Making legacy architecture agile, scalable and

efficient
21 March, 2016 at 7:00 AM
2

Richard Britton, CEO, CloudSense's

Communications services providers (CSPs) are finding their existing IT
architecture more of a liability than a legacy. Often, it consists of a complicated
mix of self-built point solutions that are poorly integrated, or single vendor stacks
that are expensive to manage and slow to change.
Its no surprise then, said CloudSense CEO Richard Britton, that in many cases,
the complexity, costs and the cumbersome nature of their systems are impacting
customer experience and holding the company back just at a time when they
need to become more competitive, take control and to grow into new markets.
The rise of omnichannel sales has highlighted these deficiencies and in
particular how intricate, silo-based systems and a lack of integration between the
front and back office make it difficult to build ongoing knowledgeable and
profitable customer relationships. Likewise it can delay time to market for new
products and so obstruct potential new revenue streams.
This is emphasising a growing gap between legacy IT strategy and the rest of the
business. The IT team, for example, might want to focus on standardising certain
applications to ease integration and for cost and security reasons. But with
revenues from traditional services at a standstill, most communications providers
have a pressing need to innovate and move into new markets.
These clashing priorities inevitably lead to a strategic misalignment. To the point
where, in a recent CloudSense survey, 79% of communications providers said
their systems were a barrier when selling products and services and 82% couldnt
easily sell bundles across all products and services.
So the mismatch clearly needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency and in a
way that accommodates the needs of all sides of the business. It comes down to
an architecture that incorporates layers of applications so that technology can
facilitate innovation, differentiation and new transformational processes, built on
the IT departments foundation of security and efficiency.
This architecture is becoming known as pace layering with
applications divided into:
Systems of Record These are the foundational applications. Stable and
changed infrequently (typically at an operational tempo of 5-15 years), they
facilitate core business processes.
Systems of Differentiation These applications are continuously evolving
with frequent upgrades (generally at a timeframe of 2-5 years). Typically, they
cover business interactions such as Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) and order
management.
Systems of Innovation These applications enable agile experimentation and
rapid prototyping the key to failing fast and trying again until a successful
proposition is reached. The operational tempo of change is fast-paced (typically
in a time-frame of months to two years).
Pace layering in this way provides a place in the architecture for the latest easy-
to-use applications that can be quickly deployed and solve a specific challenge or
respond to a market opportunity. But it also demands a more granular approach
to modular, enterprise systems, categorising them according to the
characteristics of each application.
Flexible and modular
So how does this work in practice? And what type of application must
communications providers consider to optimise this layering approach and
achieve the agility they so urgently need?
Omnichannel commerce platforms are increasingly replacing limited Configure
Price Quote (CPQ) methods with a broader and more responsive functionality
and providing the differentiation and innovation layers of the architectural stack,
according to the modules deployed.
These platforms are particularly key to the communications industry as they
incorporate a series of modules that help overcome the current barriers to selling,
while at the same time improving the customer experience. They begin by
providing conventional CPQ capability but across all products and services
including fixed, mobile, broadband, WAN, hosting, VoIP and digital apps in a
single quote.
But they go beyond conventional CPQ to reduce the time taken to launch new
products and bundle up- and cross-sell promotions, especially those that are run
across multiple channels. Legacy systems make it difficult to make changes
without involving the IT department. However, if new product information is held
in a single, central catalogue, this can be easily expanded or changed at any time
without specialist knowledge, enabling a fast and fluid response to market
changes and customer demand.
The catalogue needs to be governed by a series of business rules that guide
staff, whether they are at a desk, contact centre or using mobiles or tablets out in
the field. By managing any moves, adds, changes, deletions (MACD) challenges
and providing valid quotes, it minimises delays through an extended approval
chain. Using this, the team has the flexibility to configure and combine different
products based on an individual customer, without the company losing overall
control.
But customers arent interested in these challenges, only that any interaction with
their provider is as straightforward and pain-free as possible. However, this can
be difficult now that they demand global, round-the-clock and transparent service
every time. Consumer expectations have been shaped by companies such
as Apple and Amazon, which can identify customers at all stages of the buying
cycle, know their purchasing patterns and can tailor a product to match.
Customers now expect that same intuitive selling, whatever they are buying,
regardless of how and when they are buying it.
Omnichannel commerce couples its transaction lifecycle functionality with CRM
and a 360-degree customer view held in a centralised, single location for
consistency across channels and throughout each customer contact to enable
this knowledge. A sale is then managed through to fulfilment, billing and the
collection of cash as the platform can be easily integrated with eSignature and
billing systems.
Of course, with customers increasingly enabled with the latest mobile devices
and demanding anytime, anywhere, anyhow interaction and engagement, self-
service also has to be a key part of the mix. Customers need to have the option
to build their own bundle, buy across any channel and manage their own
accounts online.
Simplifying implementation and maintenance
Theres no doubt that the need to deliver this level of enhanced agility to the
customer is becoming ever more urgent. Cloud-based platforms such as this can
sit as a top layer of architecture and continuously evolve as
market pressures change.
As with all cloud-based technology, the platforms are also highly scalable and
can be easily and quickly rolled out across additional business units and
geographical markets. Flexibility is the keynote of the software-as-a-service
(SaaS) approach. These platforms are able to support multi-tenant configurations
and a best-of-breed, iterative approach to implementation. They are accessible
from anywhere and can therefore leverage the latest mobile technology.
Moreover, unlike on-premises solutions, all upgrades and maintenance are
handled by the provider.
Its time that a communications providers architecture stopped being a hindrance
to success. A re-design could end the downward spiral of wasted opportunities
including failed orders, inconsistent and long fulfilment times and the disconnect
between whats promised and whats delivered.
The author of this blog is Richard Britton, CEO at CloudSense.

