SMB Predictions for 2007

The other day I was talking to a small business owner of an advertising agency in New York City with about 35 employees. We got into a lengthy conversation about how his company differentiates itself from all the other New York ad agencies, what some of the common marketing mistakes typical businesses make and what he wants people to think about when they hear his company's name.

What I found interesting is that even though his company is "small" and private, he views his company as an industry giant, as a company that is no different than an Omnicom Group.

"Yes I'm a small business but I have the same challenges and concerns as the big guys. I worry about internet security, bad New York weather, and believe it or not...I even worry about federal regulations. In fact, because I'm small businesses I need to address these things even more so because it could put me out of business! One federal penalty, for whatever reason, and I might not be able to recover from it financially. One computer virus could infect the network, infect customer data and equate to lost business. I can't afford that so I need to be proactive and forward thinking."

The conversation sparked my predictions for 2007 for Small Businesses:

1. Internet Security for the real life example listed above
2. Remote communications: wireless internet connections, smartphones, voip, Blackberries. Work smarter and more efficiently.
3. Web Collaboration Technologies like WebEx to increase corporate productivity, shorten sales cycles, increase market reach, improve customer retention and satisfaction while reducing travel time and cost. Do more with less.
4. Asset Utilization and Optimization. Leverage new technologies with strong integration capabilities. Reduce the number of siloed environments, create a seamless and standard platform where back end systems can communicate with one another.
5. Invest in SaaS technologies: zero implementation and deployment costs, minimal IT resources, not tied to a corporate VPN or corporate network since it's 100% web-based, global access, automatic updates, quick ROI, low risk.

It should be an interesting year for small businesses. Following a few of the predictions could be the difference between a good small company and a great soon to be industry leader.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Best of Elearning! 2006 Awards

WebEx once again came out on top in the e-learning world capturing the two top industry awards by ELearning Magazine's Best of Elearning! 2006 Awards. WebEx won for Best Virtual Classroom and Best Web Seminar Solution.

Elearning! readers cited WebEx Training Center's reliability, performance, and ease of use as key components. Other big pluses were:

• Seamless integration with multiple learning management systems (LMS)

• Outstanding customer support

• Superior overall quality

WebEx Training Center enables users to instantly deliver interactive online training to employees, partners and customers anywhere, anytime through a standard web browser. Capabilities like Hands-On Lab, Break-Out Sessions, Integrated E-Commerce, Test Library, set Training Center apart from all other solutions.

WebEx Meeting Center was named the Best Web Seminar Solution and recognized for its superior customer service, ease of use and comprehensive set of features to help users present efficient, effective presentations. With WebEx Meeting Center, users can present information, share applications, and collaborate on projects with customers and co-workers around the globe.

Like all WebEx solutions, Training Center and Meeting Center leverage the WebEx MediaTone Network for the highest level of reliability, availability, performance and security. Read what the Credit Suisse Analysts had to say about MediaTone.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Forbes Fast 25 for 5 years!!!

Demonstrating significant annualized growth, WebEx (Nasdaq: WEBX), the leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web, has made the Forbes 25 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies list for the fifth year in a row. Only two other companies, both WebEx customers, have made this prestigious list five years running.

“Our continued success showcases the strength of the on-demand delivery model and the broad demand for our web collaboration services,” said Subrah Iyar, CEO, WebEx. “For 2007 we are focused on going deeper with our web collaboration suite and wider with our new WebEx Connect on-demand platform and partner ecosystem.”

The 25 technology companies were chosen based on revenue growth over a five-year period. To be eligible for the list, a company must have at least $25 million in sales, 10% annual sales growth for five consecutive years, profitability over the past 12 months and 10% estimated annual profit growth for the next three to five years.

The complete 2007 list is available on the Forbes.com site at: www.forbes.com/2007/01/25/fastest-growing-stocks-tech_cz_pmjr_0125fasttech_land.html

(Data and content provided by Colin Smith)

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Credit Suisse Initiates Coverage

The well respected Credit Suisse initiated coverage on WebEx (WEBX) with a neutral rating and a $50 price target.

Research Analysts, Jason Maynard and Bryan McGrath agree that, "WebEx is the premier player in the Web conferencing and collaboration market. In our opinion, the company boasts a vastly superior technology delivery platform and a pure On demand model."

Key advantages for WebEx:

• Tremendous market growth opportunities
• Pure On Demand Model
• Differentiated Technology Platform

" The WebEx MediaTone Network was built on more than $180 million in R&D investment, runs on 37 global clusters, and delivers five 9s reliability. This piece of technology would be extremely difficult to replicate and thus has a significant strategic asset value."

Other investment firms such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, now have their eyes on WebEx...

Thanks,

David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Another Adobe Flaw!!!

