6 plus 6 lessons from the 6th Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM - Club Alliances - #FcloudIBM #SaaS #Cloud #IBM

The 6th edition of the "Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM" is behind us now.

Let me share 6 plus 6 lessons we have learned by running this bi-yearly SaaS and Cloud Event which slowly becomes "Legacy" both for Club Alliances Members and for the entire IBM Partner Ecosystem.

6 Signs of Success : The Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM has gained Momentum ! 

1. We deliver value on SaaS and Cloud to the Channel : The Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM is currently the only meaningful SaaS and Cloud event that is repetitive [every 6 months !] and solely dedicated to the IBM Partner Ecosystem [both for existing and prospective partners]. It brings both Cloud enablement, P2P networking and BizDev opportunities to hundreds of ISVs, Integrators, SSOs, Resellers, VARS, VADs, MSPs, CSPs, Consultants and IBMers. Overall satisfaction is high, both for networking/partnerships opportunities and for expertise and experience sharing.
2. The Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM is now considered Legacy : In less than 4 years, we have managed to run 6 editions of the Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM. After a rebranding from "Forum du Club Alliances" and "Forum Solutions-as-a-Service" to "Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM", it seems now that  the Forum is well established in the SaaS/Cloud landscape.
3. It brings visibility and credibility on SaaS and Cloud : Club Alliances' websites, blogs and members, including IBM, benefit from the increased visibility and credibility brought by the Forum in the area of SaaS and Cloud [simple Google searches can easily demonstrate it]. By posting and sharing meaningful content [articles, presentations, photos, links...] in our "Inbound Marketing Infrastructure" [Blogs + LinkedIn + Viadeo + Twitter + Slideshare + InfoBOOM + etc...], we leverage the Social Business trend to get exposure.
4. Subject Matter Experts are delivering : Several Club Alliances Experts like Thierry [Marketor], René [PAD], Patrice [Aspaway], Thierry [ESDI] and Loic [IBM] consistently share their expertise in conferences, workshops and working sessions. They are joined by a growing force of SaaS/Cloud BizDev Experts like Xavier, Laurence, Paul-Antoine, Yann, Denis, Laurent, Hubert, Philippe, Alain, Pierre, Isabelle, Nathalie, Jack, François, Christine, Vincent, Matthieu or Jean-Marc [spot their last names in the Forum's program!]. And some IBMers join, too, like Patrice, Fady, Fabrice, Vincent or François to name a few [Christian, Philippe, Lionel, we missed you this time!]. . 
5. The Forum is lightweight and resilient : As the Forum runs on a shoestring marketing budget, it is quite immune from budget cuts and sponsoring issues. The cost of organizing and running the Forum is kept low thanks to the involvement of Club Alliances experts/members and the leverage of social networking and social marketing. Besides, the Forum formula is now well tested and each new edition is easier to run and almost guarantees a minimum of 150/200 satisfied participants!
6. We launched the 1st Forum SaaS et Cloud Métiers : In November of 2010, Club Alliances organized the 1st Forum SaaS et Cloud Métiers dedicated to the promotion of SaaS, Cloud and Solutions-as-a-Service to End Users.With this Forum, we address the business issues of Verticals like Banking, Distribution, Healthcare... and LOBs, like Human Resources, Sales and Marketing, Finance - Administration [CFO] or Information Systems [CIO] with SaaS and Cloud based Business Solutions. We believe that this Forum Métiers can become a second Forum SaaS et Cloud franchise!

6 Areas of Progress : From Consumption to Production and Sharing... with Alignment!

1. Attract 1.000+ participants : 350 enrollees, 200 participants is not enough!. Today, a majority of  participants come from rogue emailings, Club Alliances networking and social media stunts. With Marketing alignment, we can leverage IBM [and Club Alliances members] even more to make sure that Forum's promotion and invitations flow better inside IBM and towards IBM's existing and prospective Business Partners.
   
