Wednesday, September 16, 2009

“Adobe ties web design to business results - ZDNet Blogs” plus 4 more

“Adobe ties web design to business results - ZDNet Blogs” plus 4 more

Adobe ties web design to business results - ZDNet Blogs

Posted: 16 Sep 2009 06:31 AM PDT

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Adobe ties web design to business results

Posted in:

  • Adobe
  • Content management
  • Omniture
  • Web 2.0
The more I think about Adobe's decision to acquire Omniture for a mouthwatering $1.8 billion (Techmeme coverage), the more it feels like a smart move (though I know others are wondering how the deal makes sense). The growth of SaaS and cloud services gives Adobe a looming problem, which depends for its revenues on sales of conventionally licensed software, most of it to the creative people who design corporate websites. Even if those users turn out to be the last people on earth to switch their allegiance to cloud-based applications (as well they might), they're still going to slow their spending on licensed alternatives in the meantime. Adobe needs a way to tap into the faster growth that's available from online solutions, and Omniture, which I once named one of The four horsemen of SaaS, will help it jump on the gas. By the way, some financial analysts are saying Adobe overpaid because competition from the free-of-charge Google Analytics service is already putting Omniture's revenues under pressure. I don't think the analysts who are saying that really understand much about business. Omniture's core customer base are enterprises that spend huge amounts of money on web marketing and their online presence, and who want to measure the effectiveness of and return on that spending. They're going to rely on a free-of-charge service for such a critical business process? One that's provided by the same company that accounts for a large proportion of their online ad spend? Puh-leeze! But back to why Adobe made this move now. Its existing strategy, which I described last year in a post on SAP, Adobe, Microsoft: three monkeys take on SaaS, has been to develop a new line of collaborative applications that compete on Microsoft's turf rather than cannibalizing its own licensed revenue stream. That strategy continues, but it's inevitably taking a while to build it out. Hence the decision to open a new front in the company's transition into online services. Omniture makes a superb fit for reasons that are succinctly summarized in this graphic presented on yesterday's analyst call: The thinking behind this is the same meme that led SuccessFactors last week to refocus its strategic positioning around the notion of 'business execution'. The new strategy at SuccessFactors makes an explicit link between employee performance management and business goals. Similarly, Adobe's new strategy makes an explicit link between website design and business goals. Instead of simply enabling its customers to build websites, adding Omniture's service means that now its customers can also measure and tune the effectiveness of that activity, as part of an integrated, round-trip process. Not everyone in Adobe's customer base is going to like having all this instrumentation and accountability thrust upon them, but it's in tune with the way the world increasingly works these days. The connectivity and real-time data streams of the Web allow us to join up processes that have always previously been disjointed. Of course there are other elements of synergy in this deal, such as being able to do a better job of tracking user behavior when navigating Flash objects, especially multimedia — companies like Omniture have always struggled with the Adobe web technology. Similarly, there's a lot of scope to do a better job of tracking how readers interact with online documents, which maps well to Adobe's other online service strategy as well as its PDF technologies. Finally — and perhaps most importantly — Omniture's top management will bring much-needed SaaS 'DNA' into Adobe — CEO Josh James has wowed several SaaS conference audiences with his pitch on how to drive SaaS revenue growth. But the reason this notion of joined-up web design and usage analysis is so front-of-mind for me is because I know how much history and expertise in this already exists within Omniture. One of the earliest SaaS content management vendors was a company called Atomz, which launched an on-demand website search engine in 1998 — my website at the time, ASPnews.com, was an early user, and I continued to use it on subsequent web properties. Atomz, which later launched a complete on-demand web CMS, ended up being acquired in 2005 by web analytics provider WebSideStory, in a deal which presaged some of the synergies I've outlined above. As Atomz founder and CEO Steve Kusmer said at the time: "So much is possible by taking the analytics data you have and marrying it with the applications running your Web site." WebSideStory's then CMO Rand Schulman elaborated on this notion in an interview later that year:
"the effect of combining the full suite is to give marketeers the ability to assess and react to the success of their online marketing in real-time ... Traffic analysis allows them to measure where visitors have come from and what they do while on the site. By controlling search and content they can make changes at any time to optimize how potential customers explore the site and find the information or products they're looking for. Keyword bid management allows them to fine-tune the efficiency of their spending on contextual advertising, bringing new prospects to the site more cost-effectively. Because all this happens on-demand and in real-time, marketeers can put themselves directly in control of the effectiveness of their campaigns."
WebSideStory, which renamed itself Visual Sciences after an acquisition, was itself acquired by Omniture in January 2008. I feel sure that legacy of knowledge and experience of what can be achieved from marrying web content design and management with web analytics formed a big part of the sales pitch when Omniture negotiated the price of its deal with Adobe.

