The Importance of Integration

I believe that one of the strategic IT objectives of all companies is to increase utilization and efficiency of existing infrastructure investments. Most companies have a hodgepodge of systems that each perform a unique set of functions. Sometimes these systems are designed to serve only the needs of either one region, one office, or one department. The problems that arises is a siloed IT infrastructure where multiple systems cannot work together. There is no standardization. There is no commonality that interconnects these disparate systems so they can act as one. This is where integration comes into play.

Imagine if you could better leverage your existing IT infrastructure. Imagine if you could log into one single access point and have the ability to utilize all systems or databases. No longer would you have to log onto one system to perform one task only to have to log onto another system to run a report. This is the beauty of integration.

The companies that provide integration capabilities or open API's are the companies that will develop the strongest long-term strategic partnerships while increasing adoption across the technology ecosystem.

When you take a close look at the Software as a Service market, companies like WebEx have a slew of partners with out of the box integration solutions, as well as, provides open API's for specific customization. The benefit is tremendous flexibility to pick and choose which of your existing systems you want to interconnect.

Increased asset utilization, greater productivity, reduced costs.

Partial List of WebEx Integration Partners:

• Mindjet: information mapping and brainstorming application
• Salesforce.com: CRM
• Viewcentral: event management
• Remedy: case ticket management for customer support or helpdesk
• AOL Instant Messenger: integrated enterprise instant messaging
• GeoLearning: learning management application (LMS)
• Learn.com: learning management application (LMS)
• Xerox
• SumTotal: Docent and Click2Learn merger, performance and learning management
• Plateau Systems: learning management

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

"Outperform" Target Price

Yesterday, the financial analysts at Robert W. Baird held firm on their "outperform" rating while raising the target price from $38 to $42.

Casey Ryan from Nollenberger Capital set a price target of $40 on August 21st and with a close on Friday of $38.71, it looks like Casey is on point so far.

Peter Goldmacher and Jim Bao, both analysts from Cowen and Company also maintain their "outperform" rating. With the release of new WebEx products, Cowen and Company believes this will translate into new top line revenue.

New Products include the following:

• WebOffice
• WebEx Mail
• Workspace
• AIM Pro Business Edition
• Desktop Management/Systems Management

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Instant Messaging Mission Critical?

In reference to my Collaboration Predictions for 2006 back in February 2006, it seems as though parts of the predictions are coming true. Earlier this week, WebEx released the first enterprise-class on-demand application for enterprise instant messaging (EIM). EIM has more robust capabilities and compliance policies that the standard MSN, Yahoo IM, Trillian, Skype etc lack. (Instant Messaging has come a long way since the days of MIT's "Project Athena" back in 1987!!!)

With the AOL partnership, WebEx AIM PRO Business Edition penetrates a user base of over 70M active users, which is over 2 times larger than the Microsoft IM user base (29M active users) and Yahoo IM user base (21M active users), IBM Sametime (15M active users).

The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm out of Palo Alto, CA, has stated that instant messaging (IM) is utilized by over 135 million workers and viewed as a mission-critical collaboration application. Radicati expects this number to grow to 477 million users by 2009. This provides tremendous opportunities for companies that can integrate other collaboration technologies with IM: voice, audio, video, instant data sharing, calendaring.

With WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition, customers can now instantly communicate and share documents in real-time across the WebEx MediaTone Network. With end to end 128 bit SSL encryption, companies can feel confident that all IM communications are secure and compliant. The automatic file scanning and SpIM blocking dramatically reduces the concerns of computer viruses and worms. Cross IM platform communication is also a huge plus since no other EIM solutions allow this today.

Microsoft has their on-premise Live Communications Server solution and IBM just unveiled new instant messaging capabilities to their on-premise SameTime solution so we are seeing the convergent properties starting to merge into a unified platform. Though their is a push from these on-premise giants to compete with software as a service leaders like WebEx and Salesforce.com, the fact remains the same, the days of traditional enterprise software and siloed IT environments are numbered.

WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition Flash Demo

Thanks,

David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Linkedin.com Profile

Take a look at my Linkedin.com profile. For those that are not familiar with Linkedin.com, it's a business networking site that connects you to old collegues or new business contacts.

Check it out http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchao

The Impact of Web Conferencing for Small Businesses

Wainhouse Research recently released a new study on web conferencing and its impact on small businesses. Wainhouse Research had over 1,500 survey participants, of which 75% worked at companies with less than 500 employees. A majority of the small businesses leverage web conferencing as a competitive advantage to drive revenue, penetrate markets, and expand territory reach with minimal resources. Most even stated that web conferencing has become such a vital part of day to day business that they could not conduct business without it.

"Considering that SMBs constitute about 99.7% of U.S. businesses, comprise approximately 44% of the overall U.S. private payroll, and are responsible for more job creation than any other sector of the marketplace, Web conferencing is proving to be a strategic business tool," reported Alan Greenberg, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. "Next-generation Web conferencing solutions give SMBs the capability to impact local and global economies as never before possible."

Survey Highlights:

• "Outbound" Web conferencing applications that involve customers and prospects are most important to SMBs.
• 75% of SMB respondents believe the ability to involve/reach more people and save travel costs and time are major reasons to use Web conferencing; 59% say it makes meetings more productive.
• 55% of SMBs (and 44% of large enterprise respondents) say that in addition to the more predictable improvements in business practices, Web conferencing enables users to solve problems they could not solve before.
• 69% of all respondents use Web conferencing to enable new meetings that could not be held in any other way due to cost constraints, timing and several other issues.

"The majority of companies polled indicated they are increasing their use of Web conferencing, and are enjoying a high to very high return in value," said Greenberg. "Though companies of all sizes use Web conferencing to drive business processes, SMBs are much more aggressive in using online presentations and demonstrations to drive marketing and close sales by facilitating meetings with customers and prospects."

It is evident that even the smallest of small businesses need web conferencing. Companies like WebEx, have designed programs specifically for small businesses: cost effective and flexible price models to match the needs of any small business. Without web conferencing, and reviewing these results, any small business that does not have a reliable, secure, and easy to use web conferencing solution will not reach cash flow positive status any time soon.

To view other similar research reports by Wainhouse Research, click here.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert