FinancialForce.com, a cloud ERP provider on the Salesforce1 Platform, has announced that it has raised $110 million in funding led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) with participation from existing investor Salesforce Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds for product development, sales, marketing, alliances and customer support. In April 2014, it received $50 million from Advent International. Previously, the firm had secured $14.5 million series B round in 2012, $11.8 million series B round in 2010 and an undisclosed amount in series A funding in October 2009. The firm had also acquired two companies till date including Less Software and Vana Workforce.
The company recently reported a 91% annual subscription run rate growth and a $50 million revenue run rate. It also increased its global headcount by more than 80 percent, from 250 employees at the end of 2013 to more than 450 at the end of 2014.
Founded in 2009, FinancialForce ERP equips customer-centric businesses with a unified platform that delivers ERP and CRM on a single cloud. Its Financial Management, Human Capital Management (HCM), Professional Services Automation (PSA), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) apps allow businesses to increase the speed at which they operate. San Francisco-based company is backed by Salesforce, Technology Crossover Ventures, Advent International and UNIT4.
With nearly $10 billion in capital raised, Technology Crossover Ventures has invested in more than 200 technology companies including Expedia, Facebook, GoDaddy, Netflix, VICE Media, Zillow and More. Salesforce has invested in more than 100 enterprise cloud startups since 2009.
The primary goal of technology should be to improve our lives in some way. So far that has seen us embrace computers, the Internet, smartphones and most recently wearable gadgets. However, many are predicting that the future will not see us hold or wear technology, but have it directly implanted into our bodies.
Already, the transhumanism movement is seeing technology implants gain greater acceptance, but many still feel uneasy about the ethics involved when we attempt to improve our bodies artificially. In response to the advances made in body modification technology, we’ve looked at five high-profile examples below.
Replacement limbs
For many years, individuals have used technology to help solve medical problems. Artificial pacemakers have been implanted into humans since the 1950s and prosthetic limbs, in their most basic form, have been used for centuries.
Now limb replacements are becoming increasingly advanced, with the DEKA arm being one of the most notable. Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office, DEKA can carry out a series of complex movements controlled by electrical signals sent from electrodes connected to the user’s muscles. The electrodes transmit signals to the arm, which can carry out 10 different types of movements.
The DEKA arm has given those that are missing limbs the ability to perform delicate tasks, such as grasping a bottle, which wouldn’t be possible with traditional prosthetics.
Neil Harbisson’s antenna
Self-confessed cyborg Neil Harbisson is one of the most famous exponents of body modifications and has used technology to overcome the extreme form of colour blindness that has afflicted him since birth.
Harbisson is unable to see colour at all and so decided to implant a permanently attached antenna into his skull in 2004. The “Eyeborg,” as it is known, allows him to experience colours by translating them into sounds. An Internet connection also allows Harbisson to receive phone calls directly into his skull and his activism has seen the British government recognise his as the world’s first cyborg.
Deep brain stimulation
Deep brain stimulation involves the insertion of electrodes into three target sites within the brain and has proven hugely effective at tackling Parkinson’s disease.
The electrodes are connected to a neurostimulator placed under the skin in the chest or stomach area, which delivers high-frequency stimulation to specific areas of the brain. This changes some of the brain’s electrical signals associated with Parkinson’s and is often used in partnership with medication.
The procedure is working so well that it could remain the primary surgical treatment for the condition for the next two to three decades.
Security chips
A number of companies around the world are now offering employees the opportunity of having computer chips implanted into their hands to help them in their place of work.
The radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip is inserted under the skin, following only a brief moment of pain, and can be put to various uses. Most often, the chip is used to unlock doors, providing a more secure solution than employee ID cards.
Others have placed an electronic business card on the chip, which can be accessed via a smartphone, or use the implant to access their car or computer.
A Swedish company called Dangerous Things even allows you to buy a DIY chip implanting kit that means you can use the technology in whatever way you want.
The Circadia 1.0
Sticking with the DIY theme, biohacker Tim Cannon has developed a Fitbit style device that is implanted under the skin.
The Circadia 1.0 is not the most elegant implant, clearly protruding from underneath Cannon’s skin, but it does offer some personal utility. The device can be connected to appliances in his home and is programmable via tablet. In fact, by monitoring various health metrics, the Circadia 1.0 can automatically provide Cannon with a helping hand.
“So if, for example, I’ve had a stressful day, the Circadia will communicate that to my house and will prepare a nice relaxing atmosphere for when I get home: Dim the lights, let in a hot bath,” he explained.
While consumers may not quite be ready for Cannon’s rough and ready approach to technological implants (he inserted the Circadia 1.0 without any anaesthetic), with some refinement similar body modification could become widespread in the not too distant future.
