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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

  • As governments everywhere continue to deal with the economically damaging fallout of last week’s appalling Crowdstrike/Microsoft disaster, it’s no surprise to see more governments switching to Apple’s most stable platform. To put things into context, Parametrix Insurance has analyzed the consequences of last week’s global blue screen of death incident and assesses the economic cost of the moment on the world economy as being in the multiple billions of dollars. Estimated direct financial loss across the Fortune 500 was $5.4 billion, Parametrix said.  That’s a painful amount to lose. This did real damage While it has subsequently been claimed that 97% of affected systems are back in operation, that still leaves hundreds of thousands of business-critical PCs that aren’t doing their job. I’ll be looking more closely at these consequences next week. I imagine businesses that became reliant on these products are already exploring their options — after all, that kind of $5.4 billion cost was almost certainly never anticipated by IT departments when estimating the TCOs of their PC fleets. These incidents will undoubtedly make a lot of people think twice when it comes to their next hardware upgrade. After all, as business becomes increasingly mobile, and services migrate to the cloud, the strength of vendor lock-in is shrinking to the extent that it is becoming much easier to transition to multiple platforms to build business resilience against future debacles — or move to a platform characterized by lack of such drama, which is Apple. Is it time to migrate? Apple is ready if you are.  Not only is the company now equipped with a wide and diverse range of enterprise-focused companies such as Addigy, Jamf, Kandji and all the other firms I speak with each week, but its future-focused platforms are inherently more resilient by design. That’s why Apple dumped support for kernel extensions years ago, among other examples. While no platform is ever completely secure, the vast majority of problems on Apple’s platforms emerge through user error, not globally deployed automated PC-borking software updates. Of course, the bias that Apple is a consumer product that isn’t fit for the enterprise runs deep, and shifting that view is taking time — though events such as the Crowdstrike disaster should help people question that opinion.  I think the momentum to diversify is growing.  Apple is ready for government That the German government is switching to Apple speaks to this trend. The procurement office of Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community’s (BMI) recently concluded a deal with Bechtle for the supply of up to 300,000 Apple devices across the entire federal administration. That means all government agencies will use iPhones and iPads equipped with Apple’s iNDIGO (iOS Native Devices in Government Operation) platform. iNDIGO offers built-in security features, regular updates, hardware-based encryption and strict data protection policies and has been approved by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) for the secure sharing of confidential content classified as “for official use only” (VS-NfD).”  It’s very similar to the increasing adoption of Apple products across US government. Apple is also “actively participating in several governmental security evaluations and certifications globally,” the company says. Time to switch? As I see it, for companies looking to build more resilience in IT after the Crowdstrike strike, news that Apple’s platforms are considered good enough and secure enough for active use by national governments should lay to rest the utterly mistaken myth that Apple’s devices aren’t good for business. Apple is now ready for government. It’s ready for business. Finally, of course, regardless of whatever platforms you choose to deploy, it seems sensible to check the terms and conditions of any mission-critical service to ensure you’ll get compensated in the event a software patch breaks your business and costs you money. Why should any customer pay for a product that fails? Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

  • From the editors of Computerworld, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps IT staff understand what the various unified endpoint management (UEM) platforms can do for their organizations and how to choose the right solution.

  • Google’s AI unit Deepmind has demonstrated two new AI systems, AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry 2, which can successfully solve complex mathematical problems, representing a significant milestone in AI development, Reuters reports . Today’s AI models work by being able to recognize patterns and statistically predict, for example, the next word that should be generated. However, this is not enough to handle abstract mathematics, which instead requires a system that can reason in a way that more closely resembles human intelligence. AlpaProof and AlphaGeometry 2 succeeded in solving four out of six questions in this year’s edition of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). One question was solved in just a few minutes; others took up to three days to solve, which is longer than the competition allows. AlpaProof also managed to solve the competition’s most difficult problem, which only five of 600 human participants managed to do.

  • Open AI CEO Sam Altman has written an attention-grabbing column in The Washington Post about the risks of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that authoritarian countries such as Russia and China want to control the development of AI systems — something that could eventually threaten humanity. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that whoever wins the AI ​​battle will be the “ruler of the world”, while China has a stated goal of becoming the leader in AI by 2030. To prevent that from happening, the United States and its allies should work together to ensure that AI is used as a tool for freedom and democracy, Altman wrote. To achieve that goal, substantial investment in security, infrastructure, diplomacy and dialogue will be required, he argued.