Friday, 31 July 2015 01:54

Cloud Q&A with Richard Britton,

CEO CloudSense
Richard Britton

We spend 10 minutes talking to CloudSense CEO Richard Britton about the cloud and
what he sees are the challenges businesses face in the coming years.
How can businesses differentiate themselves if everyone is using the same cloud
services?
Its not so much the services themselves but what a company does with them. Often the cloud
is providing the means for them to become more innovative its a facilitator and theres still
plenty of scope for them to show their knowledge and skills to differentiate themselves from the
competition. Cloud is no longer in the early stages, its becoming mainstream, so its more about
the applications themselves.
Does cloud automatically make a business more agile?
Because its a way of providing a centralised hub of constantly updated information that sits at
the heart of an organisation and is accessible from multiple locations, including when on the
move, then obviously its easier to respond to changes and make quick decisions based on this
reliable, accurate and current data.
The cloud also enables teams to try out new ideas and if they dont work quickly tweak them
or try something else new. In other words it enables them to be far more experimental and
fast-acting.
Should you encourage and/or control the proliferation of cloud in a business?
Organisations must always encourage innovation and new technology to remain competitive.
They have to look for every advantage and not close down ideas and need to adopt new
technologies as early as possible, otherwise they are always chasing the leaders, trying to catch
up. At CloudSense, we particularly see this for businesses operating in telecoms and media.
Both are highly competitive industries and experiencing increasing need for diversification to
build and extend new revenue streams as their customers turn to digital offerings.
However, these new technologies should be adopted in a controlled and transparent manner
to ensure there is a sound business reason behind the investment.
How do you build cloud in to the businesses strategy aka how do you get the rest of the
business interested in cloud?
The best cloud-based platforms are disruptive so its not a case of building them into a
strategy; more one of building a strategy around them, if you want to get the most out of them.
I think that any company that is going through a digital transformation will need to work
differently, in a way that just isnt possible using legacy systems. Business as usual is no longer
possible.
So its a case of being honest about the limitations of legacy systems, but being sensitive to the
fact that these represent a huge investment over the years. Showing how quick it will be to
implement a system that sits on top of these will be a first step.
Is the constant change/ development cycle of cloud right for everyone?
Technology shouldnt stand still it must evolve, with providers continually developing new
features and benefits, otherwise it will deteriorate and become irrelevant. This adds ongoing
value for all businesses. In fact, most cloud services dont change constantly; but incrementally
with say three or four new releases a year, so they are delivering increased benefits over time.
Its a case of making sure that governance and change processes extract the most from each
new release.
Is the IT department the right place to manage the cloud in a business?
An organisation running predominately in the cloud is going to require different skills from an IT
department than previously. For example, the art of managing different partnerships and
relationships rather than the deep technical skills. So re-training will be important so will
more strategic thinking.
Will data sovereignty and Data Protection laws impede European cloud growth?
The underlying need is too great. However, although the draft EU laws on data protection are
currently being finalised, there is still much confusion about who owns data in the cloud.
Do we need new skill-sets in businesses to get the most out of our cloud spending?
Yes many employees are bypassing the IT department because they want specific cloud-
based applications. However, different mind-sets are probably more important than skill-sets.
It takes vision to use investment to its full potential.
Who has made a successful move to the cloud?
O2 has used the cloud-based CloudSense Telecoms Platform to make the selling of their digital
apps easier across every channel. The O2 offering, launched late 2014 is built to take the
hassle out of buying digital services for SMEs. The cloud-based Quote-to-Cash platform has
enabled them to simplify the customer journey, quickly and efficiently providing flexible project
bundles tailored to customer needs. The implementation has recently won the Business Service
Innovation Award at the Global Telecoms Innovation Awards 2015.
More about Richard
Age - 40
What was your first computer-related memory? - Playing games on a Sinclair ZX81 at a
friend's house aged 7
What gets you up in the morning? - The alarm on my phone, time to go running.
If you had unlimited funds where would you head for on a day off? - The International
Space Station
A career history - Science degree in London, Programmer at Lloyd's Insurance Market, IT
then Management Consulting, MBA in Switzerland, CIO at a marketing agency then at a global
comms business, before founding CloudSense in 2009.
Hobbies? - Rugby supporter, economics enthusiast. Any sport on water or snow.

