much that we are not at liberty to write about.
Great insights and ideas, however, comes from many places, and if there is one thing that we have learned, it is that there is no limit to the great things that can happen, the great value and ideas that can be created, from the value chain of our network of end-users, software and technology providers, service providers, analysts, research firms, and our network-at-large.
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