Just spotted this article on CNN the other day I thought I’d share. Take a look at: http://money.cnn.com/shortURL/
This is about http://www.rackspace.com and their focus and determined approach to finding profit in their business model. They are doing great and seem to be on track for some good surplus. It got me thinking though.
Lately I’ve spent some time running numbers (yes I’m a numbers geek) on the known numbers surrounding 5 of the big players in the SaaS industry and a few very new SaaS startups that have been in the media. Whilst I don’t know the true figures, on first glance, it seems that compared to traditional download software, SaaS isn’t pulling the same level of profit.
Source: Projects@Work – http://www.projectsatwork.com
Author: Karen Klein (May 10, 2007)
How does the CEO of a New Zealand-based creative design agency become a provider of project management software? Ask Julian Stone, director of ProActive Software Ltd. Stone created a project management tool for his Palm Pilot five years ago and shortly thereafter began marketing it internationally. But it’s tough for a small firm to build credibility, cater to would-be customers and find its niche in a universe dominated by much larger stars.
Julian Stone was frustrated. His creative design firm was growing, taking on new projects continuously and he didn’t have a way to keep track his work. Stone, a New Zealand native based in Christchurch, brought his creativity to the problem and wound up creating a project-, task- and time-management system for his Palm Pilot.
Stone’s solution worked so well that his team started asking if they could use it, too. He enlisted the help of a software developer friend, Alan Barlow, to expand the solution and put it on the Internet where it could be shared. When it worked for Stone’s team, friends and colleagues started asking if they could purchase it for their companies.
Source: Projects@Work – http://www.projectsatwork.com
Author: Karen Klein (May 10, 2007)
How does the CEO of a New Zealand-based creative design agency become a provider of project management software? Ask Julian Stone, director of ProActive Software Ltd. Stone created a project management tool for his Palm Pilot five years ago and shortly thereafter began marketing it internationally. But it’s tough for a small firm to build credibility, cater to would-be customers and find its niche in a universe dominated by much larger stars.
Julian Stone was frustrated. His creative design firm was growing, taking on new projects continuously and he didn’t have a way to keep track his work. Stone, a New Zealand native based in Christchurch, brought his creativity to the problem and wound up creating a project-, task- and time-management system for his Palm Pilot.
Stone’s solution worked so well that his team started asking if they could use it, too. He enlisted the help of a software developer friend, Alan Barlow, to expand the solution and put it on the Internet where it could be shared. When it worked for Stone’s team, friends and colleagues started asking if they could purchase it for their companies.
I just found this great link talking about the Web2.0 design culture. Great points and it also confirms my thoughts…Â that whilst there is a technological side to Web2.0, alot of it is simply design hype too… ;-)
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“In order to get attention to your brand-new 2.0Culture backed website, you need to bring up some decent “up-to-date†design with it. No, I am not talking about CSS instead of tables or suchlike. I am talking about simplicity combined with big fonts, shiny shaders and very, very strange brand names. Despite the fact that you need to do your homework learning about tags, clouds and plenty more of these catchy words – you can still be a great “new wave†designer – without being a pro 2.0Culture technology geek. Read the rest of the article:Â
http://mittermayr.wordpress.com/2006/02/03/20-culture/
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The Internet has combined with evolution of corporate data, processes and communications to create the basis for a revolution in corporate organization. Businesses are becoming increasingly modular, doing what they do best and outsourcing the rest. The organization is increasingly turning toward project teams which can be assembled when necessary and dispersed when projects are completed. To facilitate this, procedures and systems are being developed to control and support collaboration. The result? New opportunities for remote workers and virtual offices, with leaner, task focused and ultimately a more efficient organization, essentially unlimited access to resources and personnel around the globe.
The New Office of the Future
At the heart of the new business organization is the virtual business or virtual office. The virtual business can span geographical boundaries and provide instant and flexible collaboration to efficiently develop products and services with minimal supporting overhead. In this “office of the future”, remote workers are linked in a dispersed infrastructure that is supported by software that supports and controls collaboration. Individuals share data and applications over a distance, transmit data of all types easily and efficiently, and the workgroup can meet together to exchange information and views using a variety of different techniques, including videoconferencing, shared whiteboards, teleconferencing, instant messaging, and a variety of asynchronous correspondence and mail capabilities.
Supporting the office of the future is a wide and growing range of collaborative software tools that provide communications, project coordination, data sharing, and application access. The base for this communication is, of course, the Internet, which has been speeding as higher bandwidth technologies are rolled out. These large pipes enhance the opportunities for collaboration.
