Online Experience Optimization: The Next "Big Idea" in the Cloud

Every modern business does business online. This means that every modern business decision maker needs the answers to five key questions.

1. Do we know what customers, competitors and competitors' customers are saying about our company online?
2. Do we know that every online interaction with our company is equally compelling, fluid, frictionless and fulfilling, regardless of the user's device or connection type?
3. Do we know what colleagues, customers, partners and prospects really think about doing business with us online, especially compared with other companies?
4. Do we have solid, defensible evidence for all that we know or think that we know?
5. Can we act on what we know in ways that help our business to succeed and grow?

To be able to answer these questions with confidence, business decision makers must integrate multiple previously separate initiatives ranging from content management and social networking to analytics and infrastructure management. Here's a high-level look at just some of the elements involved in every user's online experience with a company – such as yours.

• The user's access device – whether PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
• The network connection – whether wireless or wired, dial-up or broadband, etc.
• The company's Web site or sites (and the equivalent portal or portals for internal users).
• The content displayed by the Web site and/or internal portal.
• The tools used to create, edit, curate and manage that content.
• The tools used to measure and analyze all aspects of the online experience, from the performance of the Web site to who's accessing which content how often – plus more.

A holistic view of these and other relevant elements is essential to achieving a critical goal of every modern business: online experience optimization (OEO), for both external and internal constituencies.

The perceptions of those "from without," including competitors, customers, influencers, partners, and prospects, directly affect multiple human factors that in turn directly affect revenues, profits and competitive positioning. The perceptions of those "from within" affect things like employee job satisfaction, loyalty, referrals of superior new employees and overall business agility and responsiveness.

OEO touches every aspect of every type and size of company that does business online or plans to do so. Business stakeholders include advertising, marketing, public relations, sales, internal and external support teams and business performance decision makers, among others.

Technologies involved range from Web site construction and management tools to content management systems, analytics tools and support for “the mobile, social cloud.” Example relevant vendors include IT stalwarts such as Adobe, IBM, Oracle and SAP, disruptive upstarts such as Consona, Medallia, Nimble and Zoho and even so-called "digital agencies" such as 311 Media and Surge.

OEO is clearly a "big idea" that demands immediate and sustained attention from business and technology decision makers – and from the vendors hoping to sell to them. And based on the initial findings of continuing OEO surveys, that attention is needed now.

When asked to rate their companies' abilities to know and respond to what's being said about those companies online, only 18.5 percent of respondents chose "Excellent." Some 44.4 percent chose "Good," while approximately one-third said their companies were "Fair" (22.2 percent) or "Unsatisfactory" (11.1 percent) at this critical OEO element.

Respondents were also asked when they believe that decision makers at their companies will start to collect and act upon what's being said about them online. Approximately one-third of respondents expect this to happen within the next six months. But a quarter of respondents don't expect it to happen within the next year, and 41.7 percent said they didn't know when it might happen.

I'll have lots more to say about OEO here and elsewhere, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, you can take those surveys I mentioned in approximately three minutes each, anonymously if you prefer, and request summary findings at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJVTC6J and
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WFCM2KR. Thanks for your help – please tell everyone you know!

Oracle's New SaaS Offerings: The Last Nail in the Coffin for "Bits on Disks?"

What a difference two weeks, 10 months, some acquisitions, and an economic downturn can make.

Two weeks ago, I opined in this space that Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems could soon result in some new SaaS offerings. And last June, Larry Ellison was widely quoted as saying SaaS offerings weren't profitable enough -- although he was also widely reported as expecting that to change.

Well, it's changed, at least according to today's Oracle-related news stories. They seem to indicate that Oracle is planning to launch several (maybe seven?) new SaaS offerings really soon, according to stories in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required for full access), at VNUnet, and elsewhere. And I believe'em.

Since that June 2008 conference call with Larry Ellison, Oracle's launched a new release of its CRM On Demand solution, and Oracle Sourcing On Demand, a SaaS tool for supply management. And its Oracle On Demand Web site claims 4.5 million end users.

Oracle is serious about SaaS. And that means all the other SaaS and cloud computing solution vendors had better get ready for some aggressively serious competition. This should benefit users in terms of broadening choices and perhaps creating opportunities for advantageous contractual negotiations. But it is likely to get rough for those solution developers and providers without deep pockets, loyal, evangelical customers, or both. Such vendors are likely to be acquired by Oracle, acquired by some other larger and more stable vendor, or to disappear. Which won't be good for those users who've bet their companies' competitive agility on those vendors without sufficient protection, as I've discussed here previously.

Given Oracle's latest and anticipated SaaS moves, Microsoft's continually evolving SaaS/cloud strategy, and everything Salesforce.com and its partners do, the next 12 to 18 months could be the most interesting and challenging for SaaS and cloud computing users and vendors since...well, since the last 12 to 18 months.

So, as I advised two weeks ago, stay tuned. And feel free to let me know your thoughts, hopes, fears, and plans in response to all of this, if any. And you might consider reducing or eliminating as many long-term commitments to and investments in traditional software licenses as practical for your organization's particular needs. While the future of SaaS and cloud computing is roiling, the future for most traditionally licensed "bits on disks" seems certain -- and limited at best.

Oracle + Sun = More SaaS Options (Especially for SMBs)?

As I discussed with my learned and respected industry colleague Frederic Paul of bMighty.com earlier today, Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems could result in nifty new software as a service (SaaS) offerings for SMBs and larger enterprises as well. Here's how.

1. Oracle's Fusion Middleware platform is built entirely upon Java, for which Sun is the principal commercial shepherd. Java's a great solution for building and delivering new applications, SaaS-enabled and otherwise. Greater integration among Java, Fusion Middleware, and applications and databases could and should make SaaS-enabled solutions easier and faster to build and deliver.

2. Sun is fairly experienced at delivering SaaS and cloud computing solutions, especially to large customers and in concert with partners.

3. Both Sun and Oracle understand what larger companies want and need to make SaaS and cloud computing solutions "enterprise-ready." At the same time, each has had some success at packaging and delivering solutions for smaller enterprises, often scaled down from those enterprise solutions. And each has partners good at supporting SMBs.

3. Despite public pronouncements to the contrary, Oracle leadership understands that SaaS and cloud computing are going to be significant alternatives to traditional "bits on disks" and premises-based servers. (Oracle still holds a big stake in Salesforce.com, as I understand it.)

4. The combination of Java, Fusion Middleware, Oracle applications and databases, and Sun servers and services means that Oracle could offer a range of premises-based, SaaS, and cloud computing solutions through its significant partner ecosystem. Many of these solutions could be scaled down, integrated, and pre-configured into SMB-ready offerings, much as IBM does now with its "Express" portfolio. But the ability to deliver software and services AS services bodes well for Oracle plus Sun, and perhaps for users seeking alternatives to expensive and difficult-to-manage premises-based IT infrastructures.

As we analysts love to say, "stay tuned..."