Issues with Adobe applications are starting to become so common place it's scary. Again, why take on the much added risk with a solution that does not have any 3rd party security certifications? Though Adobe Connect and Adobe Acrobat are different solutions, the Connect solution is 100% dependent on Acrobat.

I previously mentioned that Adobe released a Security Bulletin in October of 2006 for Adobe Connect, which effected older versions of Breeze. Now problems have surfaced with newer versions of Adobe Acrobat. They released a patch for the recently discovered security flaw in their Acrobat software application to resolve the problems.

The company added that the flaw affected Acrobat Standard, Professional, and Elements in versions 7.08 and older. (Only a matter of time before these specific Acrobat issues manifest in Adobe Connect.)

Adobe further confirmed that the recently launched version 8.0 was not affected by this flaw and the users are not required to download any patch.

This flaw was related to a technique known as "cross-site scripting" which allowed hackers to mix malicious JavaScript with a link to a PDF file on a website. (Sounds like the same issues the older version on Connect had. Again, curious to see when the current version on Adobe Connect starts to see similar problems.)

Adobe Connect Security Problems
Adobe Connect History
Same Song and Dance

Thanks,

David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

SaaS Has Staying Power

The Software as a Service model is certainly here to stay. I think there is a misconception that SaaS is geared only for the CRM market. Sure SaaS has been successful in this space, as seen by a short list of CRM providers listed below, but we are seeing more and more successful SaaS-based companies emerge in other markets: supply chain, email marketing, recruiting, content management, etc.

SaaS has not been around as long as the traditional client-server model but over the last 5-7 years SaaS companies have made huge strides. WebEx, the leader in the online meeting market, now has close to 30,000 corporate customers and over 5 million users per month. Over 85,000 online WebEx meetings take place across 70 different countries per day! Salesforce.com has over 20,000 customers and about 400,000 subscribers. These numbers are not only impressive but will continue to grow.

The fact that many Fortune 1000 companies are also adopting SaaS technologies means that no longer is SaaS geared for only the small businesses. Large corporations can also benefits from the low start up costs, quick deployment times, and ease of use. Imagine being able to deploy a SaaS technology quickly and efficiently across a single business unit as a test piece and then rolling the technology out on an enterprise level once the technology proves itself out. Little financial investment, little IT resources during implementation, very low risk. Why not?

CRM:

• Salesforce.com
• Netsuite
• SugarCRM
• Pivotal
• Intacct
• RightNow
• Kinterra

Other SaaS Companies:

• WebEx: online web meetings and collaboration
• Taleo: talent/recruiting management solution
• ClickCommerce: supply chain
• OpSource: SaaS consultants
• Live Person: online customer interaction applications
• Sage Software:
• ExactTarget: email communications and marketing
• Clickability: web content management
• OpenAir: project-based management applications
• Vocus: corporate communications and PR
• Concur Technologies: expense management
• CrownPeak: website and content management
• Omniture: business optimization and web analytics solutions
• EmailLabs: email marketing solutions
• Intranets: document management and virtual web office solutions (Acquired by WebEx)
• DealerTrack: automotive retail solutions

SaaS has staying power and will not be going anywhere in the long term. It will continue to disrupt the traditional client-server model and revolutionize the way companies receive products and services in a real-time, cost-effective, scalable, and reliable manner.

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert

Adobe Connect Security Breach

It's important to know that web collaboration solutions are not created equal. Example, no other company, except WebEx, has 3rd party security certifications like WebTrust and SAS-70 Type I & II. With that in mind, buyers need to be aware of the risks of using un-secure technologies that have not passed stringent requirements from 3rd party security certification firms.

Case in point: Adobe Connect, formerly Macromedia Breeze and previous to that, Presidia.

Adobe put out a security bulletin back in October 2006. If you did not get the bulletin as a user, here is the link you can click on: http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb06-16.html (Just follow the 10 Steps, hope that your private information was not disclosed on accident and hope that the directions make sense.)

Secunia provides real-time data on the latest security and vulnerability issues. Secunia viewed this Adobe Connect problem as "moderately critical" because of the exposure of sensitive and private information.

"A vulnerability has been reported in Macromedia Breeze, which can be exploited by malicious people to disclose sensitive information.

The vulnerability is caused due to an unspecified error when parsing URLs and can be exploited to disclose the contents of arbitrary files on the system.

The vulnerability has been reported in all versions of 5.0 and 5.1."

Again, web collaboration solutions are not created equal. Buying the best technology minimizes your risk and will save you embarrassment at your job.

More on Adobe Connect:
Another Adobe Security Flaw
Adobe Connect Security Problems
Adobe Connect History
Same Song and Dance

Thanks,
David Chao
The Web Conferencing Expert