Open Source:Then and Now

From being a miniscule part of the software world just a couple of decades ago, open source has become ubiquitous today. It is so prevalent to the extent of not being visible because it is embedded in the mainstream. According to a Gartner report on open source software, “By 2012, more than 90% of enterprises will use open source in direct or embedded forms”.

And this has resulted in a change in how software development takes place. From being a fully closed process, software development has been evolving towards a more community driven open source approach. Large and small enterprises and government institutions are rapidly adopting open source for three primary reasons: to reduce IT costs, deliver systems faster, and make systems more secure.

More often than not, ISVs are on the constant look out for an open source strategy that would address the demands of their customers. This could mean adopting an open source component or an entire open source license for their products. Whichever path they choose to go, open source does come with a certain amount of risk that needs to be managed.

Open source adoption is being considered everywhere, but one needs to remember that open source is far from free. And it requires an equal amount of support and services, just as proprietary software does. ISVs need to realize this and should continue offering quality professional services, which is a good revenue stream for them as well.

While open source may not work for every ISV, it’s for them to decide whether to move into the open source realm or not. That decision and the introspection that will follow will eventually help them sharpen their market focus.

Development-as-a-Service(DaaS):Redefining Product Development

Ever since the ‘- as a Service’ trend started, there has been no looking back. One of the more recent acronyms is DaaS, which is up for grabs with varied meanings such as Data as a Service, Development as a Service, and Desktop as a Service. This week, we’ll discuss Development as a Service, which is being touted by Salesforce.com as their on-demand platform for developers.

DaaS consists of a new set of development tools and APIs that allow enterprise developers to harness cloud computing and develop applications without the need for software and hardware client/server architecture. It is an extension of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) as it allows developers to build, test and deploy applications using tools provided within the hosted platform.

The DaaS platform offered by Salesforce.com includes a set of features with the ability to create database applications on demand, a workflow engine for managing collaboration between users, and a Web services API for programmatic access along with mashups and integration with other applications and data. Full access to the database, logic, user interface and other capabilities of the Force.com platform allows easy development of enterprise software.

Earlier, ISVs used various development tools to build their products and most new development had to be started from scratch. But with the shift now towards web-based/on-demand applications and the easy availability of development frameworks in the cloud, it is probably a wise decision for start-up ISVs to tap existing infrastructure and services and build on top of it, and focus their efforts on business innovation

While it means less re-invention of the wheel and freedom from maintenance and upgrades for developers, ISVs also can gain from DaaS. It acts as a marketing channel for ISVs where they can place their products in front of several businesses seeking innovative business solutions. Of course, ISVs will have to ensure that their target market will overlap significantly with the platform users and that they do not get locked-in to the platform to their disadvantage.

Platform-as-a-Service(PaaS):Unleashing Web’s Full Potential

SaaS products have always been associated with an issue of limited customizability. In a move to tackle the same, another ‘as a Service’ model -Platform as a Service (PaaS) has evolved. Often being considered as an outcome of Service-oriented Architecture (SOA), it can best be described as an application development and deployment functionality available as a service.

With SOA, we have defined certain web-based interfaces which are specific to an existing system or module. It also has rendered it reusable too. Now, PaaS promises to extend these functionalities to the next level, wherein the whole platform would become accessible through a web browser. This means that enterprises now have to just develop and deploy their applications through a browser without shelling out any extra revenue on infrastructures.

It is agreed that PaaS readily helps create and deploy applications. However, the question here is, “Why should Enterprises adopt PaaS?” as they already have tools and technologies to meet the same goal. It certainly has some clear cut advantages such as no infrastructural costs, instant IDE, instant deployment, to name a few. They just have to choose the right platform depending on their needs and resources and subsequently, can shift their focus onto creating innovative applications, rather than the complex IT infrastructures. This would also mean the removal of critical barrier to entry for smaller ISVs.

The time has come when anyone with an internet connection can build various applications and deploy them across the globe. PaaS is here to stay, but it should be ensured that they are kept open so that the developers and designers do not get alienated from the mainstream.

Sales 2.0 for New Product Development

Sales team plays a key role in any new product development effort of a software company. Gone are the days when it was meant only for selling the finished products.At the very outset, it has an insight into what a prospective customer generally looks in for, in a new product and this always has necessitated the need for taking its inputs in the process. However, it does not mean that the inputs gathered from marketing and allied researches should be ignored. Rather, a balance is to be maintained between the two.

Coming to the products side, it may be allowed to have a feel of the prototypes of the products by demonstrating them. This does not mean that it should go ahead and sell them, but to provide certain inputs based on its interaction with the potential customers.
This is where Sales 2.0 comes into the picture.

Sales 2.0 for New Product Development is all about embedding various Web 2.0 tools and technologies such as Blogs, Wikis, RSS, Pod casts, Social Media etc. into sales. Its evolution was based on the perception that it would improve the customers-sales interface. Going beyond the customers, it will also improve the communication between the sales personnel and the people in their organization. This enables them to go ahead and solve the business problems of the customers rather than just selling them the finished software products.