2. Better align Marketing initiatives : Today, IBM and Club Alliances organizations launch disconnected and competing marketing programs with no guarantee of return, resilience or repeatability. Many could benefit from aligning with "resilient marketing tools" like the Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM, le Forum SaaS et Cloud Métiers or the Club Alliances. By integrating at least SaaS, Cloud, Channel and SMB initiatives, we can make sure that content, expertise, lessons learned, visibility and credibility are leveraged and reinforced by all interested parties. Let's try to stop the traditional "not invented here" and "silo" syndroms!
3. Better align with IBM Marketing processes and resources : Building on an aligned marketing strategy, we should also be able to get increased support from IBM Communication, Press Relations, Channel Marketing and Market Management resources. As for now, they may still consider the Forum like a "Rogue Initiative" ran by some french Club Alliances or "Channel Sales" guys, outside quarterly marketing plans, rules and processes. Let's work on this!
4. Share expertise even more : Today, a majority of Club Alliances members attend the Forum, but many do not really contribute to the creation and sharing of meaningful content [ie presentations...] even if they understand the power of Expert Content for SEO and, subsequently for their SaaS Busines. Will better alignement help us find ways to get them even more involved? Any other ideas?
5. Leverage IBM Subject Matter Experts : Today, it is quite difficult to book IBM speakers and booth holders and get them fully involved, while, at the same time, Club Alliances experts are happy to share their experience and expertise in focused workshops and booths. By involving IBM experts and sellers earlier in the process and making them fully aware of the Forum well in advance, we can for sure drastically improve their commitment. Your suggestions? 
6. Facilitate production and sharing of contents and links : We find it still difficult to gather meaningful and SEO friendly presentations and links. Many speakers and sellers do not really see the value - or are afraid - of sharing documents publicly and widely, outside the Forum itself. How can we get them to post and share their presentations on Slideshare, Scribd or Youtube ? Thus, we easily embed them in blogs and bring them to Forum participants, but also to "no shows" and remaining prospects! Can we train them to the power of Social Business, Social Media, Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and Curation ? Yes we can!

What are YOUR lessons learned, ideas, suggestions to better leverage the "Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM", the "Forum SaaS et Cloud Métiers" and the "Club Alliances" legacy?

Even more important, what are your ideas to accelerate the development of our SaaS and Cloud Business, together with IBM and the Club Alliances?

Feet on the Ground, Head above the Clouds, with IBM and Club Alliances

Loic Simon - +33 6 76 75 40 71

Business Development - Club Alliances IBM

www.cluballiances.com

loic_simon@fr.ibm.com 

My 6 plus 6 predictions for #SaaS and #Cloud #Channel #Marketing [2011, France, Loic Simon]

Leading Club Alliances, a SaaS and Cloud Ecosystem of existing and potential IBM Channel Partners, I am in quite a good position to analyze and sense where Channel Marketing is heading, both for :

• Marketing TO channel partners, eg for Club Alliances members recruitment and enablement
• Marketing WITH channel partners, eg for lead generation among end users.

Here are my 6 plus 6 predictions for SaaS and Cloud Channel Marketing in France:
[cliquez ici pour accéder à une version de cet article en français]

6 ouch! 
In 2011, many Vendors and their Channel Partners will continue to:

1. Refuse to co-fund syndicated Inbound Marketing tactics [under the false pretext that they are not strictly quantifiable and containable "lead generation", but in reality because most vendors' marketers still don't "get" social media / pull marketing]!
2. Put too much money in telemarketing and events, despite ever diminishing returns and skyrocketting "no show"!
3. Dismiss Facebook [wrongly seen as B2C and/or for "personal stuff" only] and Twitter [wrongly seen as insignificant in France]!
4. Ask partners and prospects to visit lame websites and to fill in police-like forms to get the "privilege" to access promotional material [white papers written by marketing, product brochures, PDF presentations...]
5. Export to PDF boring old-fashioned Powerpoint presentations, filled with copyright notices, so that nobody can remix, reuse, share and spread the word [and, of course, forget to make them accessible and downloadable on Slideshare or Scribd, which would be too convenient for partners and prospects and too good for SEO]!
6. Think that posting Blog articles, delivering curation and participating to LinkedIn/Viadeo groups/hubs are a waste of their precious time... and thus, continue to struggle with blog content!

