2 posts tagged “cloud”
There's
been a lot of development by way of DaaS an other business applications
that are, in some way, hosted solutions for SMBs to take advantage of
for a variety of purposes. From LongJump to Egnyte,
the hope here is that they can provide additional value in the form of
server space. For all intents and purposes, this is the next step for
web-based services to offer options to businesses to trim down their
own costs by not having to buy their own servers. That's what the cloud
space is for.
So far, what I've seen on a personal level is more specific implementations of how this can eventually come to be. Salesforce is very much concerned (obviously) with the way in which businesses interact with their customers, and LongJump is tackling both ends of the spectrum with specific tools for internal and customer interaction. By providing hosted server space for the development of applications that work towards these ends, Salesforce and LongJump are making it easier for businesses to ease the IT process.
While this approach is still directed towards the developer end, Egnyte has just launched some business-centric tools that also look to minimize the need for a business to buy its own servers. It's approach is in providing a space for file-storage, file-backup and file-sharing in an effort to support the collaborative efforts of a team. Businesses have typically been slower to adopt web-based services to power aspects of their every day business tasks.
But
with all the current development going on, it's becoming easier for
businesses to further adopt web-based services, especially when they do
so much as to replace a company's servers? I think the task-specific
way in which these emerging services makes it easier for adoption rates
to be successful, given the approach that each service has taken by
offering value for very different reasons to help out with different
areas of a business. An all-encompassing approach would indeed be too
much ti win over the majority of SMBs out there.
But the three companies aren't the only ones providing such virtual services for business use. Microsoft
has been expanding its own cloud (and other) services for some time,
and poses a seemingly immediate threat more so to a tool like Egnyte's
than those of Salesforce or LongJump. That's not to say that the new
guys won't succeed, but it does put into focus the potential for
Microsoft to maintain its hold on the business sector if SMBs do in
deed begin to adopt such web-based solutions for their own purposes.
For now, it looks like the fragmented application model, addressing
needs on an as-need basis is almost better for the current climate. Do
you think this will help with the adoption rate of such applications
and business tools? Original post: kristennicole.com
Eurekster has raised $5.5 million in a round of venture capital funding, suprising many since they've recently lost their biggest client, Friendster, to Google. The search engine that has dedicated its services to searching communities and social networks has provided value to many, nonetheless, and has become an easy solution for bloggers and niche communities across the board. When it comes to niche search engines, Eurekster has proven to have staying power.
Their swiki feature has proven rather popular and useful to those wanting to add a customized search tag cloud to their website or blog. In terms of the service they provide to communities, it's unique in that they study user behavior in order to provide better search results. This can be monetized, but not as much as a deal with Google, apparantly.
Eurekster's round of venture capital funding was provided by Technology Venture Partners of Australia and Transcosmos Investments of Japan, as well as additional private investors. If their loss of Friendster as a client has hindered them in any way, particularly in closing a deal with another larger company, I'm sure their latest round of funding will help them to further their development and put them in a better position in the long run.
