Did Google find out that open source does not pay out as expected?

By DrSalonen | August 15, 2011

Here we go again. The mobility world is changing with Motorola Mobility being acquired by Google for $12.5 billion. This was widely reported this morning when I woke up. Doug Barney from Redmondmag.com concludes that this move from Google might anger device manufacturers. My personal belief (that many other analysts support) is that Google woke…

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Cloud ISV: What technology will you be using when supporting different mobile and tablet devices?

By DrSalonen | August 1, 2011

I explained in my previous blog post that the cloud era is here to stay and with this new era, there are also quite a few technologies that the ISV has to select to build a solution. One key thing is to select the cloud platform but an increasingly important technology that the ISV has…

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Cloud ISV: Do not focus on building infrastructure, but focus on building value add for the end user

By DrSalonen | July 31, 2011

Software developers love to challenge themselves with things that make them feel good and the trickier the problem, the merrier it is to find the solution. In some cases, this could obviously be the killer innovation that nobody else has ever done, but if it is something that already exists and can be purchased from…

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Cloud ISV: Are you managing your Customer Churn and what tools are you using to control it?

By DrSalonen | July 29, 2011

How do you make sure that your SaaS application is relevant and the end users are happy with the solution? In the past, you were able to charge for the solution in one big payment, but with the new subscription-based licensing model, you will have to retain the customer happy throughout the contract period and…

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Software solutions we are using on a daily basis when running a consulting business with people distributed in different parts of the world

By DrSalonen | July 28, 2011

I get questions from other entrepreneurs what software we are using to run our business and it has been my intention for a while to create a blog entry about this and I finally got to do it so here it is. I founded TELLUS International six years ago after having been part of a…

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My personal post mortem of Microsoft Partner Worldwide Conference (WPC11) in Los Angeles 2011

By DrSalonen | July 24, 2011

This was my sixth Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) and probably the most useful and effective that I have experienced so far.  Be warned. This blog entry is pretty long, but it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the event and also reflect how my own behavior has changed during the past 6 WPCs…

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What is needed for traditional Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to move to the cloud?

By DrSalonen | July 22, 2011

If you have not heard enough of the cloud and its importance, you have probably been sleeping or being ignorant of what is happing in the IT industry. I have to say that I am unbelievably excited of having the opportunity to be part of this change and there are many reasons for this. The…

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What makes a good salesperson according to research and what are most important characteristics?

By DrSalonen | July 7, 2011

I run into an interesting blog entry by Steve W. Martin where he lists seven personality traits of top salespeople. Martin has also published a book about sales psychology with a good empirical study of thousands of sales professionals so we can assume that he knows something about this topic. As an entrepreneur I have…

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Who owns your data in the cloud and do you care if the vendor uses it to derivate work?

By DrSalonen | July 5, 2011

Last week we could read about a security breach at Dropbox  file passwords where a bug made passwords optional for a few hours. This break in security led to an outcry in the user community and with reason. What if you had your personal and very private information stored at Dropbox and now suddenly it…

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Is there a Magic Number for a SaaS business?

By DrSalonen | June 22, 2011

We have a tendency to find a magic formula for everything and this applies also to SaaS companies. In my research in this topic, I have found a few resources that give some direction of how to evaluate the healthiness of a SaaS business. It is easy to conclude that Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) or…

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