Google’s Siri Worries Grow

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!

Amazon Fire: Not Perfect

December 13, 2011 by Yuval Brisker

There was a lot of negative buzz in press over the past few days about the Kindle Fire and now that buzz has turned into scorching criticism. Jakob Nielsen, one of the world’s foremost experts on usability, issued an alert saying that “Kindle Fire…suffers from plain old bad UI design in many areas” and “a disappointingly poor user experience”.

The NYTimes prominently covered the issues saying that Amazon is having some real challenges with the Fire in an article that went straight to the number one spot on the Times’ Most Emailed List. In it, the Times cautioned all the naysayers not to count Amazon out, but nonetheless described the problems in detail and raised red flags for consumers.

We should not forget that while there was plenty of criticism of the iPhone when it came out (remember no ‘copy/paste’?) or the iPad (‘who needs it…’) it was first to market; and the sheer wonder of the new was enough to help people over the hump.

The Kindle Fire competes with the iPad, despite Amazon’s insistence that it doesn’t…I personally can’t see myself owing the Fire AND an iPad AND a Kindle eReader….I will choose one eReader and one tablet. And though Fire might be cheaper…given that it is not functionally on par with the iPad…I choose the iPad as my tablet.

Amazon, an inspiring company on many many levels, should have made sure that its product was perfect. It didn’t and the Fire’s future is not clear.

And here’s an update to this blog…a followup article in the NY Times.

SaaS Roars Ahead – Part 2 – SAP buys SuccessFactors

December 4, 2011 by Yuval Brisker

Right on the heels of my previous post – SAP announced that it is purchasing SuccessFactors, the second most prominent pure-play SaaS company after Salesforce.com, for $3.4B.

The most amazing aspect of this deal is that it represents a 10.3 multiple over this year’s revenue of $330M (a 63% premium over Friday’s stock price) and 8.5x over next year’s projected revenue of $400M (a 52% premium)! For comparison  - most legacy on- premise software vendors are trading at 2-3x (4X at the absolute most).

This is the biggest transaction of its kind to date and represent the most significant validation of the transformative nature of SaaS and Cloud-based software.

Clearly, by paying a rich purchase price, SAP is embracing what it’s co-CEOs have stated publicly: that it must evolve quickly to be a Cloud-based software company in order to assure a long-term future for its business (and extrapolation – for any business).

Coming after last month’s purchase of RightNow Technologies by Oracle for an equally attractive multiple – it is clear that SaaS and Cloud-based software is truly coming into its own.

We agree!

Let’s just hope these companies integrate and invigorate their purchases not squelch them. The news the Lars Dalgaard, SuccessFactor’s founder and CEO is going to manage the company as a separate SAP subsidiary, be on SAP’s executives board AND be in charge of all their Cloud-based initiatives bodes well for this.

Forbes analyzes the deal.

SaaS Roars Ahead

December 1, 2011 by Yuval Brisker

“New research shows that over the past year, SaaS company valuations grew twice as much as valuations of legacy software companies rooted in the client-server world.”

An article from GigaOM highlights, with astonishing clarity, how SaaS companies have continued to show incredible resilience and pronounced strength in terms of valuation, in relation to the rest of the technology and broader market.  According to the article, “SaaS valuations tower head-and-shoulders over…other…categories”. Those who follow the SaaS market know that this is not a passing fad, but a sustained strength that has been maintained for many years in a row.

Looking at the graphs in this article – we are happy with this massive public market validation for the decision that Irad and I made when we founded TOA and considered which technological and business path TOA should take. TOA is now the only provider of enterprise-SaaS solutions for mobile workforce management, serving tier one customers worldwide and processing over 65 million appointment annually, setting us apart from the field of legacy software providers with whom we compete.

We know that delivering Software as a Service is not easy or simple, and those companies who have exhibited the ability to do so and continue to grow aggressively over the years deserve the valuations that they are getting.  We also know that there is no way to masquerade as a SaaS provider –  you either are, and know how to do it and have all your DNA wrapped around it…or you’re not. There is no hybrid.  Delivering value in this context is very black and white.

We are gratified that the long-term value that we know our solution delivers to our customers, translates directly into long-term value for shareholders.