Summary:The technology that powers business is key to driving productivity improvements and economies. The recent Promat and Automate 2015 shows featured many technologies that can do both. But, were the innovations breakthroughs or incremental? And, where were the ERP vendors?
Tuesday, I attended the Promat 2015 and Automate 2015 events at Chicago's McCormick Center. The former is a gathering of equipment providers and suppliers involved in the handling and movement of goods. The latter is an engineering showcase full of robotic and other mechanized business automation technology. If you're like the characters on The Big Bang Theory - this is your nirvana.
With me was Thomas Ryan. Tom is a former Gartner analyst and an expert on warehouse, transportation and logistics technologies. Perusing the exhibition floor with Tom was interesting in that he not only knew many of the vendors but also some of the people working the booths. We walked the miles of aisles in the two exhibition halls. Tom provided the real world shop floor commentary while I mused on how these technologies need to connect to ERP and back office software.
Afterwards, we compared notes.
Here are our observations:
Hits
Both of us have attended this show in prior years. As someone who was an economics teaching assistant in college, it makes me feel good to see so many attendees at this event. Why? These individuals are shopping for capital equipment that will significantly improve the productivity of their firm. Productivity increases when a business can get more revenue with less labor cost. Productivity gains occur when businesses are able to automate manual processes, streamline processes, reduce defects, etc.
What the attendees are looking for at this show is technology that will fill orders more rapidly and accurately. They seek technology that will package and ship goods more cost-effectively. If it could be picked, sorted, moved, stocked, manipulated, welded, packed, inspected, etc. there was an exhibitor who could help a business improve its productivity.
In the last year, I have seen how some US manufacturers have taken back manufacturing from low-cost countries and returned it to the United States. The way they have achieved this is through better utilization of manufacturing technologies, better integration between machine tools and improved worker productivity.
Removing non-value-added or low-value-added activities from manufacturing and distribution processes is key to reducing total product cost, improving customer satisfaction and improving bottom-line business results. A huge opportunity I've seen is the elimination of needless handling and re-handling of goods. That's what makes a show like Promat interesting.
Many of the technologies on display at Promat (e.g., fork trucks, material handling systems, warehouse and transportation systems, etc.) have been around for some time. However, there are number of incremental innovations that have occurred in many of these mature products (e.g., battery technology). There were even some significant innovations on display as well (e.g., drone usage for monitoring inventory in outdoor settings and in monitoring trailer locations in large distribution center truck yards).
Drone technology to monitor storage yards
Personally, I was pleased to see the following technologies on display:
3-D printers - Several exhibitors had demonstrations running with these devices. Some were coupled to robotic arms to create a more complex product. I did not see any 3-D printers utilizing powdered metals, though. What was interesting was that robotic arms were adapted to contain the print head for a 3-D print device.
Robot equipped for 3-D printing
Custom corrugated box machining - There were a couple of vendors who have machines that can dynamically generate boxes. What is interesting is that these machines can create custom cardboard boxes for the odd-sized goods that a company sells or distributes. What was even more interesting to me was that the boxes could be made just-in-time with such tight clearances that the shipper did not need to add additional packing material to the container. That saves both on the shipping cost and is more environmentally friendly. With the growing e-commerce channel, shippers worldwide may find this technology very intriguing.
Dynamic box manufacturing
Small item handling - While technology for handling small items or open case quantities of materials has been around for some time, what I recall from prior generations of handling technology were systems/robots that would bring bins to humans for picking. Now, these computer-controlled systems not only stack, sort and present small bins for picking and putting away, they also are equipped with robotic arms that can scan the contents of the bin, identify how the contents are individually oriented, tip or move the contents when needed, and, remove/insert an individual item.
Tom adds: These systems are incremental improvements of techniques that have been used before. This interesting point is that they are principally focused on helping deal with the unique issues associated with maintaining availability of low volume/low sales items which can still be sold/provided to consumers profitably. The manual methods with traditional storage and picking approaches can be costly and inefficient. The challenge is whether these high tech solutions are cost effective and technically supportable: is there a valid payback?
Robotic inspection - Several vendors showed how their robotic solutions could lift, examine and store individual items while also checking color, fill-level and other aspects of the item. Based on the decision that the system makes, the item is either rejected or placed in finished goods inventory.
Tom adds: Emulation and testing of material handling of control systems - I was impressed that there was a vendor that was offering the ability to use a virtual environment to test the effectiveness of the control systems that manage the automated material handling equipment. Testing of these systems in the real world has always been difficult. You need to move pallets, cases, totes, etc. You need to process large volumes of these items. It is virtually impossible to do this effectively in the real world.
This emulation testing environment allows you to process hundreds of virtual cases, pallets, and totes; discover and fix errors; and re-run the same test to prove that you actually did fix the problem. This emulation technology allows you to do months of real world testing in days or hours at significantly lower costs. This enables these very expensive material handling systems to be brought on line and proven rapidly thus accelerating the return on investment and significantly lowering the project risk associated with these systems.
