I like this time of year. Sure, there is the time off with family, there are the gifts, there’s even the time for a little skiing. And on top of all that, for the third year in a row – I get to brag a little about my baby – Open-Xchange.
This year, in particular for a few reasons: One, we have done what we said we were going to do. Two, our predictions about the cloud taking over the software world have become more than true. And lastly, we have put ourselves in the middle of this accelerating movement to the cloud.
Because of these things, our business has grown even more than we thought it would — 52% overall top-line growth. And, while we were profitable in Q2 and Q3, we decided to invest more to spur growth even further. Again, the growth of our SaaS / Cloud Application business has been the main driver with 75% growth.
As consumerisation of IT, the cloudification of software, the mobilization of internet devices and the “webification” of applications drive our business with a fourfold boost, an even stronger pull comes from the very high competitive pressures our customers are under: The new incumbents (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon…) have a disruptive business model because they don’t charge for their services directly but farm money elsewhere – from advertisement, captive currencies and captive shops. For this to work they need to build monopolies, a “Winner Takes All” race (MySpace, anybody?). So the attack on service provider models is not coming from direct competitors, but from these new, cash rich, disruptive shooting stars.
But there is opportunity also: people want freedom of choice, and they are already using services from different vendors, and will do so in the future. Somebody needs to make this easy, needs to make sure that nothing gets lost on the way (where are all my photos?). That will be the role of the service providers, and Open-Xchange gives them the tools to do that. Service providers can be the trusted data hub and the “digital life backup” for people who are happy to pay for value and service.
To accommodate the carriers’ needs, we began the development of the next generation of our flagship product, OX7. It will feature a next generation user interface built with the latest in web development technologies. We showed an early version of it at the OX Summit in November, now we are showing it to analysts and partners. The feedback has been nothing short of incredible. We will be launching an “Early Deployment Program” for our best partners Spring 2012 with the public release aimed to occur in the second half of 2012. You will hear about it, because we plan to make a lot of noise. Like Francisco, my brother and OX Product Manager said at the Summit presentation: “We want to make it a piece of software that we can proudly show our girlfriends – if we had any :)”
All the achievements above are a sign that the hard work, dedication and vision we set on some 5 years ago at CeBIT are paying off, and you know what: it makes me smile. My smile is large today because I know that OX is positioned just right, at the intersection of where it is all going to happen: at the crossing point of Web, Software, Social and Services. The world is adopting mobile usage patterns like we have never seen before and inventing new ones to create wicked mobile effects of consumption and user experience. And with social platforms sharing these behaviors, artifacts and value propositions, everything is viral.
This fact not only makes the demand for applications and services explode at web-speed, there is a serious basis to now drive and serve entire new frontiers, segments and users. And that is what is different, what has changed since my last message. We have transitioned from being a product company focused on features to becoming a software services organization focusing on the user experience both for our clients and their users that interface with our software.
I want to thank you for your support and wish your family and friends a Happy Holidays and a wonderful start to the New Year. May the distance you travel to loved ones this season be safe and full of powerful reflection that prepares you for an amazing 2012.
PS: There is a new Kate Bush song that fits the winter season very well, but that also somehow fits Open-Xchange – carefully listen to the first sentence of the lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcEcDhiABew
PSS: For the most current news on our progress follow us on http://twitter.com/openexchange and “like” us at http://www.facebook.com/OpenXchange
