Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily cloud news and commentary show. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.
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In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss what I call the “Suite Wars” and how Cloud Wars Top 10 vendors are positioning their companies.
Highlights
00:15 — One of the interesting developments across the Cloud Wars has been the onset of the Suite Wars. In a long article that I’ll be posting later this morning on Cloud Wars, I offer in-depth explanations from the CEOs of Workday and Salesforce. From Oracle, it’s Executive Vice President Steve Miranda, and for SAP, I use comments from recent earnings calls with their CEO, Christian Klein.
01:32 — I think there are five big reasons we’re seeing the Suite Wars intensify. The first is that unified suites act as fuel for AI. The second reason is the issue of integration burnout. Businesses today face an intense, rapid, and unrelenting pace of operations. The old model of taking applications from multiple vendors and spending time and money to integrate them internally is no longer sustainable. Even when integration is possible, it’s rarely optimal and often costly.
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02:38 —The third reason relates to employees. When employees can work within a single, cohesive user interface for various processes and applications, it makes their experience better. Perhaps more important than usability is enhanced security. Finally, there’s the need for speed.
03:46 — Microsoft Dynamics 365 is certainly a player in this space. However, Microsoft often downplays this, partly because it wants to position itself as a viable cloud infrastructure partner for companies like SAP. Over time, I expect it to become a full-fledged competitor in this space.
04:37 — I believe the next big step in the Suite Wars will center around industry-specific solutions. Vertical market suites of applications will likely become the ultimate goal as technology permeates every part of businesses. Companies will increasingly need industry-specific capabilities to handle their unique challenges.
