Tag: Microsoft

Accenture Is Preparing to Double-Down on M&A. We Share Our Ideas for Likely Target Areas.

Companies mentioned: Accenture (ACN), Alibaba (BABA), AWS (AMZN), Azure (MSFT), Bottomline Technologies (EPAY), Broadridge (BR), DataRobot (Pvt.), GCP (GOOG), IHS Markit (INFO), Oracle (ORCL), Palantir (Pvt.), Qlik (Pvt.), Solera (Pvt.), SS&C (SSNC), Tibco (Pvt.), Verisk (VRSK). Accenture’s CEO of North America, Julie Sweet, will become CEO of Accenture effective September 1st 2019. Ms. Sweet is … Continue reading Accenture Is Preparing to Double-Down on M&A. We Share Our Ideas for Likely Target Areas. →

When Companies Aren’t Led by Experts

Much was made of Apple's chief designer Jony Ive stepping down last week. Rightfully so. What does it mean when companies aren't led by domain experts? "He’s not just a designer. That’s why he works directly for me. He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me. There’s no one who can … Continue reading When Companies Aren’t Led by Experts →

Vendor Due Diligence and Investment Due Diligence Processes Are Similar

Whether evaluating a company as an investment vehicle or as a potential vendor, the processes are similar. Three elements are at the heart of our due diligence process when we evaluate Technology companies as investment vehicles and when we evaluate them as vendors. 1.) Quality of the Management Team. We listed this attribute first as … Continue reading Vendor Due Diligence and Investment Due Diligence Processes Are Similar →

Convenience as a Service (“CaaS”)

We recently published an article entitled "The Now Economy and Workplace Implications". Sticking with this theme and on the heels of Walmart's latest salvo in the "Walmart vs. Amazon Food Delivery War", we have published a list of food delivery services. We also share our thoughts as to how this game may play out - … Continue reading Convenience as a Service (“CaaS”) →

CEOs – The Most Undervalued Investment Variable

We are sometimes critical of CEO compensation packages, yet we are first to admit that CEOs have an outsized influence on the future prospects of companies large and small. This is particularly true of fast-moving industries such as technology where having the correct CEO in place may mean catching the latest technology wave - cloud, … Continue reading CEOs – The Most Undervalued Investment Variable →

Salesforce to Acquire Tableau Software – Expect More Such Deals

The supply of Data Scientists is a constraint toward building Advanced Analytics practices including broadly-defined AI. Therefore, we expect this supply constraint to be a catalyst for M&A activity. We covered this "supply" topic last week in our article "AI: Today’s Mysterious Miracle Technology Is Tomorrow’s Electricity" The supply of data scientists is being stretched … Continue reading Salesforce to Acquire Tableau Software – Expect More Such Deals →

No Time Like Now to Leverage AI

We will participate on the June 3rd IASA OnPOINT conference panel hosted by SS&C Technologies. Topics covered will include AI, machine learning, deep learning, NLP, RPA and other forms of intelligent automation. There are many prospective use cases for AI and related technologies. However, prior to jumping in with both feet it is important to … Continue reading No Time Like Now to Leverage AI →

Microsoft’s Open Design Strategy Has Its Roots in Auto

Microsoft's product design strategy borrows from the automobile industry Microsoft is a different beast under CEO Satya Nadella. One of the most profound changes under Nadella has been the way in which the company builds products. In the past, small independent teams would create new Microsoft products in a vacuum - not dissimilar to experiments … Continue reading Microsoft’s Open Design Strategy Has Its Roots in Auto →

Cloud Wars: AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform (“GCP”)

It's all about the cloud. Given that Amazon's AWS business unit and Microsoft's Azure business unit are the two finalists for the Pentagon's $10 billion "JEDI" contract, we thought it timely to publish AWS, Azure and GCP revenues for the 12-month period ending 12/31/18. As per usual, see the video and image content "below the … Continue reading Cloud Wars: AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform (“GCP”) →

Google “Stadia” – Cloud Gaming’s New Giant

Last week we wrote about autonomous video games where visual elements of video games are self-created via machine learning. This week's news is equally inspiring whereby Google announced its massively-scaled cloud gaming entry "Stadia" which perhaps only Google could pull off. See our "Key Takeaways" and more below. KEY TAKEAWAYS:Revenue model and pricing were not … Continue reading Google “Stadia” – Cloud Gaming’s New Giant →