We just launched a new mobile apps survey aimed at helping enterprises identify best practices, strategies, budget approaches and organizational methods for developing mobile apps.

There is a very decent, albeit not foolproof treatment of Salesforce.com (CRM) on SeekingAlpha.com. The article looks at number of relevant accounting red flags but sometimes fails to interpret those correctly or put them into context. Some of commentary following the article highlight the discrepancies.

The 2012 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) valuation guide is now available to MGI Research subscribers as well as in the MGI Research Store and via Bloomberg, L.P.

We recently interviewed Sam Lakkundi, - VP of Strategy for Kony Solutions, - a rapidly growing supplier of mobile enterprise development tools. During this candid,  in-depth session, we touched on a number of key questions that help frame the perimeter and growth characteristics of mobile applications markets. Specifically, the session focused on a number of core topics such as:

On Feb 28th at 12 noon EST (9AM PST) MGI Research Managing Directors Andrew Dailey and Igor Stenmark will host an interview with COO of KONY Solutions and until recently a senior mobile banking executive Anirban Roy. This session is aimed at bank business and technology executives and will focus on the following key issues:

Interview with Rootstock Software CEO Pat Garrehy

Is SaaS ready to support complex manufacturing solution requirements?

Until recently, successful SaaS companies have excluded core manufacturing functionality, and focused on departmental and/or horizontal functionality far from the plant floor.  That’s about to change. 

While the overall analyst commentary generally has been pretty constructive and supportive of SAP’s $3.4 Billion bid for SuccessFactors, Inc., many questions remain.  Although many analysts believe SAP is overpaying for SuccessFactors (SFSF), in our view, the valuation is not unreasonable and is not the critical factor in assessing this deal.

For a 2nd time in less than a week, a purchase of a SaaS vendor reconfirmed our SaaS valuation model. IBM is paying $440Million in cash to acquire San-Mateo, CA-based DemandTec (DMAN).

According to the MGI SaaS valuation model, SAP did not overpay for its acquisition of SuccessFactors.

In the IT deal negotiation universe, end of year (EOY) is a critical time for negotiation. This year, the EOY activity is focused on three key topics:

• Cloud (SaaS solutions),
• Mobile applications and
• Business intelligence / analytics – BIG data.

With those phrases being the battle cries, the war wages on between Oracle and SAP with each company fighting to gain critical revenue and increase market share.  This provides CIOs with the perfect market opportunity for a very productive EOY negotiation cycle.