Author Archive for Bertrand
Analytics is becoming increasingly embedded in businesses and has become one of the main tools used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. The number of Business Intelligence and Business Analytics projects continues to grow and some experts are now talking about the development of a third generation of BI systems.
But how do the companies use analytics to increase their knowledge and implement tangible actions? MIT tackled this question and the answers appear in an article published by MIT Sloan Management Review entitled, “Big Data, Analytics and the Path from Insights to Value”. This article examines the findings of the first survey of 3,000 decision makers from 30 industries and more than 100 countries, conducted in partnership with the IBM Institute for Business Value.
The findings of this survey are so rich and varied, I recommend that you read the entire article. However, here are some of the points I noted while reading it:
- The most dynamic companies use analytics up to 5 times more than other companies.
- Obstacles to adopting analytic systems no longer exist in the data (how to collect data, how to guarantee data reliability, etc.), but rather in the company culture and managers (how to use analytics to improve business).
- The future of analytics lies in the new technology of data visualization, semantic video analysis and social media analysis.
MIT also suggests following a five recommendation approach to make the most of a company’s analytic programs and quickly create value: think big from the start and concentrate on the biggest opportunities, start by asking the right questions rather than searching the data available, load information in the business processes, make BI features coexist rather than replace them, and plan an information governance strategy.
Today, according to MIT, data quality issues should no longer pose a problem for businesses: the technology exists and it is mature. Therefore, we should focus on building a global strategy for information management, describing the why and the wherefore of analyzing the available information, to define actions that will drive the creation of value. As we can see, the future of BI and analytics offers new perspectives that will help businesses grow and develop.
In conclusion, here is new evidence of the openness of public data: the City of Paris just announced that all of its databases (green spaces, election results, waste collection, etc.) will now be available to the public. This should generate the creation of many new services for residents and tourists. So, to sum up the article by a leading Business Intelligence expert in France, “We will be talking about Big Data a lot in 2011.”
Bertrand
In a release issued yesterday, Attachmate announced that it plans to buy Novell for $2.2b. This is significant for Talend, and for everyone involved in commercial open source, because Novell is one of the largest open source vendors with its SuSE product line.
This deal represents a 50% premium over Novell’s valuation at the beginning of this year. Of course, speculation about a takeover did fuel Novell’s share price, but how much of Novell’s valuation comes from open source? Many speculated that Sun’s hefty $7b price tag was in great part due to its $1b MySQL acquisition (a nice ROI…). In this case, would Novell be valued so much if all it had to sell were NetWare and GroupWise? (not exactly cutting edge technology)
This acquisition does not make a lot of sense for Attachmate – no one sees any product or market synergy in this deal – but it does make sense for Attachmate’s investors, Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo who are getting their hands on a golden nugget – a leading open source product, well deployed and with deep open source know-how. Open source is the next generation model for producing software, and Attachmate’s investors understand that. By acquiring Novell, they are buying their ticket into this market, and certainly intend to leverage this opportunity beyond just SuSE.
The ironic component of this deal is Microsoft’s involvement. After fighting open source for many years, Microsoft is now embracing it. Which Novell patents is Microsoft getting as part of the deal? Nobody knows rights now. It will be interesting to see how much they contribute to Microsoft’s open source strategy.
At the end of the day, this acquisition is good news. It proves one more time that open source creates opportunities for investment, and that open source vendors can thrive, grow, and play on the enterprise scene.
Bertrand
Last week, Talend announced that it had completed a round of financing for $34 million. This round was led by Silver Lake Sumeru, one of the most visible and largest investment firms in the IT sector the US. To put things in perspective, Silver Lake Partners, the parent company, was the leading force in Skype’s buyout from eBay ($1.2b). Silver Lake manages $15 billion in assets.
Why did Silver Lake invest into Talend? It’s simple: because we have proven our ability to deliver, consistently, and to contribute to a market shift. Looks at where the data integration market was 5 years ago, and where it is today. I am pretty proud of what we have contributed to: democratization of the market. Silver Lake trusts that we will be able to apply the same model to similar markets – and application integration is one of them.
What will we do with these $34m? Part of it has been used to acquire Sopera. Another part will be used to invest heavily in the deployment of our new application integration division. And then… for further acquisitions!
Why did we choose Silver Lake as a financial partner? Because they have a vision for Talend, and we are aligned with this vision. They want to help us become a global player in the open source space. The Sopera acquisition already puts us in a good spot – we are today one of the top five open source vendors. But we won’t stop here.
Bertrand
I described in a post from June 2009 how Accenture created – in stealth mode – its Innovation Center for Open Source. Just last month, Accenture published the results of a survey – targeting 300 large organizations in both the private and public sector of three countries: USA, UK and Ireland – which resonated like thunder. These results illustrate again the rise of open source software in the enterprise market.
According to Accenture’s survey, “69% of organizations anticipate increased investment in 2010, with more than a third (38 percent) expecting to migrate mission-critical software to open source in the next twelve months“. This follows the statement that “half of the respondents (50 percent) are fully committed to open source in their business while almost a third (28 percent) say they are experimenting with open source and keeping an open mind to using it“.
Furthermore, “two-thirds of all respondents (65 percent) noted that they have a fully documented strategic approach for using open source in their business, while another third (32 percent) are developing a strategic plan“. Yes, this means that 97% of enterprises strategically adopted open source today. This is the new reality that we called for since the creation of Talend. And as Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology architect points out: “What we are seeing is the coming of age of open source“.
OK, this is not a great surprise for all the specialists of the market. The evolution of adoption has been overwhelming for the past 2 years. But there is also a shift in the way enterprises are selecting open source solutions: “Through both our research and our work with clients, we are seeing an increase in demand for open source based on quality, reliability and speed, not just cost savings. This is a significant change from just two years ago when uptake was driven mainly by cost savings. We can expect to see this trend develop as open source continues to evolve and address even more business critical functions” continues Daugherty.
While the first benefit has always turned around cost saving, quality is now the main argument in favor of OSS: “76 percent of respondents in the UK and US cited quality as a key benefit of open source“. And this is great news for all the technological actors like Talend, who strive to prove that if cost reduction is of course important for enterprises, it doesn’t serve their interest if its performance are not in line with their objectives. I clearly remember this saying: “Cheap costs a lot“, translating the fact that if a cheap product does not work, you’ll have to pay more to buy another one! With open source, you get both: quality and cost reduction.
Another data point attracted my attention in this survey: “Despite a very encouraging picture, some organizations still remain hesitant (…) Lack of senior management support appears to be a key reason given for not using open source software among organizations that have looked at it but ultimately chosen not to use it“. This is clearly a central theme of our future go to market strategy. We know that technology experts are bold but their management is sometimes reluctant for various reasons. It is our role to give them insight that proves that the benefits of open source are real. For example, sharing the great data of this Accenture survey…
Bertrand
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