Uppercut Podcasts By Upperedge

Most organizations have shied away from reducing costs of their SAP platform during lean times, but that’s no longer the case considering the breadth and depth of the economic impact of Covid-19. Chip Hanna, UpperEdge’s SAP Practice Director discusses some opportunities around AMS and hosting that companies have to drive down costs. There are a few levers companies can use—commercial levers on existing agreements, operational levers on relationships with AMS and hosting providers, and competitive levers to drive cost negotiations. Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/37euUh0

ServiceNow beat guidance and consensus in Q1 FY20 with subscription revenue growing 34%, reaching $995M. ServiceNow’s success is largely tied to the significant growth in the number customers that have expanded their portfolios and are now paying over $1M per year. There has been increased adoption of key products including but not limited to ITSM Pro, HR Service Delivery, and CSM. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares what this impressive quarter means for enterprises and what enterprises interested in becoming a new ServiceNow customer (or adding new products) need to do to prepare for ServiceNow’s revamped sales playbook. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

The coronavirus pandemic has forced companies to seek financial relief in any way they can. Given the sizable spend tied to IT, many organizations start their cost reduction initiatives with a focus on cloud vendor spend. This is an opportunity for cloud vendors to lean into the relationship and provide win-win support. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares the most frequent requests he hears enterprise customers asking of their IT and cloud vendors.

With all the changes in the market, Oracle is poised to dominate, so long as they are willing to adapt, evolve and potentially trailblaze. Jeff Lazarto, UpperEdge’s Oracle’s Practice Leader, discusses a few of these steps Oracle can take, starting with consolidation of their cloud appications as one business. Bringing in a single, true applications leader, could inturn bring in the additional talent they need to develop applications similar to how Microsoft has done under the helm of Satya Nadella. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ijfPkH

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, companies are understandably scrambling to reduce costs where they can. But prematurely engaging IT vendors without a well-thought-out plan can cause irreparable harm to your relationships - with both your internal stakeholders and your vendor partners. In this podcast, Practice Leader, Len Riley, shares the lessons he learned when he led cost optimization initiatives at CVS Health during the 2008 financial crisis and discusses the critical internal work that has to be done before engaging the vendor community. Understanding the priorities of internal stakeholders in times of a crisis is an essential step to take before engaging vendor partners. Len covers each of the internal stakeholders you should consider, his prospective on their priorities, and how to navigate these relationships to prepare successful cost-reduction strategies. Host: Len Riley: https://bit.ly/3fqLI99 IT Cost Optimization Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3fnRloI

Javier Soltero, the General Manager and VP of G Suite at Google, recently reported that Google now has 6 million paying business customers. In February of 2019, Google had 5 million paying users and 4 million the year before. Announcements like this further demonstrate the success Google is having in penetrating businesses and gaining adoption. Microsoft is also well aware of Google’s success and has been approaching their base of customers and doing whatever they can to keep Google out. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, shares his perspective on what this all means for enterprises and what you should expect from Google and Microsoft moving forward.

On March 30th, Oracle announced that they are offering free online training and certification courses for Oracle cloud infrastructure and Oracle Autonomous database. Oracle doesn't often offer free resources of this nature but this comes in the midst of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns around the globe. Oracle customers can take advantage of Oracle's free training now through May 15th. To learn more and start your free training, visit Oracle.com. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p

Microsoft made a few announcements earlier this week that were all centered around their all-in cloud bundle, Microsoft 365. They announced two Microsoft 365 plans for consumers (Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family) as well as a consumer edition of Teams which will be coming later in the year. Lastly, Microsoft rebranded the Office 365 solutions for small to medium-sized business as “Microsoft 365” solutions. During this podcast, Microsoft Practice Leader shares his thoughts on what this means for consumers but also how these announcements will ultimately impact enterprise customers. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3C5y597

How is the Coronavirus impacting the SaaS market? This can be an opportunity for SaaS providers to step up, be leaders and demonstrate the true partnerships they have with their clients and employees. Workday has taken the initial step of paying a cash bonus to their employees, equalling two weeks of pay or roughly $80M. This was a pretty bold move as they are relatively small in comparison to their competitors, Oracle, SAP and Microsoft. Following suit, Marc Benioff announced that Saleforce would not being conducting any significant layoffs for at least the next 90 days and encouraging other CEOs to make the same 90 day pledge. Equally important—will these companies do right thing with their customers? Jeff Lazarto UpperEdge’s Oracle Practice Leader discusses some measures that are underway.

