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In the first part of this article, I explained why there is no metaverse (yet), although the idea is around for quite some years. Despite the current hype, it is just a re-emerging topic. Foundational technologies like  VR are around since as long as the 50s  although VR really entered our minds only in the 90s. The Virtual Reality Modeling Language  VRML  got standardized in 1994 and its successor  X3D  in 2004.  Half Life  with the first highly immersive world was released in 1998. I went into some definition and laid out a framework for a kind of an architecture that can support whatever this idea evolves into, with some emphasis on common standards and some governance. These are necessary, because the metaverse is nothing more than a platform of platforms, which means that at the end of the day it is a kind of a protocol.  Or else we will see a collection of (competing) multiverses. I closed with some questions that need to be answered. ·...

There. Is. No. Metaverse. I am sorry to be a party pooper but read me out. It doesn’t exist. At least not yet. And not for quite some years to come. I am talking of a decade or more. Perhaps not ever. And whence it comes, it probably looks different from what we see now, and we will likely call it by a different name. Does this statement surprise you? I mean, many people, companies and investors are looking at metaverse as being the next big thing. Crunchbase already in November 2021  reported more than $10.6bn being invested  into metaverse related startups. According to a Galaxy  report quoted by Institutional Investor , crypto and blockchain startups alone collected more than $32bn in 2021.  Microsoft just invested a whopping $70bn in Activision Blizzard , which is clearly a metaverse play. So much money cannot be wrong, right? Google trends also suggests that there is quite some interest in these topics that came up quite recently and quite suddenly, which means ...

A short while ago, on January 25, Microsoft reported its Q2/2022 numbers and on February 3, Amazon reported its Q4/2021 and the fiscal year 2021 results. With that, we have two of the biggest IaaS and PaaS vendors presenting growth numbers.  Of course, and as usual, they are doing their utmost to make them kind of incomparable, as their services are not covering the same scope. Still, let me take a stab at creating some kind of comparatibility. Detailed functional scope apart, the Microsoft area that can get compared most meaningfully is the Intelligent Cloud division. This consists of two parts, the Azure and other cloud services and server products, which Microsoft reports separately.  As you can see in the diagram, overall revenue grew with 26% year over year. In more detail, Azure grew 46% and the the server products part grew 6%. The question that, of course, is not answered, is how much revenue does Microsoft make with Azure? Amazon today reported AWS re...

One of today's big business topics is robotic process automation. What is it? A boon or a thing? Where is the real value in applying RPA and how to do it right? So many questions that the #CRMKonvos team needed to ask Sebastian Eggert of SOGEDES. It is no secret that RPA has its roots in UI based test automation to conduct load and stress tests and screen scraping. It is also no secret that it is always better to use APIs than that. That would put RPA firmly into the category of dying animals or, in more technical terms, make it a bridge technology. But then, how about real life? Can one always do connect applications with APIs? How about empowering business units to get solutions faster than working with a continuously overburdened IT department? And: How about the risk of entrenching existing processes instead of entering the road to digital transformation, which is a business transformation? Is it reasonable to expect investments being made into RPA being turned over fast? After...

The News On January 20, 2022 Medallia announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thunderhead, the leader in customer journey orchestration, or like the press release states it, leader in every-channel journey orchestration. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this fiscal year. The stated benefit for customers is that “ with the combination of customer experience insights and journey orchestration, organizations can have a single view of the customer journey and use real-time interactions to improve experiences and loyalty .” Thunderhead is expected to “strengthen Medallia’s ability to power individualized journeys and conversations at scale, across all online and offline channels, helping Medallias’s thousands of customers continue to increase their brand loyalty, sales and growth.” Thunderhead founder and CEO Glen Manchester says that “ the acquisition heralds the next era of customer experience. We pioneered the idea of the custome...

The News On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced the intention to acquire Activision Blizzard with the vision of bringing the joy and community of gaming to everyone, for $95 per share, which equals a transaction value of $68.7 bn. This is a bit more than eight times of the revenue that Activision Blizzards expect to have in the fiscal year 2022. With this acquisition, Microsoft can add 400 million monthly active users to the already existing 25 million Game Pass holders. Until the acquisition closes, the companies will run independently. After completion of the transaction, Activision Blizzard wil report to Phil Spencer, the newly appointed CEO of Microsoft Gaming. This acquisition makes Microsoft the third largest gaming company by revenue, after Tencent and Sony. The stock markets reacted with a sharp increase of Activision Blizzard shares to about $87, while Microsoft stock largely followed its pre-existing slight downward trajectory. Here my analysis in a brief video. The bigger...