6 wow! 
In 2011, Innovative SaaS/Cloud Vendors and their Channel Partners will start to:

1. Educate and enable marketing staff and channel partners in the area of Social Media and Social CRM. 
2. Leverage Web 2.0 / Marketing 2.0 instead of continuously explaining that they are in the process of launching a new website [what about starting a blog, join some LinkedIn group, engage on Twitter... around pressing business issues adressed by their company/service?]
3. Understand the power of producing/giving away valuable content and of collaborating with customers [widely publish non copyrighted material, encourage customers to contribute and to produce content for you and their peers...]
4. Eat their own dog food and use SaaS and Cloud services for PRM, Channel Marketing and Partner to Partner collaboration
5. Accept vendor / partner independence and contextual only loyalty and start collaborating with relevant coopetitors to grow the SaaS / Cloud market together [eg help business partners network and collaborate with other partners, even if they are affiliated with competitive vendors!].
6. Mix offline and online tactics, eg run both Networking Events [see the IBM SaaS and Cloud Forum] and Virtual Events, develop Community Management without limiting it to online!

What are your 2011 predictions for SaaS and Cloud Channel Marketing ?  

Happy New Year, Feet on the Ground, Head above the Cloud!


[cliquez ici pour accéder à une version de cet article en français]

Loic Simon
Business Development - Club Alliances IBM
www.cluballiances.com
loic_simon@fr.ibm.com 
+33 6 76 75 40 71 

SaaS and Cloud Tsunami in France - My 6 plus 6 predictions for 2011 - Loic Simon, Club Alliances

As a Business Developer, a Bucaneer and a Curator for Club Alliances' existing and potential members, I am in quite a good position to sense where the SaaS and Cloud Ecosystem is heading to, at least here in France:

I think that 2011 will NOT YET be the year when:

1. The majority of infrastructure integrators, VARs, resellers, distributors and their vendors' Channel Account Managers will be fully Cloud enabled!
2. Cloud related security, confidentiality and compliance issues will no more be an objection for the Channel and - as a consequence - for their Customers!
3. SaaS "Canada Dry" and "Cloud Washing" will be replaced by true shared multi-tenant, elastic, self-service, usage based, internet accessed, API enabled Cloud Services!
4. Marketing Departments will fully grasp and share [through Social Networks, of course !] the true Business value of SaaS and Cloud!
5. "Cloud Computing for Dummies" or "SaaS Business Model for Dummies" types of workshops will no more be at the agenda of the IBM SaaS and Cloud Forums! 
6. Club Alliances' mission as a Cloud Incubator will become obsolete!

But I also believe that, in the 2011 SaaS and Cloud Tsunami :

1. The two words SaaS and ERP will be associated in many, many more press releases, presentations, articles and blogs. Watch out this space for SAP [of course], Sage, Infor, Lawson, Cegid, Microsoft  and a myriad of other ERP Vendors...
2. PaaS [Platform as a Service] will be THE battleground for a growing number of Vendors !
3. BPaaS [Business Process as a Service], Information as a Service, Content as a Service, Data as a Service and other "Cloud Business Services" will be HOT, too. We will see a host of Vertical Channels emerge and compete with more traditional ones, with a radically new value proposition.
4. Pushed by Vendors, Consultants and CEOs, CIOs will really start embracing the Cloud in all its flavors and begin experimenting the real disruptive nature of Cloud Computing for IT: IT [Services] Industrialization!
5. IBM will make a real Cloud "Coming Out" in the Mid Market and in the Channel, with "Channel Ready" Cloud services and components as well as with more and more Cloud oriented communication and co-marketing initiatives. 
6. Club Alliances' value proposition will continue to evolve and to appeal to new members, addressing the needs of ISVs, consultants and Business services providers, but also of more and more integrators, resellers and VARs in pursuit of a profitable Cloud related business model.