Misses
ERP absence - The absence of many major application software vendors at the show always perplexes me. Infor was there, though. ERP products, particularly those targeting heavy industries, need to be integrated with the kinds of technologies on display at this event. While Tom and I did see some niche vendors (e.g., ATLATL) that worked in the cloud, other cloud ERP suites were not present (e.g., Plex, Rootstock and Kenandy). Even on-premises players likeSAP were not to be found.
Battery technology - While battery technology is changing on a daily basis for consumer electronics and automobiles, most of the battery technology at the show was still based on lead acid batteries. Granted, a number of vendors have made the switching out, charging, refilling and maintenance of these batteries easier and faster thus extending their life and improving their efficiency, a new generation of batteries is going to change this space soon.
Machine Learning - Machine learning technology, like we are seeing in robotic process automation in the back office, was not immediately evident at this show. While the machines and robotic devices at this event clearly are more sensor enabled than ever, most of the exhibits showed how devices mimic actions and behaviors taught to them by a human operator. What was interesting to see were robotic devices equipped with additional 3-D imaging systems wherein the device made judgment calls as to whether an item was correctly oriented, was filled, contained the correct material, etc. While this represents an advance in the use of robotics, the machines themselves are still not recognizing new patterns and learning new ways of resolving new issues on their own. Maybe we'll see more of that in a future show.
Handhelds - Handheld device technology (e.g., to permit barcode scanning on the production floor) seemed little changed. These highly ruggedized devices almost seemed frozen in time as their form factor and functionality harkens back to the same kind of devices available 20 years ago. At Plex's analyst event last week, I saw their prototype technology for these functions using Google Glass and ring mounted scanner technology.
Tom adds:Supply Chain Execution Systems - When compared to Brian's point about the ERP systems above, there were certainly more supply chain execution system vendors in attendance. Specifically, I saw warehouse management system vendors, pallet planning and truck load planning systems, and a number of others. I saw no transportation systems. When compared to the sheer size of the show (all of McCormick Place South), less that 1/20th of the display space was utilized by the systems vendors. It is these systems that make all the other machines, robots, humans, sensors, etc. work together to deliver real value. Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon for ProMat. This year seems to be a step back instead of forward.
Bottom line:
The bottom line for us both is that the show provided encouraging anecdotal evidence that manufacturing and distribution companies are shopping again for technologies to help improve their supply chain and manufacturing execution efficiencies. That is a positive for the economy.
Much of the innovation on display appeared to be linear extensions or improvements of pre-existing technologies. Tom and I were hungry to see more breakthrough innovations but they weren't as evident.
While technology has been an obvious catalyst for small business in many ways, there are still far too many entrepreneurs who haven’t embraced tech to streamline operations and facilitate growth. That’s why I found the story of Bridal Boutique -- a Lewisville, Texas-based 8,500 square-foot bridal gown and accessory store -- so compelling.
You wouldn’t normally expect a store that sells bridal gowns to be at the forefront of technology. But Bridal Boutique is using technology in unexpected ways, helping to facilitate the sale of more than 1,500 gowns per year. And when those gowns retail for between $1,100 and $10,000, it adds up to millions of dollars in business. Indeed, Bridal Boutique has grown over the past quarter century in business with a second location devoted to mothers of the brides and bridesmaids.
I spoke with Amy Berend, who joined her mother and company founder Caroline, in this family business. Berend has helped bring a tech edge to their business. She shared some of the best ways they are using technology and what your business can borrow from their approach as well.
Bridal Boutique founder Caroline Berend (center) with daughters Amy (left) and Carrie (right).
One advantage of being a small business is being nimble and creative to outdo your competition with amazing service. Berend admits that one way the Bridal Boutique team does this is to use technology to research clients in advance of their appointments and team them up with the sales associate that would be the best personality fit.
Doing research on social-media profiles and other information available online can help her team decipher whether a customer is laid back or a bridal diva and then, team her up with a sales associate who will provide the type of interaction that will leave the bride-to-be with an outstanding experience. Moreover, that high-level of service is exactly what sets Bridal Boutique apart from competitors and helps to engender word-of-mouth advocacy from brides to other would-be brides.
This is a great example for any small business; learn about your target customer and service those customers in a way that complements his or her unique personality.
Make your business transactions mobile.
As the Bridal Boutique expanded, Berend realized that the flow of the store was a problem. Having all of the paperwork take place at the lobby entrance meant that both brides checking in for new appointments, as well as those just finishing appointments and finalizing orders, would be in the same place, creating a bottleneck and an uncomfortable experience in the front of the store. This was especially a problem on Saturdays, when the store averages 35 to 40 bridal appointments.
