The adage goes: "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Although technology moves at a rapid pace, the predatory behavior of software vendors does not really change. Certainly, it works for them as the numbers show:
Microsoft net income: $44.2B
Oracle net income: $14.1B
IBM profit: $5.6B
Not coincidentally, these are the top three suppliers most likely to audit you according to a recent ITAM study of 465 IT executives conducted by Flexera.
This fact comes as no surprise to us. We wrote about this in 2019 in an article titled: The Top 10 Audit Crazy Suppliers, where our top three mirrored the IT executive survey exactly. In fact, nine of our top 10 were the same suppliers this study reflects. Further evidence that, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Unless you flip the game board!
Please click 'Read More' button for full article on how to extract more value from your most strategic suppliers:
Microsoft Pricing and Market Evolution: Disruptor to Dominator
Prior to establishing Microsoft, Gates and Allen had already formed another company while they were both still students at a high school in Seattle. They designed a computer system that automatically processed traffic-counting data called Traf-O-Data. The aim of this was to read the raw data that was produced by roadway traffic counters and transform these into reports for traffic engineers.
Apparently, they had a limited amount of success with the company, but it helped them to develop the computer programming skills that was instrumental in founding Microsoft. It also gave them the opportunity to develop their business skills, turning Microsoft into the huge success it became. And not just a success for Microsoft, but also for investors. A share of stock bought on March 3, 1986 at $20, is now worth a whopping approximately 90K times more!
Click 'Read More' below to read all five ways suppliers will try to stress you this Q4.
12 for '21 Cloud Optimization Series - Number Eleven: Storage Management
Today we review the fourth installment in the series: Set Up Hierarchical Storage Management.
Data sets have specific lifecycles. Early on, your workload might often access the data. But over time, data access, in particular the aging one, drops drastically. Some data remains idle in the Cloud, and is rarely accessed once stored for regulation purpose.
Some data can be deleted as they become obsolete weeks or months after creation, while other data sets are read and modified throughout their lifetimes.
AWS, GCP, and Azure all offer storage lifecycle management service. Whereas you set rules to automatically leverage the different storage classes based on your business requirements.
Click 'Read More' below to continue reading the full article or click link to download an eBook of all 12 tips in one consolidated book!
Rapid changing client behavior (initiated by COVID-19) and less physical interaction required additional means to connect to prospects and grow your business this past year.
If you are not adding communication channels, your competition will. Companies are buying up technology to help them achieve this. The problem is that many companies are loading up and buying the wrong products, at the wrong price, for reasons that are not shared across the enterprise.
Most organizations have a CRM (Salesforce, Oracle, SugarCRM, Hubspot, etc.) and one of the many Marketing automation tools, but lack the customer knowledge in order to have (near) real-time marketing efforts targeting the right audience. This specific targeting generates more sales revenue and brand recognition with optimized use of resources (time and money) and provides a more valuable experience for customers and prospects.
Click 'Read More' below to continue reading the full article.
Video: Get Value in IT Investments
Steven Zolman discusses how to Get Value in IT investments, the second in a series of videos on how to Find, Get, and Keep Value in your Technology Supply Chain.
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