CloudSense Wins Deal with CoreSite to Transform Quote-to-

Cash Processes
June 4, 2015No Comments

SOURCE: Cloudsense
New York 4 June, 2015 CloudSense, the global leader in industry platforms for Quote-to-Cash, is
helping CoreSite, a leading North American provider of reliable, secure and high-performance data
center solutions, to sell more effectively and fulfil aggressive growth plans. After a competitive selection
process, CoreSite chose the CloudSense Telecoms Platform to help its sales team innovate and
accelerate the sales process, while offering customers a seamless, multichannel service.
Reflecting its passion to provide excellence in experience for both customers and employees, CoreSite
challenged itself to look forward and find opportunities to advance its system capabilities to deliver best-
in-class customer experience even as the company continues to grow rapidly. The company
determined that its strong growth could eventually challenge certain legacy systems supporting the
sales process and the introduction of new products. The company identified a goal to enhance
customer service by further reducing cycle time around administrative processes through eliminating
areas of manual intervention. Toward that goal, CoreSite conducted a rigorous evaluation of industry-
leading software solutions to streamline, automate and accelerate its sales-support processes and
further drive company performance and through this vendor selection process found CloudSense.
In choosing to implement the CloudSense Telecoms Platform, native to Salesforce, CoreSite elected to
drive transformational change in its Quote-to-Cash process as a key component of its customer
experience. CoreSite took this step to elevate customer service to an even higher level through three
key areas: i) fast and effective configure, price, quote (CPQ) and contract management, ii) simple and
reliable order-change processes, and iii) the ability to quickly implement new product and service
offerings. In selecting the CloudSense Telecoms Platform, CoreSite focused upon reducing cycle time
around all three areas, enabling more efficient records management, and laying a foundation to support
greater transparency and empowerment in the hands of its customers.
The CloudSense Telecoms Platform is streamlining the way we sell. This project will simplify our
processes, enabling us to configure, price and quote for new and existing services quickly, while offering
a smooth and straightforward customer journey. This implementation is critical to support our ambitious
growth plans. We looked at several other Salesforce native providers when scoping the project, and
CloudSense stood out with its CPQ capability, says Jeff Dorr, CoreSite Vice President of Finance and
Corporate Operations.
CoreSite shows that companies across almost every industry can accelerate performance by becoming
faster and more flexible in bringing new products to market and selling them efficiently to maximize
market opportunities. The CloudSense Telecoms Platform will deliver better ways of selling the right
products and services, faster, more easily and more accurately, concludes Rowley Douglas,
CloudSense executive vice president.
About CloudSense
CloudSense is a global leader in Industry platforms for Quote-to-Cash. The CloudSense platforms
deliver transformational sales effectiveness for companies configuring, pricing and quoting products and
services from simple sales to sophisticated subscriptions.
Companies benefit from higher order values, reduced order errors, increased automation of sales
processes and quicker product launches. The customer purchase journey is optimized with a single
product catalogue across all sales channels; customers end up with one order and one bill.
Integrating into CRM, ERP and other systems the CloudSense platforms provide companies with a
powerful Configure Price Quote (CPQ) SaaS capability for e-commerce, mobile workforce, retail,
reseller and telephone sales.
With offices across the world and customers in 26 countries, CloudSense has grown quickly and been
recognised by numerous awards, including being listed 7 th in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 in
2014.
About CoreSite
CoreSite Realty Corporation (COR) delivers secure, reliable, high-performance data center solutions
across eight key North American markets. More than 800 of the worlds leading enterprises, network
operators, cloud providers, and supporting service providers choose CoreSite to connect, protect and
optimize their performance-sensitive data, applications and computing workloads. Our scalable, flexible
solutions and 350+ dedicated employees consistently deliver unmatched data center options all of
which leads to a best-in-class customer experience and lasting relationships. For more information,
visit www.CoreSite.com.

Bootstrapping a Cloud Startup with Services on Force.com from

London: Alex Fuller, Co-Founder and CTO of CloudSense (Part 2)
Posted on Thursday, Aug 28th 2014

Next

Sramana: If you were to position this in the context of 2009, when you founded the
company, what would the competitive landscape look like? Who was your closest
competitor?
Alex Fuller: Thats a good question. We were offering this system to a number of
companies but the telecom sector was a key focus for us early on. We were getting our
software, which was on Salesforces Force.com platform, on the roadmap of large
enterprises who were otherwise looking at systems from Oracle, Siebel, and so on.
Its a testament to the way that the cloud works that we were not required to acquire or
manage the devices in the cloud ourselves, so we were able to focus on adding value.
We were able to put intelligence into the software and create a layer of functionality and
value that we were able to offer our customers.

