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Market Insight


Cloud Computing solutions, including Software, Infrastructure, Platform, Unified Communications, Mobile, and Content as a Service are well-established and growing. The evolution of these markets will be driven by the complex interaction of all participants, beginning with end customers.

Edge Strategies has conducted over 80,000 interviews in behalf of our clients in both mature and emerging markets with decision-makers across the full cloud ecosystem- including Vendors, Service Provider and End Customer organizations.

Typical projects include:

  • Identifying target market segments
  • Designing Service Portfolios
  • Designing Application and Services Features
  • Developing Value Proposition and Messaging for each customer segment
  • Analyzing competitive alternatives and determining best practices
  • Designing Activation Programs
  • Building process to reduce churn, build loyalty and measure Customer Lifetime Value
  • Improving the User Experience

We provide current, actionable insight into business decision processes across market segments, from SMBs to Large Enterprises. Our work leverages a deep understanding of the business models of key Cloud Ecosystem participants including:

  • Cloud Service Providers ( CSPs)
  • Web Hosting Providers
  • Communication Service Providers
  • ISVs and Automation Providers
  • MSPs and IT Channels

Our experience allows us to get up to speed quickly on new projects. We are experts in designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Based on our focused findings, we work with our clients to make the decisions necessary to gain early success in a variety of markets, including SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, UCaaS, and mobile/device services.    

 

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News

  • SEC, DOJ investigate CrowdStrike deal with reseller Carahsoft

    US feds are reportedly investigating a $32 million deal inked by CrowdStrike with a government reseller to provide cybersecurity tools for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — products the agency never used and said it didn’t even purchase. On the last day of Q3 2023, the security giant signed a contract with top government software reseller Carahsoft Technology Corp. for use of its identity threat detection software by the IRS, according to a Bloomberg report. The timing seems to be a critical component of the investigation, as the transaction was large enough for CrowdStrike to meet Wall Street expectations for the quarter. Given that IRS usage hasn’t materialized, some, including, Bloomberg said, CrowdStrike’s own employees, have raised concerns about pre-booking — the inflation of sales figures to meet investor expectations. However, a CrowdStrike spokesperson told Computerworld: “We stand by the accounting of the transaction.” Carahsoft did not reply to Computerworld’s requests for comment. IRS: We never purchased CrowdStrike software According to two people who spoke with Bloomberg on agreement of anonymity, investigators for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been conducting interviews with CrowdStrike and IRS staff and collecting records related to the deal, including written documents exchanged between IRS, CrowdStrike, and Carahsoft employees. Investigators are asking witnesses about any interactions between CrowdStrike sales staff and IRS employees, and have repeatedly queried whether the agency purchased CrowdStrike software, to which they’ve repeatedly been told “no”, according to the anonymous sources. Previously, CrowdStrike and Carahsoft said they had settled on a “non-cancellable order,” but they haven’t said whether there was indeed a purchase order in place from the IRS. After the deal was finalized and CrowdStrike reported its third quarter results, company shares jumped 10%. CEO George Kurtz even seemed to call the deal out in the quarterly earnings call, saying that “identity threat protection wins in the quarter included an eight-figure total deal value win in the federal government.” However, several months later, CrowdStrike appeared to backtrack, excluding roughly $26 million from its annual recurring revenue, citing a federal distributor’s intent to exercise transferability rights. Carahsoft, for its part, has been under scrutiny for some time now. The FBI searched its Reston, Virginia headquarters last year in a matter related to another partner, and federal prosecutors are performing a separate civil investigation into whether the company conspired to overcharge the government. Pre-sales a ‘leadership problem’ Experts and analysts say the CrowdStrike-Carahsoft narrative emphasizes the pressure placed on enterprise IT buyers and sellers to sign deals before end-of-quarter (EOQ). “Quarter-end deal pressure is one of the most predictable yet high-stakes dynamics in enterprise IT negotiations,” Adam Mansfield, commercial advisory practice leader with IT negotiation advisors UpperEdge, told Computerworld. Vendor sales reps push hard to lock in revenue, typically tied to new product adoption, upgrades, or expanded usage, before closing their books, he said, “often dangling so-called ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ aggressive discounting to secure commitments.” Scott Bickley, advisory fellow at Info-Tech Research Group, agreed. “Buyers have been conditioned by vendors who are publicly traded to strategically position deals at EOQ and preferably at the end of the vendor’s fiscal year,” he said. But while urgency can create opportunity, it also carries significant risks, Mansfield pointed out. Committing to products and/or volumes that aren’t fully vetted, and misalignment of contract terms, can later cause financial damage, particularly when these new products come with non-cancelable subscriptions. “The practice often creates more problems than it solves,” agreed SaaS and service brand consultant Chad Perry. “Deals get ‘booked’ under false pretenses, contracts get renegotiated (or canceled) post-quarter, and the next thing you know, the company is explaining ‘revenue recognition issues’ on an earnings call.” While, at the end of the day, the blame may land in the sales department, “pre-booking is never just a sales problem,” he said. “It’s a leadership problem.” Buyers’ opportunity in EOQ deals For buyers, EOQ deals can both exploit and be exploited, experts point out. In the case of IT buyers, understanding this pressure can actually be a strategic advantage, Perry noted. “If you know the seller is under quarter-end stress, you have leverage,” he said. “You can negotiate better terms, push for extras, or even delay and see what they offer to close.” Mansfield emphasized that the key for IT buyers is to seek out opportunity in vendor urgency, while at the same time maintaining control. This means ensuring pricing is truly competitive and securing proper concessions (such as protections). The worst-case scenario: Committing to costly products and fees only to see plans unravel due to business shifts, internal delays, lack of realized value, or vendor-side complications. “Smart buyers use quarter-end pressure to their advantage, but never let it dictate the terms of their agreements,” said Mansfield.

