By Dick Stark

Thanks to the boom in SaaS computing, Venture Capitalist Jim Goetz of Sequoia recently discussed the coming demise of legacy software companies.  “The business model, thanks to Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, is now a weapon for all of you,” he said, referring to cloud software and subscription billing. “In enterprise, there are fewer competitors and they are large, slow and flatfooted,” Goetz said.  Not coincidently, recent Sequoia IPO hits include SaaS Vendors: Palo Alto Networks, Jive, Splunk, and ServiceNow.

By taking every opportunity to compare BMC to Siebel, ServiceNow continues to “make hay” at BMC’s expense.  Ten years ago Siebel was the CRM market leader.  Salesforce emerged with a strong cloud competitive offering, Oracle acquired Siebel, Salesforce became the market leader, and Siebel disappeared. Could history repeat itself?  ServiceNow thinks so, but there are significant differences between BMC and ServiceNow that should prevent that:

(1)        Remedyforce.  BMC this week reported that Remedyforce is the fastest growing SaaS service desk offering ever with more than 350 customers. With the coming Winter release (Nov/Dec timeframe), Remedyforce is positioned to overtake ServiceNow in terms of base functionality.  Combine that with the thousands of applications that are available on the Salesforce App Exchange, and Remedyforce offers not just a service management application, but a platform offering organizations the ability to connect sales, customer service and product development across salesforce.com’s mobile and social business applications.  Every argument that ServiceNow makes against BMC (and Remedy) just doesn’t apply as Remedyforce is newer, more functional, flexible, open, and easier to install and maintain than ServiceNow.  Indeed, BMC recently reinforced the importance of Remedyforce within BMC by creating a separate Remedyforce division and agreeing to continue pouring millions into R&D development efforts.

(2)        Remedy Version 8. For organizations, where a SaaS solution is not the right fit, then Remedy Version 8 offers significant improvements from the prior version, the most significant being the overlays that allow for future upgrades to be completed in just days instead of months. Even initial implementation times should be an advantage for Remedy 8, as there are programs like Abydos work flow designer (now included) and standard ITIL based templates that bring a customer live within a very short window and without heavy customization.

Another advantage that can’t be overlooked is the passion for Remedy that continues to exist in the marketplace.  The WWRUG in an independent Remedy user group not sponsored by BMC that just celebrated its 21^st anniversary.  While this sounds like a big number, it’s clear that the knowledge sharing and enthusiasm for Remedy will continue for years to come.

In summary, BMC offers the most complete and scalable ITSM solution, in an on-premise or SaaS based solution, for small organizations to large enterprises. BMC will continue to be the market-share leader for the near future, and with Remedyforce offers a non-legacy solution for those looking to get away from on-premise legacy software and move into the cloud.