As a result, within months of introducing the product into the market, we started
significant-sized pilots with very large companies. I dont think that would have been
possible with the cloud advantage.
Sramana: Did you deliver your initial product on the Force.com platform?
Alex Fuller: Yes, we built on top of the Force.com platform from the very beginning.
Sramana: That is interesting. You built your order management product on the
Force.com platform, which I presume allowed you to go to market very quickly and
generate leads from the platform. Was that indeed the case?
Alex Fuller: Yes, you have hit the nail on the head. While it was great to have the ability
to build our product very rapidly, we also benefited tremendously from the greater
Salesforce ecosystem and partnership. They run a very proactive platform and it is a
benefit to be in that platform. There are tremendous benefits to leveraging that when you
are trying to get a business to take off.
Sramana: How long did it take you to build an initial version of your product to
release on the platform?
Alex Fuller: We took a modular approach to our application as well as an agile approach
to our development lifecycles. This enabled us to get functionality out quickly and iterate.
It is really difficult to measure the man years that went into this, but within the first nine
months, we had software that was available and good to go.
Sramana: During the nine months of software development, who was involved in
the company and how did you sustain yourself financially?
Alex Fuller: Initially, there were the four of us who had founded the company. We were
headquartered in the UK, so very early on we set out to build a team in Croatia. The
reason behind that is because one of my co-founders is Croatian. We saw that as a
significant step for us and it allowed us to tap into a tremendously energetic talent base
and build a team in an area that was both cost-effective and operationally effective. The
time zone difference was only one hour and it was also a very short flight.

Sramana: How did you go about building your team in Croatia?

Alex Fuller: We flew out there and did some relatively simple job advertising. We set up
an assessment center where we invited people to come and spend a couple of days with
us. We put them through a training course because the Force.com platform was a new
technology. It was not a well-known platform at the time, so we knew that we would not
find experts in Force.com development. Our strategy was to acquire talent with the right
technical skills, experience, and understanding. Once we knew they had the skill sets we
needed, then it was just a matter of training them to understand the Force.com platform.
People came to our assessment center and did a two-day course. We gave them the
benefit of getting introduced to the new platform and it also gave us a chance to assess
how they responded to that. We got to watch how they worked and see how they liked to
communicate. We finished the process with a formal job interview and made our
selections after that. Overall, this process was very successful and that is how we found
our first hires.
Sramana: How many developers did you have involved in the nine-month period
leading up to the product?
Alex Fuller: Initially, we approached the market as a hybrid of product and services
work. We used the market as part of our bootstrapping mechanism. We hired these
developers and used them in consulting work. That helped fund our product
development.
Sramana: Bootstrapping using services is a very common strategy. We have a
book on this process. When you were doing services, was it in the same domain
as your product?
Alex Fuller: We were not building solutions for customers that we would replace with the
product. We did work in the same domain as far as the work was in cloud-based
technologies. We would help companies with CRM implementations and custom
functionality around that. We also did strategic advisory around that. In 2009, in the UK,
that was still the forefront of technology.
Sramana: So your consulting work was not necessarily in the order management
area?
Alex Fuller: The order management software that we have is a natural extension of the
CRM and sales process. We were in the same areas in some companies and we
proposed our product to them when it was available, but we generally started higher up in
the domain.
Sramana: It sounds like there was leverage from the services work into the product
business.
Alex Fuller: Yes, there certainly was. We operate a R&D team now, but back then the
consulting division was key to funding our R&D.

Sramana: During the nine-month bootstrapping phase, how many people were
focused on the services business and how many people were focused on product
development? Im also curious about how your business breaks down between
Croatia and London.
Alex Fuller: The business breaks down 50/50 between London and Croatia. We also
bring consultants from Croatia onsite with UK customers because the distance is not
prohibitive. During the first year, we had 25 people. Most of them were focused on
projects with clients. We had about eight people doing R&D development during that
time.
Sramana: What costs did you have to cover during those nine months with the
services revenue?
Alex Fuller: The principal cost was people.
Sramana: Providing salaries for eight people is not insignificant.
Alex Fuller: That is definitely true. There were four of us who were founders and we put
a lot in ourselves. We obviously did not take money out of the company, and we worked
hard to keep cost as low as possible. We considered whether or not we should solicit
funds early on, and we decided to bootstrap so that we would not give away equity in the
business before we had value. That has proven to be beneficial for us.
Sramana: Once you had the product ready and listed it on the exchange, how did
you find your first customers?
Alex Fuller: We went after our customers. One of the things that we did do was talk to
people at Salesforce, especially with the UK Salesforce team, to socialize what we had
and what we were doing. That was very useful to us. That gave us an awareness of what
we were doing. They knew of customer needs, plus when they heard of new
requirements from customers, they were able to remember us.

