Change For A New Year

As much as the holidays, this is my favorite time of the year - the welcome return to a new year feeling invigorated.

The holidays were wonderful once again. Celebrating in NYC, San Fran and Chicago with my new friends at Bluewolf is a welcome contrast to this time a year ago. Lori, Emily and I offer our thanks to associates and friends for the support in 2007.

Change in '08 began in Iowa, where caucus results drove home change as the political theme for '08. Obama and Huckabee tapped into change politically and will set the tone for the primary season. John Edwards' commented that 'whenever agents for change speak out, attacks from the status quo are quick to follow' reminds me of the challenges of my new professional world.

Railing against the status quo is pure Americana. Bridging the gap between politics and real world, rhetoric and action, real change vs. perception often proves tougher.

For me in '08, change is more clearly defined and is the basis for this blog. Change "On-demand" through Software as a Service (SAAS) will continue to change the way we live and work. Today's networks, both professional and social, are rapidly converging to create paradigm shifts that become tomorrow's success stories.

At this time a year ago, YouTube was an infant, Linkedin.com barely a blip on the radar, Facebook was considered a social diversion for twentysomethings, Google Docs posed no threat to Microsoft Office and Salesforce.com was the breakout pioneer in the on-demand sales and CRM sector. These were the Obamas of the technology world, attractive players not yet ready for prime time when stacked to the status quo.

In his excellent new book, "The Big Switch", Nicolas Carr argues that the most sweeping changes to occur through the Internet are yet to come. he compares this point in time to a century ago and the formation of the national electrical grid which brought sweeping work, culture, communication changes over the exisiting generator-based non-connected models.

Compare that to today as the maturation of computing grids begins to allow faster, cheaper, scaleable access to a proliferation of professional, personal, social and scaleable solutions. What companies like Google, YouTube, Facebook and dozens of others have enabled individuals to access - business solutions offered by Salesforce.com are bringing to business. The playing field for business big and small is leveling as points of entry and expansion become more cheaper and the speed to market continues to compress.

In my view, 2008 will be the year at which the tipping point for hosted solutions and SAAS models garner true momentum that alter the competitive landscape.

Eyes on change, where the possible meets the practical - thats where I will be spending my time in '08. What about you? Are you an Agent for Change or the Status Quo?

Insights in an on-demand world.