posted by Phil Wainewright
September 16, 2009 @ 6:03 am

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Business association responds to controversial parking survey - Am770chqr.com

Posted: 16 Sep 2009 07:00 AM PDT

 Business association responds to controversial parking survey
CHQR Newsroom
9/16/2009

A growing battle between the Calgary Parking Authority and Calgary Downtown Association appears to be a case of comparing apples to oranges.
CDA Executive Director Maggie Schofield dismisses a new survey suggesting most people think the Park Plus system works great.
She says that doesn't matter - it's the cost of parking and the ability for shoppers to find a spot that's having a negative impact on business.
"They struggle to find a place or manuevre around," Schofield said. "We experience a lot of calls where people tell us they're no longer coming downtown or choose to do their business elsewhere."
The Calgary Parking Authority insists the survey in favour of Park Plus is further proof that downtown businesses should stop blaming parking for poor sales.
General Manager Dale Fraser adds if price is an issue, downtown businesses should complain to city council, which sets the rates.

White Door Inc. Adds International Business Development and Renewable ... - MSN Money

Posted: 16 Sep 2009 07:14 AM PDT

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Top business news (about 4 alerts per day) - MSNBC

Posted: 16 Sep 2009 07:07 AM PDT

NEW YORK - Chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp. confirmed Tuesday that Brazilian beef producer JBS SA will buy a majority stake in the company for $800 million in a deal that will let Pilgrim's Pride emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The deal includes paying off Pilgrim's Pride's creditors in full and also a distribution of new stock to current shareholders.

The Pittsburg, Texas-based chicken maker said it has agreed to sell 64 percent of stock in the reorganized company to JBS for $800 million in cash, implying a total company value of $1.25 billion. Existing shareholders will receive shares totaling 36 percent of the company, worth $450 million.

In addition, the plan calls for an exit financing of $1.75 billion.

Pilgrim's Pride was the nation's largest chicken producer before it filed for bankruptcy protection late last year, hobbled by debt due to a buyout of a competitor and high feed costs that left much of the industry in a slump.

The sale, of which rumors surfaced earlier this month, gives JBS an entry in the U.S. poultry market, buying up a major player in the category. JBS is already one of the top producers of beef and pork in the U.S. and the world.

Pilgrim's Pride said the deal is subject to antitrust clearance. Regulators earlier this year sued to block JBS' acquisition of a major beef producer, citing pricing concerns for consumers and producers. The $560 million deal with National Beef Packing Co. was later dropped.

Under terms of the plan, all creditors holding allowed claims will be paid in full by cash or issuance of a new note. Pilgrim's Pride said if the deal is approved by the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, it could emerge from bankruptcy protection by December.

Pilgrim's Pride has trimmed its business in the past year by cutting production and idling plants so it could control costs and get out of bankruptcy protection. The slimmed-down company returned to profitability earlier this year and also benefited as ingredient costs moderated from record highs last summer.

Senior Chairman Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim said the deal marks a new beginning for the company.

"While the past year has been a difficult time for everyone involved in our restructuring, I take pride in knowing that we have a plan in place to pay back our creditors in full and preserve a great deal of value for our existing stockholders," he said in a statement.

JBS USA Holdings CEO Wesley M. Batista said the company looks forward to entering the U.S. poultry market, expanding Pilgrim's poultry business and increasing the company's competitiveness around the world.


Business As Usual - Philippine Star Online

Posted: 16 Sep 2009 06:31 AM PDT

Bringing yet another unique bazaar experience in the South, The Bellevue Hotel in partnership with Four Seasons Creative Ventures recently treated shoppers to a fabulous two-day bazaar event held inside the hotel's luxurious Laguna and Alabang Ballrooms.
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