We did our own direct work as well. Everyone who goes through this process knows that
there is a lot of time and hard work that goes into that. There is a lot of investment in
sales and marketing.
Sramana: How much of a role did the Salesforce AppExchange play in the early
phase of your business?
Alex Fuller: AppExchange itself was not the vehicle we were using. We really focused
on relationships. We worked hard to make sure we were in front of the minds of account
executives and sales engineers. That is partly a reflection on what we were producing.
AppExchange has a wide variety of apps and it is particularly strong for apps that have
definitive purpose and can be installed with a few clicks.
We are much more enterprise-oriented. You cant get away from the fact that at some
point you have to have some conversations about how the customer wants to use the
software. They will want to analyze their own business to get the most out of the
capabilities of the system. We have left the one-click installer approach and have those
conversations with our customers.
Sramana: Did the AppExchange or Salesforce teams generate leads for you even if
you had to do the selling?
Alex Fuller: We definitely had some leads coming off of the AppExchange. Our own
direct selling efforts accounted for the vast majority of our leads and closed deals. I
include the leg work of staying in front of the Salesforce sales teams in the region into
that bucket. We kept meeting with them and explaining product capabilities so when they
ran into a customer who had requirements that could be met by our product, they would
be willing to refer them our way.
Sramana: Did you focus on selling in the UK or throughout Europe?
Alex Fuller: Our territory was Europe although we did have a primary focus on the UK.
Our territory is now global. That is one of the great things about the AppExchange and
Salesforce in general, it is very easy to expand operations. Initially, we were a small
company and we felt that it would make sense to have a European focus first.
In 2011, I spent some time in Barcelona doing workshops with some customers. There
were plenty of opportunities to do regional engagements around Europe. We took those
opportunities strategically but primarily for financial reasons we limited ourselves to the
UK in our early years.
Sramana: To summarize, your lead efforts were a result of your own direct selling
efforts and a result of the time you spent with the UK Salesforce field reps. Is that
correct?
Alex Fuller: Yes, those were the main sources.
Sramana: Was there a vertical or domain that you were targeting?
Alex Fuller: Absolutely. Telecommunications and media have historically been strong for
us to the extent that we customize our product into a telecom and media platform. We
capitalize on the success that we have had in those industries by producing customized
features for those verticals. Verticalization of product has been a key aspect to our
growth.
Sramana: When you talk about telecom, are you talking about very large telecom?
Alex Fuller: Absolutely. We have large telecoms such as Telefonica, Vodafone, and
Tata Communications.
Sramana: What size of deals can you get from these larger players? What is your
business model?
Alex Fuller: We have been successful in larger enterprise accounts. Our deals are fewer
and larger rather than numerous smaller deals. We have a high number of seat licenses
and the deals tend to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Sramana: It sounds like you have a business model that supports direct sales
teams.
Alex Fuller: Absolutely. We have a direct sales team established and we generate our
own leads via our direct sales team. We are actively hunting down our deals.
Sramana: What is the geographical scope of your business today?
Alex Fuller: We are headquartered in London and we have an office in New York as
well. We also have an office in Croatia, which is more of a delivery center covering R&D,
technical, and business consultancy. We also have a team in India.
Sramana: What is your geographical scope in terms of the markets served?
Alex Fuller: In terms of product software license sales, our focus is led partly by our
regional presence. The US, UK, and Europe are our primary areas. We are also engaged
in Australia. Additionally, we have system integrators who have partnered with us all over
the world.
Sramana: How has CloudSense ramped in terms of revenue?
Alex Fuller: We hit the million dollar mark quite early; I believe it was during our first
year. We have had fast growth since. We had about $5 million in revenues at the two-
year point. We are now approaching our five-year mark and have crossed $15 million
dollars in revenue. We are now targeting high revenues.
Sramana: What about financing? Is the company still self-financed?
Alex Fuller: We closed an investment round last year and will continue to look at options
going forward. We are planning on aggressive growth and invest in the business heavily.
Our three-year plan is based around that.
Sramana: How much revenue did you achieve before you raised your first round of
institutional financing?
Alex Fuller: We were approaching $5 million in revenue by that point.
Sramana: Are you working with London investors?
Alex Fuller: One of our investors is based in the UK; however, Salesforce is also an
investor.
Sramana: One of our philosophies is to tell entrepreneurs to bootstrap early and
raise funds later as the terms will be more equitable. To the extent that you can,
can you relate your experiences in this aspect?
Alex Fuller: I could not agree more with that strategy. One of the things to consider is
how to build value in the business. One of the key things for us is that we sell SaaS in the
cloud, which is a recurring revenue business model. That is very beneficial in dealing with
company valuations. The product side of the house made valuations interesting. A
consulting company is not going to attract the same kind of valuation, if any at all.
Sramana: Between that first round of financing and now, there has been a
substantial revenue growth. What are the strategic levers that have been moved?
What are the marketing and communications strategies that CloudSense has put in
place that has helped with this strong growth?
Alex Fuller: We have consistently grown our revenue year by year because of the
quality of our product and what our customers have been able to achieve as a result of
our product. Prior to external investment, the growth of the business was built on
reinvesting profits both into R&D, to keep the product ahead of the competition, and into
Sales & Marketing. As a business, CloudSense had customers using our software in 26
countries and we had built up a good number of well-known brands as customers,
especially in Telecom and Media. However, we also knew that the size of the market was
such that there was much more room to grow and that now is the time to maximize the
opportunity.
Alex Fuller: External investment has allowed us to increase our Sales & Marketing
investment to reach more companies. Our R&D investment has allowed us to create
more vertical specific features that further differentiate us from the competition. We have
also established a US presence with people on the ground in a number of locations
headquartered in New York. We have a very good win rate versus the competition and as
such our communication strategy is to raise awareness to a wider audience with relevant
messaging for their industry segment. For example, it could be it a Hosting Provider or a
Magazine Publisher. We then ensure their journey to become a customer is expedited by
dealing with people that not only know CloudSense but also their industry and can help
provide leadership in achieving their goals. We have a vertical sales team with specific
geographic coverage and marketing campaigns that addresses those companies that we
know need our help and that we can help today.
Sramana: It sounds like you really focused on growth, particularly the sales side of
the business, with the funds that you raised.
Alex Fuller: It really was about developing our ability to sell. We wanted to create sales
of product licenses. The services will follow the product license sales. We also have
strategic partnerships that we did not have before. This allows us to cover geographies
that our services cant reach and develop license sales in those geographies.
We have increased headcount in our R&D offices in Croatia. We have also built a
marketing team in the UK and really built that team out so that we could do brand
marketing. We were never able to present ourselves like that in the past. Our structure
around marketing events and the way we present ourselves has dramatically changed.
Sramana: Where do you see the company going from here?
Alex Fuller: We are continuing to focus on our vertical product propositions. That is a
very strategic element for us. We will be offering product solutions into other verticals as
we move forward. The other aspect that is worth looking at is what we have done around
the mobile space. We have the ability to deploy the intelligent rule sets and data we need
into mobile devices. That allows you to run the same capabilities such as auto capture,
validation, and pricing wherever you are. You can take the phone offline, talk to a
customer, and then come back to the cloud later. That is a key point. The expansion into
mobile functionality allows you to operate your business from mobile devices anywhere,
even when not connected.
Sramana: Do you have a lot of mobile innovation on your product roadmap?
Alex Fuller: We have a group of core products but everything we do should be available
on the mobile device as well.
Sramana: Thank you for your time and for sharing your story. Congratulations on
your success to-date.

An end to hand cranking how

Cloudsense developers embrace

AMBROSE MCNEVIN - 8TH FEBRUARY 2016

Add to favorites

Richard Britton, MD at Salesforce Partner Cloudsense developer of a quote to cash

platform on the Force.com platform.

CBR: What does Cloudsense do?

Richard Brittan: We have applications built specifically for telecoms firms like
Telefonica, which allows the people to put together anything from simple one off
sales orders through to very sophisticated bundles with the complexity youd expect
in telecoms.

If you try to create the solution without CPQ and quote to cash, what happens is it
becomes impossible to handle the sophistication around different pricing bundles,
different tariffs, upgrades and changes. So its impossible to get this customer service
across all channels, including, ecommerce, mobile or tablet based contact sales, or a
call centre. And thats what Cloudsense brings to it. We have specific industry experts
which work with the team and the clients systems integrators. Salesforce CRM is
dealing with the interaction with the customer and Cloudsense, quote to cash is
dealing with the transaction."

CBR: Will Cloudsense move to the new Salesforce App Cloud?

RB: "The App cloud is the bringing together of several different capabilities that
Salesforce has and enabling it further. We have always worked in a continuous
integration approach with heartbeat releases and major releases, three times per year
in the same way that Salesforce does.

Because the guard rails are predefined by what Salesforce can and cant do we cant
create capability which would fundamentally break our customers business. With any
upgrade you need to regression test what you are using. When Salesforce brings out a
new release it will go into everyones sandbox and theyll need to go through the
process.

But I think certainly the tools are much stronger than they were. Its the case studies
and reference-ability that create that continual dev ops environment and add new
features and functionality. It is a world away from where it was five years ago. Ive
got some excellent developers who have a long pedigree in Java and C++ and three or
four years ago they would have moaned about the lack of tooling around Salesforce
and having to hand crank everything. They wouldnt say that today."

CBR: Whats changed?

RB: "The key thing is that IT functions have finally been freed up to focus on
process, product and experience in a way that just wasnt true if you roll back the
clock a few years because there was a lot of time looking at tin and wires and
spending thought time rather than actually delivering a better experience. And its no
coincidence that were seeing massive consumerisation of business technology
because of the time to think it through."

CBR: How does the relationship with Salesforce work?

RB: "They will be trialling new features and functions and theyll get in touch with
ISVs to test these things out. So I will run proof of concepts and early stage customers
will be found what want to work on it. And generally see a maturity curve over two to
three years."
"So there are a few major headline things which theyve dropped. But they focus on
the things they get an outcome from. They are looking across at marketing, all the
way through the integration layer, they are looking at data and customer experience
and by bringing it together theyll have something much better. And Ill challenge
whats the alternative? Whats better?"

Closing the B2B Customer and Service

Order Management Gap

As the digital online services explosion fuels network, service and IT infrastructure
transformation, businesses are benefiting from more agile service environments, and seeing
platforms like Salesforce as a natural way to optimize customer engagement.
With this in mind, both cmpanies have unveiled a new collaboration at Dreamforce, the
annual Salesforce conference. The companies are demonstrating a landmark use case in
exposing network function virtualisation (NFV) services into a cloud-based sales automation
platform, bringing a new level of customer centricity to the communications service
proposition. The new interoperability will enable CSPs to leverage salesforce.com to improve
order accuracy, reduce service delivery time and operational costs, and offer better enterprise
customer experience using public and private cloud and NFV.
Comptel and CloudSense recently announced their cooperation to link B2B customer and
service order management for communications service providers (CSPs) using the
salesforce.com Salesforce1 Platform. The collaboration enables CSPs to improve complex
order accuracy, reduce service delivery time and operational costs, and offer a better
enterprise customer experience.
Comptel and CloudSense are demonstrating their unified offering, which bridges the public
and private cloud in a telecommunications setting, at Dreamforce, the annual salesforce.com
conference. The companies revealed a landmark use case in exposing network function
visualization (NFV) services into a cloud-based sales automation platform, bringing customer
centricity to the communications service proposition.
Comptel was selected by salesforce.com to be a part of its Communications Industry
Showcase at Dreamforce. Comptel is involved in a collaborative, carrier-grade, multi-tenant,
cloud-based solution, aiming to help CSPs bring innovative services to market faster. The
showcase demonstrates the rapidly growing interoperating ecosystem around salesforce.com
and leading service and software vendors.
 Key Facts
Comptel Service Order Validator, available through the Salesforce1 AppExchange, and
the CloudSense Telecoms Platform are now interoperable and jointly capable of
offering network-aware sales process automation and intelligent telco lead-to-activation.
Comptel and CloudSense are equipping CSPs using the Salesforce1 Platform with an
interoperable product and service catalog, and enabling them to perform order capture,
feasibility, inventory reservation and fulfillment.
The joint solution works intelligently with the market-leading Comptel Fulfillment platform
and is delivered seamlessly using the CloudSense Telecoms Platform.

CloudSense bolsters vertical

reach with Impactive buy
CloudSense has acquired financial and telecoms IT
29 Apr 2013

consultancy Impactive as it looks to continue its growth

CloudSense has acquired the financial and telecoms IT

consultancy Impactive as it looks to expand its foothold into key
verticals and continue to fuel the growth it has been able to
establish on the back of rising interest from customers in
hosted applications and services.
The cloud integrator and Salesforce platinum partner has
already established a presence in the UK and on mainland
Europe and Impactive will become a wholly owned subsidiary
but remain a legal entity working under the CloudSense brand.
Richard Britton, CEO and co-founder of CloudSense, said that
both firms had a shared view of the market and it had managed
to enjoy decent growth since it started and Impactive would
help continue that momentum.
From the very beginning our focus has always been on having
the best talent and Impactive has the high calibre individuals
that will help develop our business and deliver transformation
through the cloud for our customers," he said.
In response Ian Chick, director and co-founder of Impactive,
said that it was a good time to be acquired into the CloudSense
family as the interest in the technology was "sweeping the
market leading companies we work for".
 ANALYSIS

Salesforce causes partner pain with

SteelBrick acquisition
Sometimes it hurts to be part of an ecosystem

Apttus is doing fine, SteelBrick acquisition notwithstanding

SteelBrick masters the money machine -- raises $48m in Series C

Here we go -- Apttus moves beyond Salesforce

When Salesforce announced its $300 million acquisition of SteelBrick at the

end of last year, one could almost hear the groans from those vendors who
are both SteelBrick competitors and a part of the broader Salesforce
ecosystem.

SteelBrick is a vendor that offers configure-price-quote (CPQ) functionality.

Essentially what that means is that it allows organizations to offer highly
customized pricing and quoting to different customers. Increasingly
competitive edge can be obtained by offering the right product to the right
customer at the right price point, instead of manual guesswork. CPQ vendors
all offer the holy grail of automated and customized pricing across an
organization's customer list.

Salesforce's rationale for the acquisition should be obvious -- increasingly,

simply offering organizations customer relationship management software
isn't enough. Zach Nelson, the CEO of cloud ERP vendor NetSuite, has often
poured scorn on Salesforce's platform suggesting that customer engagement
is nice and all, but is no replacement for transactional-level intelligence. The
ERP vendors generally point to their solutions, which capture and catalog the
day-to-day lifeblood of an organization, revenue, as offering far higher value.

So Salesforce needed to do something. While it is true that it has a host of

CPQ vendors in its ecosystem, it was becoming increasingly obvious that
offering this functionality by way of an add-on simply wouldn't cut it -- CPQ
needs to be a first-party, native platform offering. Which would make sense,
and would have been a simple and noncontroversial piece of news were it not
for those aforementioned ecosystem partners. There are a whole bunch of
vendors who are going to feel bruised, to say the least, by this deal. So who is
likely to be sporting ruffled feathers now?

First and most obvious is Apttus. As I wrote last year when Salesforce
participated in SteelBrick's Series B funding round, Apttus, in particular, has
invested heavily in its Salesforce relationship -- Ive been to a number of
functions held around Dreamforce where Apttus was spending up large to
articulate its Salesforce love. That's not so surprising for a couple of reasons:
first because Apttus is built upon Salesforce's platform, and second because
Salesforce also led Apttus' Series B. A ball in each court, it seems.

To be fair, Apttus is in a slightly different space from SteelBrick, focused, as it

is, on larger enterprise solutions at the top end of town. SteelBrick is targeting
more of the midmarket-and-smaller companies. Notwithstanding this fact, I
previously pointed out that it's unusual to have a venture fund two companies
that directly compete (it would be very interesting to be a fly on the wall within
Salesforce Ventures). I hope Salesforce has some good processes in place to
keep inside information from the two companies at arm's length.

