Comments on: Endeca and BI: Yet Another Strategy, But This Time Maybe The Right One http://www.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/ This blog is written by Dave Kellogg, CEO of MarkLogic Corporation, covering next-generation information management, enterprise search, and content management technologies along with commentary on Silicon Valley, venture capital, and the business of software. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:26:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Dave Kellogg http://www.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/comment-page-1/#comment-2134 Dave Kellogg Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:53:50 +0000 http://test.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/#comment-2134 My point was more "yet another focus" than moving away from mftg which personally I'm not so sure was a good thing to move into. Focusing on the horizontal or vertical-free reflection of something is most definitely another focus (though it's a focus on something so broad it may not even appear to be one). As for the positioning nightmare, yes I think they're living it and it must not be fun. Doing anything new these days is hard in a world of solid-walled, pre-defined categories in the mind of the industry and its analysts. My point was more “yet another focus” than moving away from mftg which personally I’m not so sure was a good thing to move into. Focusing on the horizontal or vertical-free reflection of something is most definitely another focus (though it’s a focus on something so broad it may not even appear to be one). As for the positioning nightmare, yes I think they’re living it and it must not be fun. Doing anything new these days is hard in a world of solid-walled, pre-defined categories in the mind of the industry and its analysts.

]]> By: Dave Kellogg http://www.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/comment-page-1/#comment-2130 Dave Kellogg Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:44:22 +0000 http://test.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/#comment-2130 Danny, Nice to hear from you. While I understand the pressures/feelings that can lead companies to get bored with their market, I think it's a unforgivable sin to do so. So the only good news in the whole situation is there is, and probably always will be, a market for CEOs who can show up and ask "what do we do *well* here again?" and then junk the last guy or gal's strategy and just get back to doing it. See Sohaib at Informatica for a recent example. Danny,

Nice to hear from you. While I understand the pressures/feelings that can lead companies to get bored with their market, I think it’s a unforgivable sin to do so. So the only good news in the whole situation is there is, and probably always will be, a market for CEOs who can show up and ask “what do we do *well* here again?” and then junk the last guy or gal’s strategy and just get back to doing it. See Sohaib at Informatica for a recent example.

]]> By: Danny Canning http://www.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/comment-page-1/#comment-2107 Danny Canning Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:53:06 +0000 http://test.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/#comment-2107 Dave, I really enjoyed your blog about Endeca and I especially liked your analysis of the other companies that got bored with their markets. Like you I think this is a common strategic error companies make and not just technology companies. I have never understood what drives a company to abandon its core competency. Growth and expansion are always possible when you become the leader. As I heard Bobby Knight explain in a speech one night, getting to the top of your field is not the accomplishment, it’s getting there and staying there that counts, but he said it more like this “Get to the top and improve your position” Dave,

I really enjoyed your blog about Endeca and I especially liked your analysis of the other companies that got bored with their markets. Like you I think this is a common strategic error companies make and not just technology companies. I have never understood what drives a company to abandon its core competency. Growth and expansion are always possible when you become the leader. As I heard Bobby Knight explain in a speech one night, getting to the top of your field is not the accomplishment, it’s getting there and staying there that counts, but he said it more like this “Get to the top and improve your position”

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/comment-page-1/#comment-2092 Anonymous Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:10:41 +0000 http://test.kellblog.com/2010/02/05/endeca-and-bi-yet-another-strategy-but-this-time-maybe-the-right-one/#comment-2092 As a former Endecan, I can tell you that a BI push (hardly new for a company that has, as much as any, fueled the BI/Search convergence conversation for the better part of the last decade) is not an evolution or move away from its manufacturing focus. Rather, it's a vertical-free reflection of said efforts. In structure-heavy (albeit irregularly structured) manufacturing environments, Endeca routinely competes or is compared against Microstrategy, IBM/Cognos, SAP, and most frequently Oracle. In such environments looking more and more like BI -- and less and less like search -- is not just desirable. It's required.<br /><br />As you've put it in the past, "categories exist in the minds of the customer." Unfortunately for my former mates at Endeca, you have one audience that views you as search and another that views you as BI. Makes for a positioning exercise from hell. ;-) As a former Endecan, I can tell you that a BI push (hardly new for a company that has, as much as any, fueled the BI/Search convergence conversation for the better part of the last decade) is not an evolution or move away from its manufacturing focus. Rather, it's a vertical-free reflection of said efforts. In structure-heavy (albeit irregularly structured) manufacturing environments, Endeca routinely competes or is compared against Microstrategy, IBM/Cognos, SAP, and most frequently Oracle. In such environments looking more and more like BI — and less and less like search — is not just desirable. It's required.

As you've put it in the past, "categories exist in the minds of the customer." Unfortunately for my former mates at Endeca, you have one audience that views you as search and another that views you as BI. Makes for a positioning exercise from hell. ;-)

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