  • Amazon concedes that Chime SDK makes far more sense than the Chime application itself

    Amazon’s announcement on Wednesday that it is abandoning its Chime collaboration app, while stressing that it will double down on the far more successful Chime software development kit (SDK), was an example of Amazon being Amazon. It knows what it does well, and where to focus. Analysts said that the Chime app made some sense when it was introduced in February 2017, but that sharply changed in 2000 when the pandemic hit. Microsoft and Zoom added lots of new functionality to their collaboration platforms, but Amazon didn’t add much to Chime. And over the years, rivals have continued to beef up their products.  Chime’s feature set quickly was outshone and its market share plunged; currently its share is negligible, with one firm placing it at literally 0.0%.  Amazon itself described its Chime app market share as “limited,” and conceded that its competitors, which it referred to as partners, had outpaced it. “When we decide to retire a service or feature, it is typically because we’ve introduced something better or our partners offer a solution that is a good fit for our customers as well as our own employees,” said Erik Denny of Amazon media relations. “In Chime’s case, its use outside of Amazon was limited and our partners offer great collaboration solutions, so we will lean into those.” In an internal memo to Amazon employees, the company threw its support behind key rivals. “Zoom is replacing Amazon Chime as the standard meeting application for Amazon internal meetings,” it said.  “Microsoft Teams will also be available for scenarios where full integration with M365 is needed. Cisco Webex will also be available for communication with customers who use Cisco Webex.” The app has failed, but popular SDK prevails The Chime app’s situation is almost the opposite of that of the popular Chime SDK. The lack of functionality that was so important to app users was irrelevant to users of the SDK, as enterprises and vendors used it as the foundation for capabilities they built into their own apps, including Slack Huddles and Intuit’s Virtual Expert Platform.  Amazon also introduced its SDK much earlier than did Microsoft or Zoom, allowing the Chime SDK to build up a significant market share advantage, said Melody Brue, VP and principal analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy. “I’m not surprised at all [about the app’s demise],” Brue said. “They really haven’t invested a whole lot into the Chime app.” Jeremy Roberts, the senior director of research at Info-Tech Research Group, agreed. He said the decision to kill the Chime app while increasing support for the Chime SDK made perfect sense. “My takeaway is that this is very logical. They never climbed to the top of the stack [with the app]. [Enterprises] didn’t like the product, but they loved the infrastructure,” Roberts said. “Amazon is a good telescope manufacturer but not a good astronomer.” Wayne Kurtzman, an IDC research VP, also noted that Amazon never promoted the Chime app, although they certainly could have. “Amazon is really good at creating narratives, but Chime never had a good go-to-market strategy,” Kurtzman said. “It fell short in creating mindshare in a market that was growing incredibly rapidly.”  One year warning for users, migration help promised In Amazon’s public statement, the company said, “After careful consideration, we have decided to end support for the Amazon Chime service, including Business Calling features, effective February 20, 2026. Amazon Chime will no longer accept new customers beginning February 19, 2025. Existing customers can continue to use Amazon Chime features, including Business Calling, scheduling and hosting meetings, adding and managing users, and other capabilities supported through the Amazon Chime administration console.” It then pledged to help transition the few remaining Chime app users to other platforms, including “solutions provided by AWS, such as AWS Wickr, or from AWS partners, such as Zoom from Zoom Video Communications Inc., Webex from Cisco Systems, Inc., and Slack from Salesforce.” Alternative AWS Wickr ‘should have its chance to shine,’ says analyst However, Roberts questioned how long Amazon will support Wickr, given that it suffers from many of the same shortcomings as the Chime app. “I don’t see a lot of Wickr use with our enterprise clients,” he said. But, he added, the robust security capabilities within Wickr may make it viable in select segments, such as governments.  Will McKeon-White, a senior analyst with Forrester, was more optimistic about Wickr, arguing that an encrypted messaging app is going to have more staying power than a video conferencing one. “Usually, replacing a messaging solution is much more difficult than replacing a video calling solution,” McKeon-White said. “Messaging needs to have integration into a whole host of different things. What it comes down to is that it’s much harder to replace.” Part of the issue is that users often need to refer to messages from months earlier, but they rarely have to review old conference calls. That is why employees will often hang onto those old messaging apps even if the corporate standard has changed, because “there is some critical thing that they need that messaging app for.” IDC’s Kurtzman also said that Wickr should get its chance to shine. “They have a good security narrative and a good security story, which is advanced cryptography,” he said, noting that should be a critical feature given that enterprises are putting “all of the intellectual property of the business” into their messages. He said that Wickr might be positioned as the glue to integrate different genAI offerings from different companies. In the end, said Roberts, the key enterprise IT takeaway from this is to stick with the dominant players in the collaboration space. “It validates the decision to consolidate on the blue-chip collaboration solutions.”

