There’s no denying that twitter is a social media platform that shares news, posts and twitpics that keeps the world upto date on what is going on. Twitter is used by organizations as part of their social media strategy along with Facebook, LinkedIn , Quora and other famous bookmarking sites. Now that twitter has bought Julpan it is quickly becoming a social platform rather than a social application.
May this acquisition lead to more purchasing of other social software to complement the social app now that social monitoring is part of their repertoire. Salesforce.com started as a SaaS CRM, created the Force.com platform, built out their business partner eco system, purchased Jigsaw and then Radian 6 making them a leader in the social enterprise. The combination of their combined acquisitions and partner ecosystem has created new products and services to form the social cloud.
If Twitter was to add an acquisition for internal collaboration application, add perhaps a CRM and or a project management software the possibility to create another social enterprise platform may challenge SFDC. As solutions get larger from adding complementary features and functions solution sprawl threatening the social enterprise leader SFDC are beginning to emerge.
The rampant addition of extra application functions that are being added to existing software such as the social component to CRM morphing to SCRM, Content management + social media + PLM, CRM + Project Management and billing and Collaboration have cropped up and are changing ideas of once traditional software categories. Software is quickly morphing into new categories that have been relatively unchanged for a long while. The new functionalities being added to traditional single purposed applications are quickly emerging with new functionality and changing the purpose of the original piece of software of where it may have first started.
As a consulting/analyst firm we see many different software functionalities and vendor demonstrations in which vendors show us their new functionality and add-ons. Another example of this was today we examined a vendor that has created a platform for call center management and other peripheral functions that complimented its base functionality. Some are definitely impressive and vendors that seem to add complementary functionality that extends the original base application seem to be more innovative and more widely accepted by consumers. Consumers find that the new functionality fits their business needs closer than traditional applications. It is these vendors that are excelling to meet customer needs. The platforms that are being created by these new apps are being offered as SaaS and cloud solutions that ease market entry.
Even SMB’s can compete with larger organizations by using these newly formed application platforms that are proving to be a great IaaS/PaaS alternative. These newly created applications are simplifying IT administration and ease implementation worries to a degree. Organizations must still be weary to identify their business process, categorize their priorities and follow the same due diligence when evaluating these new platform based applications as software is now complicated than ever and chances of IT failure become greater if the application you select covers many business requirements and it is not the right fit.
Eval‐Source is a consulting firm that provides enterprise software selection and strategic technology consulting services for organizations to achieve success in their IT initiatives. Our consulting practices encompass cloud and on-premise software evaluation services, ERP, Supply Chain, social media and technology strategy consulting. Our Tru‐Eval selection system allows organizations to avoid IT failure, receive greater ROI and provide accurate decision support for enterprise software. Eval‐Source is an industry leader in the analysis of software technology and our thought leadership has placed us in the elite of consulting/analyst firms. What sets us apart is our unbiased best in class consulting services that provide our clients with value, direction and success in selection, planning and optimization of their technology systems. Eval‐Source provides the professional services that put your needs first and allow you to achieve success in your IT initiatives. We are the source for your technology solutions.
