Cloud adopters face serious risk in the next two years because of the strong possibility that their provider will be acquired or forced out of business, according to Gartner.
The cloud is more than an alternative means of delivering software, according to Eyal Rosenberg, chief executive officer of Nipendo. It's key to improving collaboration between buyers and suppliers.
ABI Research forecasts that the total number of software-as-a-service or SaaS-based subscriber units will increase from 1.06 million at the end of 2012 to 16.8 million on a global basis by the end of 2018.
For logistics-driven companies, advances in mobile computing and communications in the last decade now are leading us toward what Gartner has called true supply chain execution convergence. The potential gains - lower costs, increased efficiency, less waste, reduced environmental impact, higher customer satisfaction and overall improved profitability - are simply too big to ignore. However, corporate executives and planners should proceed carefully in positioning their companies to get the highest return on their investment in converging supply chain execution technologies.
Speaking of the cloud, Plex CEO Jason Blessing says, "Enterprise software is going through the most disruptive and innovation phase in decades. Time is compressing, the way we use technology is going through a revolution"¦.Enterprise software is cool again." Quite a statement, since in the last decade the cool factor was clearly with Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Mason (founders of Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon, respectively).