If you happen to be in Vegas in the coming weeks, you may want to stop by Mandalay Bay where our very own CEO Pankaj Malviya is taking part in a discussion panel at Interop Las Vegas on May 19th @ 2:45PM. The session is being hosted by Jeffery Kaplan, Founder and Managing Director at THINKstrategies. Jeffery has also covered LongJump before in a recent article. According to organizers, the panel shall discuss:

Hosted applications vary from the specific to the adaptable. At one end of the spectrum are websites with one purpose; at the other, open platforms that let you build your own applications. Navigating the landscape of on-demand applications can be a challenge — should you choose one comprehensive application suite, or best-of-breed portals? Do you need off-the-shelf functionality, or limitless flexibility? This session presents a taxonomy of on-demand applications so you can choose what works for your business.

Also participating in the discussion are:

Technorati Tags: interop, jeffrey kaplan, on-demand, PaaS, saas

This makes yet another case for SaaS and Cloud Computing solutions. Many organizations are under the false belief that traditional, on-premise systems are safer and more reliable than leveraged enterprise software that is offered on-demand. In the case with Childs, his IT terrorism is still being assessed, but authorities say undoing his denial of access to other system administrators could cost millions of dollars. However, if San Francisco’s data were hosted, a simple call to the application provider (with proof of administrative creditials) could have restored access in minutes, as well as lock-out Childs from any future access. Hosted software providers are like an additional safety firewall for businesses.

Most SaaS providers like LongJump operate on fully-monitored, secured backends. Data is mirrored, backed up on a daily basis, and an entire operational workflow is engaged before critical changes are made. In addition, people with access to sensitive systems are screened and no one has “exclusive rights.” A third party SaaS provider can quickly correct these types of catastrophes (which thankfully are rare, but always possible) and save organizations like the City of San Francisco the cost and embarassment of a renegade IT terrorist.

Technorati Tags: hosted software, IT administration, on-demand, on-premise, saas, San Francisco, software-as-a-service, Terry Childs

Below is the complete article:

The Long Tail of IT
Pankaj Malviya, June 25, 2008

Everyone who has worked in — or even with — an IT department knows that the demand for projects always exceeds IT’s ability to deliver them all. IT is able to address only those most highly prioritized, core business projects that receive the budget, staff and priority to develop, test, deliver and maintain over time. If projects don’t make the “A” list, the project either doesn’t get done or workers have to find a way to do it themselves.

Today’s more tech-savvy, Web 2.0 workforce has increasingly resorted to getting the tools it needs from SaaS software providers. In an ideal world, IT must be an active partner in prescribing technology to help the rest of the business work better together, move information efficiently, and get the answers needed to make the next strategic or tactical decisions. This is what the Long Tail of IT is all about: really important IT automation projects that would help the business but that consistently don’t make the list of must-do projects.

The platform-as-a-service evolution that is starting to emerge (for example, with solutions from Amazon, Google and LongJump) is one that has potential to restore the luster of the IT department, because these solutions are focused on delivering “customized, situational applications” that connect to a range of common and uncommon processes.

Platform-as-a-service provides a turnkey environment to build applications that teams can use to share data and collaborate. There is no infrastructure to install, and the time and cost to build, deploy and customize new applications is greatly reduced.

PaaS solutions should also be able to integrate with other sources of data using simple web-services APIs. Connecting to enterprise data sources securely is fundamental. Additionally, customization is extremely important; applications that are created must meet the unique requirements of businesses. PaaS should provide a visual way to create new forms, model and automate processes and workflows, and implement actionable data policies.

Rather than needing to work with a one-size-fits-all application (and an extensive, dedicated IT architecture), PaaS platforms need to be able to draw from functional domain experts from Marketing to Sales to HR to easily customize applications, or quickly create and publish situational applications, that are better suited to their unique business requirements. The PaaS platforms also need to deliver enterprise-level service, security, and hardware and software architecture, as well as rich functionality for each application, ranging from configurable dashboard widgets to a flexible database architecture that enables extensive relationships between application data, search capabilities across all applications, etc.

PaaS’ rise is built upon need. The fact that PaaS is on demand and in the cloud is driven by the reality that IT isn’t able to support its multi-departmental constituents with a flexible business platform of information and collaboration. Information workers don’t have time to build a server, manage a database, design a UI, etc. PaaS offers a convenient, predictable, leverageable alternative to yesterday’s big IT initiatives.

That doesn’t mean IT is off the hook, however. In fact, PaaS needs IT to succeed. Not just to bless the technology around security and scalability issues, but to be the guiding light of information management:

• How do you organize your data permissions?
• What data needs to connect to other data to form applications?
• Do the new applications meet required compliance standards for users’ data protection? What should that data and application look like?
• How much is customer-facing, and how much is back-end?
• What external systems need to connect to this data?