What are YOUR predictions for 2011 in the Cloud ?

Oh, by the way, would you like to join us on the 9th of February, for our [french !] 6ème Forum SaaS et Cloud IBM ? 


And here is a french version of this article


Loic Simon
Business Development - Club Alliances IBM
www.cluballiances.com
loic_simon@fr.ibm.com 
+33 6 76 75 40 71 

6 plus 6 façons de profiter ou non des Médias et Réseaux Sociaux

Cloud Computing, Software-as-a-Service, Médias et Réseaux Sociaux... Un DSI ne peut plus ignorer l'utilisation grandissante par les collaborateurs de son entreprise des applications accessibles directement par internet.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Viadeo, Twitter, Blogger, Wordpress, Slideshare, Google Docs, Skype... De nombreux outils sont désormais exploitables immédiatement dans leurs versions "freemium", c'est à dire gratuitement. Et vos utilisateurs ne s'en privent pas [voir l'exemple du Club Alliances que j'anime personnellement !]

Définir et mettre en oeuvre une politique d'accompagnement des utilisateurs et décideurs en entreprise devient urgent.
Nous suggérons aux DSI d'en être les artisans au côté de la Direction Générale et de bien comprendre les impacts business des applications en ligne [SaaS] et plus particulièrement des Médias et Réseaux Sociaux.

Voici 6 façons de se couper de leurs bénéfices business :

6 plus 6 façons d’exploiter le cloud computing pour développer votre entreprise !

Le cloud computing est le nouveau Graal des fournisseurs informatiques !

Mais les dirigeants et les responsables informatiques sont perdus face à la débauche de promesses « marketing ». Ils s’interrogent sur la manière de bien exploiter « le Cloud » pour développer leurs entreprises.

Voici 6 façons de voir le cloud computing par le « petit bout de la lorgnette », de mal en exploiter le véritable potentiel d’innovation business, voire de le rejeter tout de go !

6 plus 6 Ways to Fail and Succeed in Leveraging Cloud Computing for Business !

- Point of View - Loic Simon - Club Alliances

Cloud Computing is the new Grail for IT vendors, but Mid Market CIOs still wonder why and how to leverage "the Cloud" to develop the Business.

Here are 6 common ways to fail with Cloud Computing for Business :

[1] View cloud computing just as another Fad
[2] Consider cloud computing as a mere technology or infrastructure issue
[3] View cloud computing solely as a flexible IT provisioning and billing mechanism
[4] Start cloud computing as a complex IT infrastructure Project
[5] Think that reducing Opex means growing Capex.
[6] Add "Cloud Computing" in projects, but change nothing else.

Now, here are 6 routes you may want to follow to leverage Cloud Computing for Business, now !

[1] Start now by implementing any SaaS or hosted business solution
[2] Think business usage and benefits for LOB and real users
[3] Learn the true business impact of multitenant BPaaS and SaaS solutions
[4] Just do it : Pilot, test, try, learn, refine
[5] Don't over-invest, pay for what you use, but use it now !
[6] Literally think "Outside of the Box", even if it means not using true cloud computing.

In “Club Alliances”, we believe in leveraging the power of networks of software developers, business integrators, experts and vendors to assemble and deliver "Solutions-as-a-Service" to businesses.
We leverage cloud computing components like SaaS whenever they are already relevant, but more importantly, we focus on business use and benefits.

And so should you, too, as a mid-market CIO, if you truly want to deliver on cloud computing's promise to the business.

Article écrit par Loic Simon - Club Alliances - IBM