To make the store more user-friendly, Bridal Boutique started using Microsoft Surface tablet computers to facilitate everything from reviewing bridal dress options to cataloguing sales and storing measurements in each dressing area, instead of in one static location in the store. This has allowed the team to be more efficient in servicing brides, getting them through each appointment more quickly, and it provides a better overall experience for both associates and bridal customers.
Using tablets has also facilitated documenting interactions with brides in a personalized portfolio complete with photos to keep tidy records for those brides who may not remember the particulars of previous discussions. For example, they use the tablets to take photos and document what size samples were tried on and the bride’s measurements, in case a bride’s size changes between the time of ordering the dress and receiving the dress.
Being mobile has also helped Bridal Boutique close more transactions through streamlining payments. Previously, a bride would decide on a dress, change clothes and on the way out, go to the front of the store to finish the transaction. This would give the bride ample time to change her mind and Bridal Boutique found that sometimes, by the time she came to the front counter, she had decided to continue to look around instead of making a purchase.
Bridal Boutique decided to start taking payments via a mobile point-of-purchase located where and when the decision on a particular dress was made by a customer -- typically in the dressing area. This mobile payment solution included using a new app and credit card reader from PayPal, PayPal Here, to allow payment to be made anywhere in the store. This way, once a decision was made, the transaction was completed on the spot and the business didn’t have to contend with the mind-changing that happened with a lag between decision and transaction previously.
Finding ways to facilitate your business, including payments, in a mobile format can help you to not only be more efficient, but to close more sales immediately.
Help your customers advocate on social media.
As many small businesses do, Bridal Boutique found that most of their business -- Berend estimates at around 70 percent -- comes from word-of-mouth referrals. So, Berend invents creative ways to let brides be the best conduit of advertising for her business.
One example is having a big chalkboard in the front of the store, which lists the names of the brides with appointments for the day, along with the Bridal Boutique logo and hashtag. She says that nearly every bride who comes in poses for a “selfie” in front of this board and distributes those photos, complete with the hashtag, on social media. This helps create amazing awareness for Bridal Boutique without them spending a dime and is also done in a credible manner, since the brides are sharing their own excitement.
Make it easy for your clients and customers to share their great experiences engaging with your company in a way that makes them walking billboards for your business.
Every week a vendor introduces a new gadget, system, or service that promises to make us communicate and collaborate better, faster. Just look at the comments below any article about virtual teams. They almost always include someone either evangelizing or peddling a particular piece of hard- or software that will make it easier to work with people in different time zones.
Sure, these technological improvements help in many ways. As a case in point, I just found out the precise location of a package in transit from China to France, all while on a train going through the forest. Our fast moving, globally networked economy simply was not possible a few years ago. But more often than not, the problem we’re facing isn’t a technological one, but a social one.
Teaching, consulting, and working with executives across industries and geographies has provided me with lots of evidence of a simple truth: it’s not what technology you’ve got, but how you use it. Let me share a few examples.
Give people the full context when video conferencing. Skype, FaceTime, and similar desktop videoconferencing tools are connecting us everywhere. At home they let my parents join in on the chaos of their grandchildren’s dinner. In the office they allow us to hear our distant colleagues’ voices and see them so we can pick up on important non-verbal cues. By providing more contextual information, they create an experience that’s richer and more complete than a simple phone call.
But they don’t provide all the contextual information we need. I’ve heard from many managers stories of being in a serious one-on-one discussion with a colleague over video, only to have their conversation partner turn and speak to someone they didn’t realize was in the room. This left these managers wondering just how much of their conversation was public and precisely who that public might be. Others report repeated interruptions by anything from an overly efficient administrative assistant to a neighbor with a lawnmower doing laps outside the window.
How tools are changing the way we manage, learn, and get things done.
You can overcome these problems by conducting a virtual tour to give your partner a sense of your environment. Pick up your laptop and walk your colleague around your office so they can see the context in which you’re working. Or zoom out on the computer’s camera. When doing this, point out things that may distract you (like your helpful assistant or your lawn-mowing neighbor). This is particularly helpful in ongoing collaboration when you’ll be video conferencing regularly.
Don’t take out tech troubles on the person. The unfortunate reality is that no matter what technology you choose, at some point it will break down. The call will be dropped. The picture on the screen will go fuzzy. Setting aside the bafflingly strong correlation between the incidence of failure and the importance of the meeting (perhaps a discussion for another time), such disruptions create real problems. Often the biggest one isn’t the loss of data or connectivity but our reactions.
Ask yourself if the following scenario feels familiar:
You’re speaking with a colleague on the phone and you’re deep into the conversation about a disagreement you had. After explaining your position at length, you pause and wait for a response…only to discover that the connection dropped.
Now be honest with yourself: When you finally resumed the call, did you find yourself frustrated or even annoyed at the other person when you had to go back and repeat your point?
This is a displacement where our frustration at the situation gets misattributed to the actor. