Hey, this thread is happening again! Steve Farber, where are you? In the words of the mighty Zep, permit me to "Ramble On"...
Melissa, you're absolutely right, I'm thrilled with my SEBL gains these last couple of months. I just hope that VNTV stock wakes up from its slumber. Geoffrey Moore may be right (that the SI VNTV thread has lots of great buzz) but our little darling hasn't been much of a winner from a shareholder perspective for the last year and a half.
My $.02 on the other weighty issues:
1. On the value of Microsoft as a customer
It's probably had a major impact on CLFY- either it saved their ship or distracted them immensely. Probably only Kevin knows the true answer. Kev, can't you put a positive spin on this for a change?
2. On the "Bowling Alley"
Geoffrey Moore has some fine parables with some very apt analogies to the "CIS" market (e.g. bowling alley, chasm crossing). I'm a big fan of his. Unfortunately life (or business strategy) isn't always so linear. The mine-field is fraught with difficult decisions about target markets and products that can lead to many unforeseen consequences. For example, VNTV was debating developing an SFA product back in 1993, and decided to put it on the back burner. Who knows what would have happened if VNTV threw themselves whole-heartedly into SFA back then. Now they are coming up with some very clever positioning in SFA, I'll think they'll have a good deal of success with it.
3. On "Tornado Marketing" as applied to CIS
IMO, there is never going to be a "Tornado" for the CIS market. Instead, markets for enterprise sales automation, support, and help desk are already established and growing. And none of these vendors are going to wake up one morning and find that their major imperatives are market leadership and operational effectiveness (to a greater degree than customer intimacy). Any one of these vendors that ignores the customer is going to get slammed. Who knows, this still may happen to SEBL.
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