
CRM Watchlist 2015 Elites, Part 2: Microsoft gets ecosystems
Since the last third of Steve Ballmer’s reign and continuing with Satya Nadella, Microsoft has made a commitment to thinking in ecosystems — and just in time. What can they do to improve?

Microsofts Connected Tissue
Mike Ehrenberg, CTO for Microsoft Business Solutions was describing his new CEO Satya Nadella’s management style – the senior leadership team meets twice a week. “It plays havoc with planning international trips, but allows us to iterate rapidly as a company” Kirill Tatarinov, EVP of the Business Solutions group says they have moved from Steve […]

Larry Ellison
I was going to write a post about Larry Ellison leaving Oracle after he announced his retirement on Thursday but it is probably pre-mature. Ellison will become the executive chairman while Safra Katz and Mark Hurd run the shop as co-CEO’s and I have a lot of doubts. It’s not that Safra and Mark are […]

Satya Nadella: Microsoft, Coffee and the Relevance Question
Satya Nadella is a highly accomplished, extremely smart Microsoft executive who is correctly receiving a warm reception from media and pundits. The question that remains open however is – is he the change agent that can help Microsoft avoid the fate that other Wintel players are facing? He clearly seems to have taken to Marc […]

Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft
Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft Note: In a bit of operator error an earlier version of this post clipped off the first para. Here it is restored. Microsoft announced its selection of Satya Nadella to be the third Microsoft CEO today and I wish him well. In a flurry of announcements, Bill Gates also stepped down […]

Ballmer Will Retire in the Next 12 Months
From the get-go Steve Ballmer had an impossible job to do. Long the number two man at Microsoft behind iconic founder and chief geek, Bill Gates, Ballmer got to take over when the Gates bubble was beginning to wear out. Gates built the company he founded with Paul Allen from zero into the powerhouse of […]

News Analysis: Oracle’s Cloud Disruption Webinar Recording
Oracle’s recent partnership announcements to supply Oracle technology to key cloud vendors such as Microsoft, NetSuite, and Salesforce.com create serious implications for the market.On June 28, 2013, Esteban Kolsky, Holger Mueller, and R “Ray” Wang discussed the implications of Oracle’s recent partnerships for: Salesforce customers Microsoft customers NetSuite customers Oracle customers Cloud competitors such as Amazon, Google, […]

Steve Ballmer and Marissa Mayer Face the Same Problems at Microsoft and Yahoo
I know this will come as a shock to many Microsofties who will hate seeing their company compared to Yahoo, but I firmly believe that Steve Ballmer and Marissa Mayer face exactly the same problems at their respective companies. The only differences are matters of scale and position on the lifecycle to extinction. Both are […]

Microsoft Bamboozled by Yammer in $1.2 Billion Purchase
Well, after that title — what else is there to say? Lots, hear me out – I’d like to tell you why I am going against all the optimists out there (although I do consider myself an optimist) and why I liken this deal to AOL acquiring Time Warner (and we all know how well […]