WESTON, Fla., Jul 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ultimate Software , the leading provider of unified, end-to-end human capital management (HCM) SaaS solutions in North America, will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday, July 27 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2010.

Forward-looking information about future company performance may be discussed during the teleconference call. This call is open to the public and will be hosted by Scott Scherr, CEO, president, and founder, and Mitchell Dauerman, CFO, executive vice president, and treasurer. The call will be audiocast live via Vcall at http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=159791.

We recommend that you access this site 10 minutes before the start of the call. Windows Media Player or Real Player software is required to listen to the call and can be downloaded from the site. The call will be available for replay at the same Web address at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on July 27, 2010.

Ultimate’s press release for second-quarter financial results will be available after 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on July 27 on the company’s Web site at www.ultimatesoftware.com.

About Ultimate

The leading provider of unified, end-to-end human capital management (HCM) SaaS solutions in North America, Ultimate markets its award-winning UltiPro solution as an on-demand service through Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Based in Weston, FL, Ultimate employs approximately 1,000 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services. In 2009, Ultimate was awarded first place in the People’s Choice Stevie(R) competition for Favorite New SaaS Product and was ranked the #1 best medium-sized company to work for in America by the Great Place to Work(R) Institute for the second consecutive year. In 2008, Ultimate was the first HR/payroll SaaS provider to be audited and awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Certification for security management and was recognized for having the #1 “Best Product Development Team” in the nation by the American Business Awards. Ultimate has more than 1,900 customers representing diverse industries, including such organizations as Adobe Systems Incorporated, The Container Store, Culligan International, Elizabeth Arden, Major League Baseball, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, and Ruth’s Chris Steak House. More information on Ultimate’s products and services can be found at www.ultimatesoftware.com.

UltiPro is a registered trademark of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Ultimate Software

(Nice looking Cloud Service for Businesses)

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File Sharing and Tracking Beyond FTP

How to send large files easily and securely on the Internet has long been a challenge for professionals in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries. Even the most secure FTP file share solutions can be unreliable and cumbersome, with limited capacity for tracking user updates. Using an SAAS (software as a service) productivity tool can solve file management problems on every level. Web-based software finally puts professionals in control of file sharing and management and replaces outdated FTP technology with unprecedented security, efficiency, organization and affordability. Lower risk and higher productivity result in overall profitability.

Software Services Solve the Tracking Dilemma

With SAAS (software as a service), users can manage files specifically designed for Architecture, Engineering and Construction firms. A web software service transforms how companies previously worked. Tracking large projects from remote locations can become confusing when a team is geographically spread out. Even when working from the same location it can become problematic for people trying to track the who, when and what of small changes being made to a large PDF or drawing. Unlike with FTP, a software service tracks exactly who has opened a document and/or made changes. It can automatically time and date stamp every transmission with a history of revisions and comments for easy retrieval. The right software productivity tool can even include a variety of automated alerts for all project members every time an update has been transmitted.

The Ease of a Simple Software Service

With a Web based, SAAS productivity tool there is no special software or hardware to install on anyone’s computer. With just an Internet connection and a Web browser, the service is immediately accessible. Files can be uploaded, sent and recorded with just a few clicks. The entire process of how to transfer large files is streamlined into simple and reliable automation. Every type of document can be easily exchanged and retrieved at any time of day or night without confusion.

Cutting Edge Retrieval

A software service productivity tool not only liberates users from problems of how to send large files, but it gives them new power over how to search and retrieve files. Unlike with FTP file share systems, files managed online can be retrieved in multiple ways. The file share technology allows for an open source organization system where users can tag documents with as many labels as they want. Files can then be accessed through numerous searches faster and easier, no matter where files are located.

Security and Profitability

The security features of a Web-based software service far surpass FTP with multi-tiered levels’ from user log in, to system encryption, to the advanced project password protection system. With minimized risk, professionals can trust the freedom of faster transmissions and flawless tracking’no matter how large files are.

When users experience the radical improvement from FTP offered by online file sharing software, they never again have to think about the details of how to transfer large files.

Source

DataStation Innovation Cloud is a complete SaaS for innovation management: capturing employee ideas, leading new products and services from successful idea to their market launch, combined with all great features of social networking, data sharing and productivity applications. Mobile access, smart search, flexible, secure and reliable infrastructure, together with one-day setup and quick start will increase business performance, automate innovation, and move from email to online collaboration.

Source

Entrepreneurs are building significant Software-as-a-Service businesses without outside capital.

I got into numerous arguments with people recently when I insisted that you can build sizable companies by bootstrapping (See “Why B-Schools Set Up Entrepreneurs To Fail“). Well, here are some Software-as-a-Service ventures that are steadily gaining critical mass. Many of them will create enormous fortunes for the entrepreneurs who founded them. I hope the stupid myth can be erased ASAP.

On Sept. 10, 2001, data analytics company Medallia pitched to its first customer, a top five hotel company, as a pilot customer. Then came Sept. 11. Much to Medallia’s surprise, the hotel called back on Sept. 12 and said it would like to move forward with Medallia’s services After six months the hotel replaced its traditional search system with Medallia, a platform that uses SaaS and Web-based technology to collect customer intelligence at every point of contact, allowing companies to measure customer sentiment accurately. The platform delivers real-time feedback and prompts employees to act on that feedback continuously.

