SIIA CEO Interview with Mark Symonds, Plex Systems

About the Author

Mark Symonds is President and CEO of Plex Systems, Inc., developers of Plex Online, Cloud ERP for the manufacturing enterprise. Symonds’ IT experience includes a highly successful entrepreneurial venture, and IT business consulting at Arthur Andersen & Co. (now Accenture). Symonds holds an MBA in finance and accounting from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in economics and French from the University of Rochester. He is a Certified Public Accountant; certified in production and inventory management (CPIM) by the American Production and Inventory Control Society; and holds a variety of industry association memberships, including the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), Industrial Fastener Institute (IFI), the Forging Industry Association (FIA), the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and the Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA).

Symonds and his family live in the Greater Detroit area.


What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now?

There is no question that SaaS, or the Cloud delivery model, will continue to grow as the preferred way to deliver business software applications. Point solution vendors such as Salesforce.com, SuccessFactors and NetSuite have led the way. It is inevitable that deep, vertical full-suite SaaS solutions will gain widespread adoption.

ERP Forecast

We see a changing of the guard in ERP. The major companies when I began my career were Cullinet, Walker, Dun&Bradstreet and McCormick & Dodge. Those mainframe players were replaced by a large number of client-server vendors. Many of the famous companies of the 80′s and 90′s have already disappeared into the abyss at Infor.

Many of today’s ERP brands will not survive. The chasm is too deep and wide for them to get to a true and sustainable SaaS business model and technology.

As I see it, technology will be the least of their problems. Subscription pricing, SAS-70, Service Level Agreements and agile development will do them in.

More vendors of scale will likely offer deep and wide solutions to specific vertical markets. Generic ERP that must be heavily modified for each industry will give way to comprehensive, purpose-built offerings meeting the needs of users in a given market. [Read more...]

SIIA CEO Interview with Bill Loss, SaaShr.com (Part 3)

What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now? And what customer demands and business trends will drive changes in software products, how they’re developed, and the industry that provides them?


Given the dynamics of innovation and ever-changing user landscape, in many ways it’s difficult to predict what the software industry will look like in 3 years let alone 5 or 10 years. With this said, however, here are some thoughts for consideration.

Long-term predictions on the future of Software: It is said that at any point, if someone gets a brilliant idea, two other people in the world get the same idea at the same time. Ideas will become cheaper and more readily available. Software will continue to help abstract much of the thinking behind and completion of processes that are necessary to perform tasks more efficiently. Emphasis will continue to be placed on improving user experience, where application user interfaces will become more intuitive and replace the need for online help and other forms of user documentation. Software will also continue to incorporate collaborative elements such as crowd sourcing and will evolve in response to the trend of information sharing.

Intellectual Property: An interesting aspect of the future of software is the question, “What types of devices and products will evolve to a point where software drives their use?” For instance, our vehicle can tell us where we are through global positioning or let us know when our vehicle’s tires are low on air, with software potentially being a key component to how this technology evolves. Recently, vehicles are being equipped with software technology to avoid collisions and change handling capabilities depending on driving conditions. Who’s to say in the next several decades our vehicles won’t be performing most of the driving for us, and if so, using software as a service (SaaS) via the cloud, will this mean our vehicles will require security software to protect against viruses???

[Read more...]

SIIA CEO Interview with Bill Loss, SaaShr.com (Part 2)

What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now? And what customer demands and business trends will drive changes in software products, how they’re developed, and the industry that provides them?


Given the dynamics of innovation and ever-changing user landscape, in many ways it’s difficult to predict what the software industry will look like in 3 years let alone 5 or 10 years. With this said, however, here are some thoughts for consideration.

Mobile: The so called “third screen” has come a long way. In fact, most experts suggest more transactions will take place on mobile devices than on PCs in years to come. Although advertising dollars currently dominate revenue models, more value will be placed on consumer and business applications by merchants who will be willing to “pay-to-play” so long as compliance and other factors can be overcome. Simply put the convenience and value of having access to more accurate, complete and timely information from a consumer’s perspective will be more equally balanced by the value provided to merchants in distributing products and services more effectively. The greatest challenge will remain categorization in the sense there needs to be an adequate pairing of products and services for each segment of consumers in order to create a strong enough value proposition for both consumers and merchants.

Social Media impact on Sales and Marketing: The software industry continues to experience the broad impact of social media on sales and marketing. As the use of social media on a personal level continues to accelerate, individuals and their employers will begin to accept social media and associated technologies within their work environment. Adoption will continue with the exchange of business information for enhanced decision making (customer relationship management applications, etc.), and will ultimately lead towards consumption of consumer products and services in the workplace, including areas such as voluntary insurance, group rates for educational and entertainment events and other similar areas. The technology is here, the monetization or cost offsetting ability on the employer level and potential disruption to worksite productivity needs to be more fully understood before mass adoption will occur.

[Read more...]

SIIA CEO Interview with Bill Loss, SaaShr.com

What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now? And what customer demands and business trends will drive changes in software products, how they’re developed, and the industry that provides them?


Given the dynamics of innovation and ever-changing user landscape, in many ways it’s difficult to predict what the software industry will look like in 3 years let alone 5 or 10 years. With this said, however, here are some thoughts for consideration.

Security: Security will ultimately be linked more often to an individual’s biometric markers. The trend continues towards multi-factor authentication where both physical and virtual considerations prevail. As advancements in security technology are achieved, cyber criminals will also continue to advance and keep this segment of the software industry ever-changing.

Private, Public and/or Hybrid Clouds: The existence of all three may very well be a reality for years to come. With most business decisions, associated risk must be well balanced with specific technology advancements to determine appropriate IT decisions. When it comes to private and public clouds, attention will remain focused around the sensitivity of intellectual property and related data which is collected, processed and stored. [Read more...]

Announcing New Video Series: SIIA Members Rally at DreamForce 2010!

SIIA is delighted to announce a new video series, filmed at DreamForce 2010! With about 30,000 attendees, DreamForce has seen spectacular growth. This was SIIA’s first time exhibiting at DreamForce and we look forward to seeing everyone next year and in May at SIIA’s own executive cloud computing conference, All About the Cloud.

[Read more...]

SIIA CEO Interview with Umberto Milletti, InsideView

What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now?

Cloud computing and social media are the two very significant trends that will shape the future of the software industry for years to come. Core cloud applications (email, CRM, ERP, etc.) will become an “operating system” that nearly all companies will have in place. These business applications focus on workflow automation – bringing in process efficiencies – and are sufficient to run a manufacturing or process business. However, businesses are increasingly delivering services, where employee knowledge and intelligence are the keys to success. This is where social media, business intelligence and collaboration technology becomes relevant, and crucial. It is designed to make employees smarter and more effective, not just to automate their jobs.

[Read more...]

Optimizing Web Performance for SaaS Success

In Partnership with Keynote.

Do you deliver your products or services through the Internet? Is the performance of your SaaS applications critical to the success of your business? Does not delivering on your SLAs mean lost revenue and irreparable damage to your brand?

Our panel of industry experts will deliver critical insights on:
-How Web performance impacts your business success
-Common performance issues to watch out for
-Best practices for Optimizing speed and availability
-Solutions for delivering a superior customer experience

Moderator:
Dave Karow, Senior Product Manager, Keynote
Panelists:
Ben Rushlo, Director of Performance Consulting, Keynote
Schalk Theron, Vice President of Operations, SpringCM
Richard Broome, Vice President of Operations, Host Analytics

[Read more...]