Announcing CEO Interview Publication: SIIA’s Vision From The Top

SIIA is launching a new publication at this year’s All About the Cloud conference, “SIIA’s Vision From The Top”!

The publication brings together thought leadership from over 45 of SIIA Member companies. Their CEO’s were asked to address the past, present and future changes in the software industry.

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.

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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.

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Panel discussion with application vendors at SIIA All About Mobile conference

By Ryan Nichols, VP Product Management, Appirio

I had the privilege of being asked to join a fantastic panel at SIIA’s “All About Mobile” conference yesterday with some leading application developers making the switch to mobile. I was joined by David Fulton of Right Now, Jason Prater of Plex Systems, and Dan Miller of INgage Networks to discuss “Transitioning Existing Solutions to Mobile Devices.”

We were moderated by Anshu Agrawal, VP Marketing at Keynote Systems, who asked us a set of questions that are top of mind for any application developer thinking about mobile apps:

  • Why mobile is important to your business?
  • What is the cornerstone of your mobile strategy?
  • What do you feel were the pain points in implementing your strategy?
  • What were the biggest surprises for you in moving your customers to mobile?
  • What would you recommend to SIIA members looking to transition to mobile?

Here’s a summary of our conversation:

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Social Media in Project Management

Written by Michal Wachstock, Director of Online Marketing, Clarizen

In Elizabeth Harrin’s (PM4Girls) latest Podcast about Social Media in Project Management (download the full podcast here), she describes Social Media in the work environment as “Collaboration and Communication with Purpose”. While the term “Social Media” is the generic name for web based tools created in the belief that the internet will help people with interaction and conversation, “Social Media for Project Management” becomes a functional tool that allows project members to better communicate and collaborate in a functional and meaningful way.

The Internet was once a static ‘brochure’ like platform, sort of an encyclopedia of static information that was suddenly available at the click of a mouse. But as technology has developed, the Internet has allowed people to express their desire to communicate in a community forum. Because we are naturally social beings, by allowing people to get more personal and to interact with one another in meaningful conversations, the Internet initially replaced informal chatting but is also now replacing many forms of formal, business communication as well.

Project Managers are microcosms of the ‘real’ world around us. They need to know how people interact and communicate and then harness these tools to get people to start communicating about their projects. Now that it is clear that these principals of communication, openness and collaboration are not just a fad, project managers have two choices. They can continue doing what they have done successfully for years, in the same way they have been doing it for years. Or, they can understand that people are working differently than they were 10, 5 and even just 3 years ago and embrace these changes that are going on around us.

To read the rest, visit Clarizen’s Blog

Dynamics of Influencers

Written by Steven Woods, CTO, Eloqua
Submitted by Eloqua

One of the most important uses of social media in a B2B environment is to build and maintain relationships with influencers in your space. There is much agreement with that, but there is also the sense that this is somehow new within the world of social media.

An Old Challenge

Managing influencers, however, has long been
a part of the role of marketing – analyst relations and public relations have long had this as their main goal. By carefully managing and cultivating good relationships with influencers such as analysts, journalists, and editors, you would find your perspectives known and understood by the writers, you would be included in mentions, and you might even find a slightly more positive perspective on your company than without such a strong relationship.

Influencers in a Social Media World

In today’s world, this core dynamic is still there. Good relationships with influencers can lead to being present in mentions, having perspective understood and appreciated, and having a slightly more positive bias. However, while the core dynamic remains, theapproach that we need to use to manage influencers has changed significantly.

More But Smaller

The first major change is that the influencers have changed in number and in size. Whereas historically, there may have been a few analysts worth focusing on, and a similar number of publications, there are now many, many more blogs, lifestreams, content sites, and magazines (let’s call them all “publications” just to keep things simple). This is brought about by the fact that the cost of infrastructure needed to publish information has gone down to nearly zero. This explosion in the number of publications is matched by a corresponding decrease in their individual size. Many only have a few thousand viewers, or focus on a highly specialized niche that would have been unprofitable for a major news outlet.

Read the rest at: Digital Body Language

Social Media Webinar: Social Media for Brand Awareness, Thought Leadership and Other Traditional PR Activities

In Partnership with Strategic Communications Group

Social media should be an integral part of your PR strategy, not just your sales function. To run a successful campaign Marketing, Sales and PR need to be integrated using today’s popular social media tools. How can you effectively integrate your social media strategy across the enterprise?

Moderator:
Robert Carroll, VP Marketing, Clickability
Panelists:
Jeff Majka, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Strategic Communications Group
Kye Strance, Director of Product Management, Vocus
Richard Dym, CMO, OpSource, Inc.