PaaS gives IT something it never had: the ability to manage the ‘I’ without the need for too much ‘T.’ No hardware to install; no database to optimize; no web servers to update. PaaS provides structured, centralized data and processes that are enterprise-agnostic. The focus is then realigned on the applications one can build and the business problems one can solve, not on the technology that built them.

Pankaj Malviya is the Founder & CEO of LongJump.

Technorati Tags: cloud computing, GigaOm, IT department, on-demand, PaaS, Platform-as-a-Service, saas

It’s very clear that the infrustructure of web products and components is starting to consolidate into ready-to-go solutions from hosting, applications, and (like LongJump) complete enterprise application development plaforms.

According to Om Malik:

The platforms on which we have done business for over a decade are starting to provide diminishing returns; the smart money, meanwhile, is seeking new platform structures.

We completely agree with Om’s assessment. The time is certainly right for Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions like LongJump. With functionality on the web ever improving, the need to drive down operational costs always looming, the agility of a business a paramount importance, it’s only a matter of time for enterprises large and small to move some key areas of their business on the grid.

Technorati Tags: cloud computing, GigaOm, IT department, on-demand, PaaS, Platform-as-a-Service, saas

Company Appoints Vice President of Business Development to Lead Newly Unveiled Partner Program and Drive Channel Strategy

Sunnyvale, CA May 19, 2008 — LongJump, a platform for highly customizable, interconnected on-demand business applications, announced today that it has appointed Jay Noble as its new Vice President of Business Development. Noble brings with him more than 20 years of enterprise-level consulting and implementation experience as well as a solid track record of sales and marketing successes, overseeing CRM-focused project implementations and teams. In his new role, Noble will spearhead the company’s sales and partner channel strategy.

Noble’s appointment follows closely on LongJump’s recently unveiled Jumpstart Partner Program, which was developed for resellers who want to leverage a true enterprise-grade, multi-tenant, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform and deliver database-driven custom applications that meet their customers’ needs. The program provides partners with an exceptionally attractive incremental revenue channel where they can monetize LongJump’s application platform with their own premium services, while benefiting from LongJump’s support of lead generation campaigns, business opportunity referrals, and generous multi-year commission plans.

“Until now, there has not been a SaaS provider that has developed a compelling channel proposition for partners, which is absolutely essential to bring SaaS to more businesses,” noted LongJump’s founder and CEO, Pankaj Malviya. “Jay’s experience and success on the reseller side provides LongJump with an important perspective into what the VAR and developer partners need from SaaS vendors to expand their revenue opportunities.”

Noble has a wealth of knowledge in sales, marketing, and customer support, and has led numerous implementations of enterprise CRM software at global companies, including Apple, Sybase and Hawaiian Telecom. Prior to joining LongJump, Noble served as President of North American Operations for saaspoint, a leading Salesforce.com implementation partner, where he helped deliver several major projects at Fortune 1,000 companies. Previously, Noble spent four years as a top senior manager and CRM practice leader at BearingPoint. In this role, Noble spearheaded several multi-million dollar systems integration projects within Fortune 500 companies and was a key member of the PeopleSoft and Salesforce.com alliance teams.

“LongJump’s on-demand platform is trailblazing how enterprises of all sizes can collaborate, manage information, and simplify business process optimization,” stated Noble. “The LongJump team demonstrates a focus and commitment to truly help our channel partners maximize their revenue potential with LongJump’s suite of interconnected applications.”

Noble holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Oral Roberts University. He currently resides in San Jose, California.

Technorati Tags: customer relationship management, on-demand, PaaS, saas, Sales and CRM

Recently, there was a news report on how a lot of families are dealing with the (possible) recession by growing their own fruits and vegetables. Makes perfect sense. It cuts down on expensive gas, its self-replenishing, and you can grow what you need. It also is tasty and satisifying. What’s the point?

There is a term in sales called “low-hanging fruit,” identifying prospects and customers that you can capture and sell to quickly without a lot of background work or negotiation. In sales, being able to identify which businesses are due for some type of re-marketing or outreach, can reduce the chances of existing easy revenue slipping through the cracks. Its easier to sell repeat business than it is to start from scratch.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’re a restaurateur and you keep contact with your frequent patrons that come to your restaurant. CRM Solutions like LongJump’s Sales Force Automation suite would enable you to pull data from your cash registers and let you analyze across both data sets when one of your regulars hasn’t paid a visit in a few weeks.

How can you use this valuable customer information? Add an email marketing campaign with LongJump Campaign Manager to repeat each week for all your missing regulars with a “we miss you” type message, a coupon for something unique like a free bottle of house wine with dinner for two, and a tantalizing list of new menu items.

If they come, again push that register data back into LongJump, and send that customer a thank you, with the same offer that they can pass along to one of their friends.

You’ve now created a low-cost, self-replenishing, referral-driven campaign.

Technorati Tags: customer relationship management, on-demand, saas, Sales and CRM