With the acquisition it seems to only be a matter of time before SteelBrick,

under its new Salesforce masters, decides to offer CPQ functionality for all
sizes of organization -- it is at that point that Apttus starts to feel some real
pain. But Apttus isn't the only affected party here.

I covered Vlocity, a specialist Salesforce service provider that is focused on

building highly specific vertical offerings on top of the Salesforce platform.
That doesn't sound like a conflict, but consider that some of those verticals
have a requirement for CPQ functionality and you have a bit of potential
tension. Similarly Kenandy, a manufacturing software vendor that is also built
on top of Salesforce, must be feeling a bit of a squeeze as a part of its unique
proposition is smothered by the new Salesforce offering. Even more so given
the fact that it introduced its own CPQ functionality only a few short weeks
before this deal was announced.

Other vendors should be more worried: Zuora pretty much coined the term
"subscription economy" and has been at the forefront of articulating the
importance of subscription and billing services of a flexible nature to deliver
increasing business agility. But billing and subscription are, to an extent, the
other side of the coin from CPQ. How long before SteelBrick decides to eat
some of Zuora's lunch as well?

While some have suggested that this is an indication that Salesforce is

strongly moving from a functional platform to a verticalized business solution,
I'd not be quite so bold. It seems that Salesforce is looking, in the short term
at least, to keep a foot in both camps.

One thing is for sure, however: There will be some frayed nerves after this
news and an assortment of vendors will be increasingly wary of Salesforce
and its aspirations.
One suggestion, somewhat out of left field but perhaps not given this news, is
that FinancialForce.com may soon graduate from simply being a solution built
on the Salesforce platform (and, incidentally, with an investment stake from
Salesforce) to being a full-fledged Salesforce product. Much depends on
Salesforce's intention with regard to SMB vs. enterprise and, by extension,
FinancialForce's ability, or otherwise, to move up the food chain into larger-
size enterprise.

Either way, a fascinating deal and one which will have repercussions into the
future.

This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to

Join?

Telstra : hunts digitisation leader for

Salesforce, Cloudsense, Amdocs
overhaul of sales system
0

04/11/2017 | 08:23am EDT

Telstra is preparing for a "once in a lifetime" digital transformation of its own internal sales
systems in what it has dubbed "one of the biggest digital transformations in Australia."

The telco is searching for a digitisation lead to head up a new team inside Telstra`s Global
Enterprise and Services business. GES focuses on Telstra`s top enterprise and government
accounts.

Telstra plans to revamp the sales experience for its 2000 global sellers by deploying software-
as-a-service products from Salesforce, Cloudsense and Amdocs as part of the new system.
The aim is to deliver a better customer experience, reduce operating costs and maintain
market leadership through digitisation.

Cloudsense is an omnichannel commerce platform extension for Salesforce that gives

customers configure, price and quote tools along with order and contract management for any
channel.

Amdocs specialises in software for communications and media companies with products that
include business support systems, operational support systems, open network solutions,
internet of things and big data analytics.

Moving to a single digital system would allow Telstra to transition from cumbersome, manual
or inefficient processes cobbled together over decades of expansion and automate some of
the sales elements in the business. This would mean customers could order from a fully
digitised environment, and could require fewer boots on the ground for Telstra`s sales team.

The new digitisation lead will be responsible for building intelligent support and sales systems
as the product owner for the configure, price, quote and order system.
"Not only will you be a strong strategic bridge between the business and IT but you will also
get the opportunity to liaise with some of the most exciting digital brands in the
market," Telstra wrote in a job listing.

Key responsibilities for the digital lead will be shaping the configure, price, quote and order
roadmap across the B2B business, work with the development teams to represent business
requirements and establish a new way of working to deliver new capabilities.

Telstra has been open about its ambitions to become a global tech player and invest in
digitising the business as it moves towards that goal.

The company has been curating a mix of best-of-breed technology to develop its own product
offerings. It has made a foray into the internet of things with the launch of its smart home-as-
a-service product, which combines smart devices and energy kits from a range of
vendors. Telstra has also pulled together partnerships with hyperscale cloud providers such
as Microsoft, Amazon and IBM Softlayer as part of its multi-cloud strategy, which sits
alongside its own CSX platform.

Last year, Telstra announced it would accelerate the digitisation process with a $1
billion investment. The company set a number of goals to be completed by 2020 to achieve
this, such as:

50 percent of applications retired, contained or moved to the cloud by FY20 currently 17

percent.

Delivery of agile/DevOps capabilities increased from 20 percent to 70 percent by FY20.

Straight processing of consumer NBN orders to 95 percent by FY20 currently less than five
percent.

70 percent of customer service transactions conducted from digital channels currently 58

percent.

Telstra expects to cut $1 billion in costs from the process, and to make back $500 million in
annual benefits from the investment.

Telstra`s head of cloud Jim Fagan told IBM`s cloud conference in Las Vegas last month that it
was migrating approximately 4000 mission-critical applications to IBM`s Bluemix cloud to form
the foundation of a "very large digital transformation project".