Insights and musings about customer service and managing a SaaS software company.
Archive for the ‘innovation’ Category
January 16, 2012 by Yuval Brisker
Last week Google announced a milestone deal with BBVA that should have people at Microsoft even more worried than they probably already are, and pure Cloud enthusiasts like my colleagues at TOA and I ever more excited and confident about the future of pure-play Cloud-based software.
BBVA is a major employer with over one hundred thousands employees. But this is significant not just because of the sheer number of new Google Docs and Gmail users – but mostly because of the network effect.
At TOA we have always ‘practiced what we preached’ and that means that we not only sell Cloud-based enterprise software (SaaS), we also buy and use only Cloud-based software. What that means for us is that we only look for SaaS solutions for our internal needs. We believe firmly that in order to understand the benefits, as well as the limitations of what we sell, we have to experience it like our clients do: as real bon-fide users. So we have been Google Apps users from the moment that these were available for the enterprise and moved our whole mail infrastructure to Google about two years ago. We have followed the evolution of the Google Docs Suite from the moment that Google bought Writely and watch closely as these applications have become more and more deep and more and more sophisticated and complete. In fact, from a classic enterprise users’ point of view , someone who is not crunching numbers or doing intense graphics and a lot of offline work, there is very little difference today creating text, presentation or spreadsheet documents on Google Docs in comparison to Microsoft Office. In fact, the most amazing aspect of the GDocs Suite is the strong native collaboration capabilities that make it absolutely a killer app for this purpose.
Only one serious gap remains that has kept us from adopting the GDocs Suite as our one and only productivity tool and that is robust, easy to use offline capability, access and storage –(full disclosure: I am writing this very post on Word – to be transferred later - because of that…I’m on a plane with no Wi-Fi).
The only other serious hindrance is people’s mindset.
Office is the standard and people are afraid of deserting the standard. But that’s where the network effect comes in. With companies like GM and BBVA adopting the G-Suite as their mail app and G-Docs as their primary productivity tool (even if for now for internal communications) we will begin to see the conversion of the masses and the tipping point will get ever closer.
December 15, 2011 by Yuval Brisker
I blogged about this a few weeks ago and it seems that Google’s Siri headache is not going away….
Here’s more fascinating stuff about what might be an even bigger battle than Android vs. iOS.
I’d be interested to read your thoughts and comments on this, so use that comments button!
November 9, 2011 by Yuval Brisker
I’ve been waiting for someone to shine a light on the fact that Siri is actually a hidden alternative to search, and that for the first time in 13 years – Google could actually be seeing some serious competition. Siri is, of course, Apple’s integrated iPhone app that’s deemed a ‘personal assistant’ but is really a form of sophisticated voice search…
Then I saw this article in Fortune…which spelled it out: Siri has the potential to be better than current search technology from Google because…:
“…Siri is more than voice recognition. It’s a form of AI that takes a few more steps closer to an app that could pass the Turing test. People are still uncomfortable with any AI application that could be mistaken for a human, but the Easter-egg answers Apple has snuck into the app defuses any potential discomfort, and in fact gives Siri a conversational interface that feels far more personal that Google’s spartan home page. It’s that conversational interface that poses the threat to Google.”
And there’s more in that article. Recommended.
What’s interesting is the fact that even when we think a company is unbeatable there is indeed always a path to beating the competition – even when that competition is a leader with the scale, breadth and depth of Google.
Now – I am not saying that Google is in any way ‘over’, but there is indeed something very different, friendly and smart about Siri that takes search to another level AND it also comes pre-installed in every iPhone 4S, which gives it instant market reach and captive users that give it the potential to be the first serious contender.
From the 50,000 foot view – Apple continues to amaze – continuously using the mind in a focused and determined way to outrun, outthink, outsmart, out-strategize the competition and never giving up an inch.
October 5, 2011 by Yuval Brisker
And now he’s gone.
Clearly, Steve Jobs and Apple grew to be an intimate part of all our lives in the last 10 years – the excitement, the anticipation, the wonder, the desire, the fascination, the awe, the adoration, the practicality, the beauty of every Apple innovation was the bright and shining star in the world’s life, a world that at times seemed, otherwise, dull.
How many times have we waited with our breathes held trying to figure out what incredible perfect object of desire was going to emerge from the man’s mind.
How many times did we watch as he masterfully presented before a rapt world audience and redefined presentation.
How many times have I walked into an upscale mall, as I travelled all around the country, where every store (and I mean every store) was empty, dead, without a soul inside – while at the same mall the Apple store was standing room only. Packed, almost to a frenzy. That was a mark of an era, of a revolution, of something seminal.
But for me, for us (Irad and me), taking the bold move and making Apple our corporate computing platform in 2005…a radical move back then that turned many heads when we walked into corporate conferences rooms with our white MacBooks…for us…Steve Jobs represented the role model of a bold, visionary entrepreneur to learn from, a rebel who taught us the way, who drove us to engage our courage, whose light kept us moving ahead against all odds to create our venture, TOA.
An inspiration for millions, yes, but also a man who fundamentally helped me change my own life…and I won’t be ashamed to say: I’ll truly miss him.
And…Thank You.