  • Apple terminates UK data protection after government overreach

    As of 10 a.m. (ET) today, Apple is no longer offering new users in the UK the chance to enable Advanced Data Protection. Essentially, anyone who now wants to enable the feature to protect their data against criminal or state surveillance or exfiltration will no longer be able to do so. The move appears to be a direct response to the foolish and supremely dangerous demand by the UK government to undermine personal data security on an international scale. The UK used its Investigatory Powers Act to demand Apple secretly break encryption protecting data held in iCloud with the creation of a backdoor into that data. Rather than comply, Apple has instead switched off the encryption. Advanced Data Protection (ADP) gives Apple’s users end-to-end encryption across nine iCloud data categories that are not otherwise so encrypted, These include iCloud Backup, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, Wallet Passes and Freeform. Other iCloud categories, including iCloud Keychain, Health, and iMessage, will remain encrypted. Related content: Apple 2025 products, news and discussion of the UK data “back door” request. What this means to UK users In a statement, the company said: “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature. ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices. “We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK, given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy. Enhancing the security of cloud storage with end-to-end encryption is more urgent than ever before.” What the change means is that if you have not already enabled ADP on your device, you will receive a message warning you that the feature is no longer available to new users in the UK. It gets worse, of course. If you happen to be a UK customer who is already using ADP, you can eventually expect to be told to disable the feature in order to continue using your iCloud account. Apple evidently doesn’t want to have to do this; the company knows full well that in the current threat landscape, it makes sense to encrypt all of your data — which is why it introduced ADP in the first place. A huge act of self-harm by the UK Speaking to the BBC, online security expert Professor Alan Woodward called this a “very disappointing development,” slamming the government for an act of self-harm. “All the UK government has achieved is to weaken online security and privacy for UK based users.” Unfortunately, the incompetent UK government does not understand this. It’s a huge indictment of UK officials in the Home Office, who have effectively given the world’s authoritarians a green light to demand access to people’s data.As anyone who understands digital security knows, no one is safe unless everyone is safe, and the UK has just made everyone less safe.  Fortunately, the ADP system remains available in the rest of the world.  It is likely the decision to disable the system in the UK follows the recent UK attempt to demand access to data held in iCloud by anyone in the world. Sadly, we can’t be certain this is the case as, under the law the government used to demand this, we have no right to be told. That means we do not know the full extent to which Apple has been forced to open up to state surveillance by UK authorities. We do not know how the government is handling that access and have not been told how it will affect users. Nor do we know the extent to which the government is attempting to secure global access to iCloud data, threatening the interests of other nations in the act. All we do know is that the government is guilty of an authoritarian overreach to the detriment of its own national security. Senators in the US are already threatening to re-evaluate intelligence sharing agreements with the UK unless it ceases this digital overreach. Apple will continue to fight As I wrote when this foolish demand was made, far from making people safer, the UK demand threatens everyone: “Ultimately, privacy is a human right, not a feature, and the removal of such rights should at least be a matter of public and democratic debate, which it has not been. As it stands, this UK overreach should be opposed not only by civil rights advocates, but by anyone else who uses — or provides — online services of any kind, and certainly by any nation that does protect privacy among its citizens. “  The fight for privacy is not over.  Apple will continue to push for it. In the statement, the company stressed: “Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom. As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services, and we never will.” You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

  • Microsoft releases a new genAI model that can control robots

    Microsoft has launched Magma, a new generative AI (genAI) model that can be used to control everything from software to robots. The company says Magma is the first such model that can act on its own based on multimodal data such as texts, images, and video. It can, for example, use an interface or handle physical objects, Ars Technica reports. Parts of the code for Magma will be posted on Guthub next week, allowing researchers to test and build on the it.

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