More than 50,000 businesses and business units in more than 100 countries use Medallia, which currently targets the hospitality, retail, financial services, health care, call center, e-commerce and other B2B and B2C tech sectors. Customers include Fidelity, Four Seasons, American Express ( AXP – news – people ), Hilton, Hyatt, eBay ( EBAY – news – people ) and Sephora, among others. Eighty percent of top global hotel companies are Medallia customers. Entirely bootstrapped, the company has been profitable almost since inception and has grown rapidly year over year. It marked its seventh straight year of growth in 2009, when revenue topped $20 million. (Read more in Deal Radar 2010: Medallia.)

Another company, Krawler, created Deskera, an on-demand enterprise application suite that offers a full suite of products aimed at small and mid-sized businesses. Applications include customer relationship management, project management, accounting and human resource management systems. In 2009 Krawler generated $5 million in revenues and was profitable. The company is currently completely self-funded but is open to raising money from VCs now. If and when it does raise money, it will do so at a high valuation. (Read more in Deal Radar 2010: Krawler.)

Oh, and did I tell you about college bootstrapping buddies Siamak Taghaddos and David Hauser? They met at Babson College and went on to start Grasshopper, a company that created a virtual PBX system that lets small companies present a more professional front.

“It is a capability [that lets] a one- to five-person team of entrepreneurs sound like a big company,” Taghaddos says. “They can work remotely and have a phone number regardless of where they are working from. If you and I wanted to start a company right now and we did not have a physical office or $10,000 to buy a phone system, we could then just sign up with Grasshopper to get phone numbers with multiple extensions. That would let us start a company from wherever we are and let all phone calls be forwarded to your home office or my cellphone.”

With about 50 full-time employees and another 50 part-time folks, Grasshopper generated $10 million in revenue in 2009. The company has big plans, bigger ambitions, and I have no doubt it will continue to succeed. (Read more on the Grasshopper founders’ entrepreneurial journey.)

And if you ask Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral, a competitor of Grasshopper, he will tell you a bootstrapping story as well. “The one thing we did right was we always looked at net/net,” Shmunis says. “Customers were by and large happy and recommended it to their friends. We were always growing, and we hung onto that. It came down to staying power. We ran this out of a 1,000-square-foot office with 10 people. It was very light but effective. We kept building and building. I had some money to keep it going, and that is what I chose to do. Our product shipped very late 2002, so we had 300 customers in 2003. When we closed our VC round we had 20,000 customers in 2006. That was our first round of funding ever.” (Read more on Shmunis’ bootstrapping journey.)

Entrepreneurs, there is much to learn from the tactics and strategies of these savvy bootstrappers. They have successfully navigated the challenges of early-stage entrepreneurship without access to capital. In these days of tight credit and tight equity, their stories may give you useful ideas to navigate your own entrepreneurial journeys. Good luck!

Source: www.forbes.com

Companies use the term “cloud computing” a lot these days. Too much, really. The term is hyped to no end.

So it is encouraging to see a real example of cloud computing from Alfresco Software.

Alfresco is teaming with Right Scale to offer a service that allows users to scale up and down their use of Alfresco’s open-source content management software. Users pay according to how much they use the service. The service uses RightScale’s cloud management platform.

How refreshing.

On the lighter side of things, marketers may want to take some time to read “15 Ways To Tell It Is Not Cloud Computing,” by James Governor of RedMonk, an influential analyst firm in the tech world.

Let’s use a few of Governor’s points to show how Alfresco measures up.

If it takes more than ten minutes to provision… its not a cloud.

Alfresco says it takes just minutes to get the service up and running. We tried it and had it going within five minutes.

If there is a consultant in the room… its not a cloud.

Nope.

If you know where the machines are… its not a cloud.

No idea.

Perhaps the most important factor for us is the ability to scale or scale back when needed. That makes for a compelling use model and truly embraces cloud computing.

Full Source

Why Some Merchants are Saying Yes to SaaS

When determining your total e-commerce spend, you have to identify all online expenses, such as IT costs, personnel for marketing and merchandising, content and outside services, among other things.

The costs add up quickly, which is why Software as a Service (SaaS) is a growing trend in where multichannel merchants are putting their e-commerce dollars.

SaaS—outsourcing the development and hosting of Websites—can be a cost-effective way of gaining new site functionality, reducing operating costs with less reliance on internal IT and accessibility to continuous upgrades. In our experience, SaaS costs range from 1% to 4% of sales.

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A Better Metric for Analyzing the Value of the Cloud

In my opinion, no two metrics were more injurious to the IT field than TCO and ROI. I have yet to meet one senior executive with budgetary responsibility that has accurately tied investment in IT back to a sizable gain or to represent a true TCO. Let’s face it; these are notional concepts at best that were devised to be manipulated to provide IT executives with justifications for funding projects of questionable value to the business.

Full Source

How to Ensure SAAS Providers Are Truly Protecting Your Data

From small businesses to large enterprises, 2009 was the year software as a service broke into the mainstream. But the transformation of this once niche segment into a mass-market phenomenon hasn’t come easily. One roadblock to greater SAAS adoption has been executives’ lack of clarity around best practices for security protocols and data protection. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Jonathan McCormick explains how executives can ensure that SAAS providers are truly protecting their company’s data.

Just recently, T-Mobile, which employs software as a service (or “cloud”) technologies to store its customers’ data, suffered a serious systems failure. This failure cost many of its customers their contact information. Following the event, it was blogged how these “incidents clearly illustrate that whenever organizations entrust their data to a third party, whether via a cloud computing service or a traditional outsourcing arrangement, it is important to carefully evaluate the vendor’s technical and operational capabilities to fully protect the data to mitigate potential business risks.”

The T-Mobile incident and other similar occurrences underscore the urgent need for executives to better understand the security protocols of their current or prospective SAAS providers. As such, here are a few tips executives at any size business should use when seeking out SAAS services.

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