In case you wonder about the methodology - check out the above links, too - no need to repeat here.
And here is Q4 2016 - all related to NextGen Apps - the research area that covers when enterprises build new software - what are the use cases, the tools, the platforms, the players, the best practices etc. this quarter was so massive - I had to establish a 'play in' bracket for the low seeds...
[Apologies - time to market forced me to play the bracket right to left.]
Play-in Dropouts
- Google App Maker - Google's foray into low code and business user (with low technology affinity) application building debuted with App Maker. A good and differentiating start and a lot of interest among the three large cloud vendors (read here). But no match the updates and announcements shared at Microsoft Connect conference (read here).
- MapR Analyst Summit - One of the very last events the year, the first analyst summit of MapR, and differentiation vs. the other two key Hadoop distributions with a software license DNA (read here). No comparison to IBM World of Watson (read here).
- SAP TechEd Barcelona - A very good event for SAP customers with key HANA (HANA 2) and HANA Cloud Platform announcements. Necessary after the low profile of the Las Vegas edition (read here). Unfortunately paired against the probably most impactful news of the quarter, AWS reInvent (read here).
Round #1 Dropouts
- CloudFoundry Summit (Europe) - Substantial interest by enterprises on CloudFoundry, at its European edition in Frankfurt, but quite a difference to the Q2 event in Santa Clara. Looks like European CxOs trust the established vendors (still) more than their North American counterparts (read here). Paired against the HANA 2 launch, the latter garnered more CxO attention in Europe (trying to be fair) and across the world (read here).
- Microsoft Connect - Microsoft had a very good connect, making good on many announcements made at the Build conference in the year before (read here). But paired vs. the VMware / AWS partnership, not a match given how much of the world's IT load still runs on VMware (read here).
- IBM World of Watson - There can be no doubt that IBM has opened the marketing spigots for Watson, if you attended the World of Watson conference you could see with your own eyes. 2017 will show if IBM can bring Watson to more of a product / license transaction vs a professional services engagement (more here). Paired against what was probably the best launch event I have ever attended - the SAP / TreniItalia IoT launch, not a match from an event perspective, and close to a CxO attention level (read here).
- Salesforce Dreamforce - One of the biggest user and marketing events in the IT industry, Dreamforce not surprisingly focused on AI with the launch of Einstein (read here). But paired against AWS reInvent (more here) - not a match from an impact on CxOs perspective.
Round #2 Dropouts
- SAP HANA 2 - While the HANA 2 "fork" is substantial good news for the SAP ecosystem and SAP customers (read here), the impact of VMware partnering with AWS was bigger on CxOs worldwide (read here).
- SAP & TreniItalia - Probably the best launch event I have attended in 30 or so years in enterprise software. Looking at the 'thing' while riding the 'think' (a TreniItalia high speed FrecciaRossa train), from Rome to Naples, on a maiden voyage, to Italy's train museum, while educated live by a customer / vendor combo, with breaks on a custom launch app, CEO present etc. very well done (read here). Unfortunately no match to the key event of 2016 - AWS reInvent (read here).
Q4 Finals - AWS reInvent beats AWS & VMware
It can't get much better for AWS - with two events sparring with each other. And while the AWS and VMware partnership could be the latter vendor's 'last hurray' in regards of vitalization, it also shows the market influence AWS has by now (read here). But nothing showed that more than AWS reInvent. AWS is not slowing down and the conference has become the IT world get together, replacing VMworld (minus the hardware vendors) read here.
So congrats to AWS for winning the Q4 2016 Next Generation Applications shootout.
How would you have scored the Q4 2016 news and trends? Please comment!
Here are all blog posts:
- New Analysis – Google enables citizen developers and developers with Google App Maker - read here.
- Progress Report - MapR has platform ambitions - now it has to deliver - read here.
- read here.
- Event Report - Cloud Foundry Summit Europe - Europe & Cloud - A long path - read here.
- Event Report - Salesforce Dreamforce - It's not about Einstein - but the platform - read here.
- Event Report - Microsoft Connect - No April's Fools - Linux, Google and more -read here.
- Event Report - IBM World of Watson - IBM's bets its future on Watson - read here.
- News Analysis - SAP to unveil HANA 2 - New platform vs a fork's tine - read here.
- Event Report - SAP / Trenitalia Digital Summit - SAP is serious about IoT- read here.
- News Analysis - VMware has found AWS as its public cloud IaaS - read here.
- Event Report - AWS reInvent 2016 - Growth at full speed -read here.
Other Shootouts for 2016:
- Q1 2016 Future of Work Developments & Trends Shootout - read here.
- Q1 2016 NextGen Apps Development & Trends Shootout - read here.
- Q2 2016 Future of Work Development & Trends Shootout - read here.
- Q2 2016 NextGen Apps Developments & Trends Shootout - read here.
- Q3 2016 Future of Work Developments & Trends Shootout - read here.
- Q3 2016 NextGen Apps Developments & Trends Shootout - read here
