Jeffrey Kaplan

If you’ve been holding back about moving to the ‘Cloud’, it is time to get onboard the Cloud Computing express. Not only has every major research firm published market forecasts indicating that Cloud services are growing exponentially, but we see multiplying customer success stories that clearly illustrate the immediate and measurable business benefits of moving […]

Last week’s announcement that IBM is acquiring DemandTec for approximately $440 million is the latest move by Big Blue – and most recent example across the broader marketplace – that Cloud analytics will be a key battleground for industry supremacy in the coming months. DemandTec delivers Cloud-based analytics software that businesses use to track customer […]

Last week, THINKstrategies hosted a one-day forum, called the Cloud Channel Summit, to discuss the changing nature of the channel in the Cloud marketplace. On that same day, Best Buy announced its acquisition of mindSHIFT, a Cloud computing service provider. The announcement is the latest indication that Cloud computing is becoming mainstream and Cloud services […]

Now that the concept of Cloud Computing is gaining widespread market recognition and acceptance, the key to sustaining its initial success is enlisting a broader array of channels to market that will win the trust of a wider cross-section of SMB and enterprise users. While everywhere you look it seems that everyone is talking about […]

Eighteen months ago, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff unveiled a new Facebook-like social networking tool, called Chatter. Announced at the 2009 Dreamforce user conference, response to the product seemed to contain as much apprehension as excitement. At the time, many of the corporate decision-makers attending the event responded to the idea of Facebook for the office […]

As the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and public cloud services industries mature they are being deployed to play more pivotal roles in the day-to-day operations of bigger and bigger organizations. The latest example is Coupa Software’s recent contract with the Independent Purchasing Cooperative (IPC) of SUBWAY, the largest franchise company in the world. Under this agreement, Coupa’s […]

No company has been a greater catalyst of the consumerization of IT than Apple. And now its new iCloud services are poised to trigger the latest assault on the ornately pillared walls of the legacy IT systems and software world. Apple’s iCloud online storage service has received plenty of press attention and generated an equal […]

With the advent of the ‘Cloud’, there has been a renewed debate about the changing role of the CIO. Some have even suggested that the acronym should be redefined to mean “Chief Innovation Officer” or “Chief Infrastructure Officer.” I think rebranding the title misses the fundamental data management challenges that most organizations continue to face […]

Once again, ‘the more things change, the more they remain the same’. This old adage came to mind recently when I was approached by a series of major corporations and non-profit institutions who are exploring opportunities to leverage their internal operations and become commercial Cloud service providers. This is a movie script that I’ve read […]

Like many consultants and others in the tech industry, I do a fair amount of travel. This past week, I was in London and New York City, and was struck by how prevalent the Cloud has become no matter where I go. Banners promoting EMC’s cloud computing capabilities hung above the elevated walkway between central […]