Microsoft announced that they have renamed their firstline worker (deskless) worker products, Microsoft 365 F1 and Office 365 F1. As of April 1, 2020, they will be known as Microsoft 365 F3 and Office 365 F3. Microsoft also announced that there is going to be new “lighter” Microsoft 365 F1 available to the market and Teams (which is included in these firstline products), will have additional functionality included. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, our Microsoft Practice leader, provides more details regarding the changes and provides his thoughts on what this all means for Microsoft enterprise customers. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

Workday added 11 new Fortune 500 companies, about 45% of the Fortune 500 are now HCM customers, which comprises about 60% of the Fortune 50. Jeff Lazarto, UpperEdge’s practice leader breaks down Workday’s Q4 fiscal year 20 results, and talks about whether Workday’s HCM cloud solution could replace Oracle’s and SAP’s solutions. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jhUk30

Claims that Oracle has misrepresented the nature of some of their cloud sales over the number of years has prompted lawsuits from shareholders. Some of these cloud deals weren’t all brought on by customer demand but instead by duress. In using their audit levers for on-premise licenses, Oracle would offer sweetheart deals to settle their audit claims so long as clients were willing to purchase cloud services even if those cloud services were not needed. UpperEdge’s Oracle Advisory Leader, Jeff Lazarto, highlights events around this case and Oracle’s cloud performance. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3A3vtGZ

In addition to Salesforce reporting its Q4 and full year FY20 earnings, they also announced that they are acquiring Vlocity for $1.3B and that their co-CEO, Keith Block is stepping down. This surprising leadership change could have major implications and raises many questions. Where will Keith Block go next? Will Salesforce alter the way they do business with Marc Benioff going back to the sole CEO?  In this podcast, practice leader, Adam Mansfield shares his perspective on this big news and discusses what it means for Salesforce customers moving forward. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/37hFkMV

In its first earnings announcement since Sundar Pichai took over as CEO, Alphabet broke out both Google Cloud revenue (which includes GCP as well as G Suite revenue) and revenue from YouTube advertising for the first time. Though this is more transparency than we've seen in the past from them, they still refrained from disclosing the revenue tied specifically to GCP and G Suite. They also did not provide more granular details such as their total number of commercial users of G Suite. In this podcast, Adam Mansfield shares his thoughts on Alphabet's Q4 and full-year FY19 earnings and discusses what you can expect from Google in 2020 as they strive to show accelerated Google Cloud growth and close more large enterprise deals as they compete aggressively with Amazon (AWS) and Microsoft.

Ted Rogers, Practice Leader at UpperEdge, refers to a recent conversation he had with a Project Manager overseeing an application development project for his client. The conversation was a timely one coming on the heels of Ted's recent blog, 5 SOW Essentials to Make You Look Smart. From vendors to clients, it's extremely important to have a solid statement of work in order for all parties to agree upon the project deliverables and when those deliverables are due. Host: Ted Rogers: https://bit.ly/2V7h1z3 Project Execution Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3xlw9px Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2TO7cFl

Accenture recently announced that it is the first partner to achieve SAP-certified integration with SAP Model Company delivered through MyConcerto. Given their plan to deliver together in an integrated and single engagement, customers considering this model should take time to understand the partnership dynamics and how their integration will influence the relationship. In this podcast, Chip Hanna shares three points that customers should keep in mind before engaging SAP and/or Accenture and discusses how customers can take a proactive role in managing risk both commercially and from a scope perspective. Host: Chip Hanna: https://bit.ly/37gknCk SAP Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3yjImwb Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3C6ovCR

Microsoft had yet another strong quarter, with commercial cloud (which includes Azure, Office 365, Dynamics 365, and commercial aspects of Linkedin) clearly being a key component of Microsoft's successful quarter and the driving force for their future success. Can Microsoft achieve its overarching goal to be known as the only truly comprehensive solution on the market that can enable the sweeping digitization that organizations are striving towards? In this podcast, Adam Mansfield, shares his perspective on this positive earnings call and reads between the lines to reveal the compelling sales pitch that enterprises need to brace themselves for now as their Microsoft relationships continue to evolve. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

ServiceNow reported outstanding Q4 FY19 numbers and growth, beating analyst estimates. New CEO, Bill McDermott's, confidence in ServiceNow was evident as he clearly laid out their key priorities and go-to-market strategy for scaling ServiceNow and ultimately achieving their lofty 2020 goals. Enterprises should prepare to be approached by an aggressive and highly motivated sales force with precise value propositions. UpperEdge's ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, uncovers the implications of this positive earnings call and highlights the most important numbers that enterprises need to be aware of. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ynVYq4

Larry Ellison is trumpeting the huge technological advantage Oracle has in the database market and how this is the only autonomous database in the world. On Oracle’s recent Q2 earnings call, Mr. Ellison elaborated on the Autonomous Database’s benefits and their go-to-market land and expand approach. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/2Vvpvjm

Oracle has gone on record multiple times stating that Cloud ERP Applications and Autonomous Database are the two key product areas that will determine Oracle’s success. Larry Ellison has made some bold claims regarding both product categories. Jeff Lazarto discusses Oracle’s perspective of the Cloud ERP market and why they are claiming that they will eventually be the overwhelming winner in this generation of Cloud ERP. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p Related Blog: https://bit.ly/3ijctyn