The team is also expected to keep the discussions with the potential customers going and reassure them of better services. This is achieved over time by keeping track of all the current affairs in the industry, sharing of information and ideas, and detailed study of the customers’ organizations and their needs. All of these become really effective when the aforesaid tools and technologies are used.

Though tools and technologies seemed to have formed the foundation for Sales 2.0, it still cannot remove the human elements from the equation. It is when these two are combined that a sales force can work wonders.

The time is ripe for Sales 2.0.

Idea Validation: How important is it?

An idea can change the rule of New Product Development. It comes to include your soon to –be developed product and how would it fill the gap in the market, when it comes to addressing a specific issue of customers. A little variation from this could possibly be the uniqueness of your product from those of the rest in the market.

Having stated these, validating the product idea holds the key to the development process. This could help your ideas reach the ground of reality rather than staying on a paper or a discussion board. Beta testing is one of the most efficient ways of validating your product ideas as it gives you the much needed feedbacks of your product from the customers.

Apart from it, the good things that can be done here are to have an eye on your competitors’ offerings, bring customers into the development process and have your experts’ team streamlined the process.

The bottom-line that is to be seen here is to be acceptable to any changes, provided it guarantees a facelift to your product.  All said and done, negative feedbacks also are to be expected from the customers, but it is always a wise decision to make them feel that they are at loss if they are not your customers yet. And a strong validation of your new idea is the success mantra here.

Successful New Product Development-What does it take?

We are conducting a webinar on the topic,”Successful New Product Development-What does it take? ” on 25 th September,2008 at 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT.

Truly successful software products are hard to come by. Products that are adopted and embraced by their target audience are more the exception than the rule. So, what does it take to build great software? Is having a brilliant product idea enough? Do you need to have a stellar team and dedicated UX experts?

Anyone attempting to build successful software should understand that software has to first and foremost fulfill customer expectations, address real market needs and be better than the existing competition. In addition, it should be cheap enough to be affordable, fast enough and feature-rich enough to be relevant and available soon-enough for customers to start using it.

The webinar will be jointly presented by:

1.Shankar Krishnamoorthy,CTO,Aspire Systems.

2.Deepak Ramesh,Co-founder,Mango DVM.

In this webinar, you will learn:

* How to validate your product idea

* Usage of Web 2.0 concepts in the enterprise ecosystem

* How you can enhance the quality of your product

* How to leverage the latest development tools, technologies and platforms available

This is a must-attend event for you,if building a great product has been your watchword.

Registration is still open here.

New Product Development – Importance of Architecture

We were talking to one of our leads who wanted to develop a product and deliver it as a service to his end-customers. Yes, we are talking about the buzzword Software-as-a-Service. The lead had a few things clearly identified in terms of the market he wants to serve, the kind of features that his product should have, the architectural complexity of it, the engineering time-frame, and the release plan.

After a series of discussions on the technology to be used, the product management methodology to be followed and the kind and size of team that he would require, we came around to discussing about the architecture of the product. Essentially the requirements here were on releasing the first version of the product quickly and keeping it scalable for subsequent releases and versions.

The lead was very particular that he would own the product management and architecture of the product and he would look at expertise only for the development. Then, we offered to provide architectural services separately away from our development, which was liked by the lead.

Essentially, the lead was very clear in his mind that he didn’t want to mix the architecture with the development and he wanted to validate the architecture before getting into development.

The Making of Great Products-The people and roles involved

While it takes a lot of good people and resources to build a great product, there are three key roles that need to be a part of the core team. These three key people have to represent the needs of different stakeholders, for a product’s overall success. They are:

* The product manager

* The user experience lead

* The product engineering lead

The role of the product manager is to make sure that the product has value – he does his research, knows his target audience and defines the product functionality.

The user experience lead represents the user’s behavior and literally puts himself in the users’ shoes.

The product engineering lead is often an architect or senior engineer and is responsible for ensuring that the product that is defined is something that can actually be delivered.

Read the full story here

The Making of Great-The importance of persona profiling

Now and then, we come across a product or service that comes into an already-crowded marketplace and yet manages to establish itself as the new standard in its market. Some examples of these innovators are Google (which managed to penetrate through the crowded search engine space with its search technology that beat the rest of the competition) and MySpace (which picked up the lessons learnt from earlier social network sites and corrected the mistakes/effectively addressed the pain-points).

There are two key methods that smart companies use to create winning products in mature markets. First, they understand their target market and where the current products fall short. This is done by bringing in personas in your design decisions.

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The influence of Web 2.0 on Software Development

One of the drivers for the changes taking place in new product development is certainly the evolution of the consumer internet or the Web 2.0 world. YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, Craigslist – the successes of these Web 2.0 products and services have spurred hundreds of competitors who aim to be the next big Web 2.0 success story.

Many of these consumer internet start-ups got started in garages with a fairly small team and had a beta version of the product out in a matter of 6 months – more or less.

While the success of some Web 2.0 start-ups can be attributed to early-mover advantage in identifying and filling an under-served niche, there are some underlying similarities behind the successful companies.

Read the full story here