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Erasing the Stigma of Enterprise Software
I read an interesting article last night (thanks to @JHaughwout) reporting that Andreessen Horowitz (Silicon Valley VC) is bulking up its capabilities in enterprise computing and solutions. There were a couple of great points made in the piece:
1) many VCs have shied away from investments in enterprise solutions because
- Sales cycles are long
- IT purchasers are a difficult sell (are a pain)
- The companies they fund compete with industry stalwarts such as IBM
2) there is a great divide between the quality and usability of B2C software and that of B2B solutions
Why is the elegance we find in consumer applications so blatantly missing on the enterprise side? As the author of the article points out, our experience at home increasingly raises the bar for those who want to play in the enterprise side. People will demand solutions at work that are as functional as those they use at home. Companies who get this will not only be highly differentiated, but will be able to bring a new set of evangelists and advocates for their solutions.
We believe that this “consumerization” of the enterprise space is a very important trend. It is driven by the proliferation of Saas models, infrastructure on demand, outsourcing and increasingly efficient marketing and distribution methods. Its why you will see more content from us on successful tactics used in B2C social media and how these can be applied to the B2B/enterprise world.
Through my experience with small enterprise software companies I have lived through the painful truth of the points above, but currents in the competitive structure of the enterprise software space that suggest that they may not be the status quo for long.
Link to the article:
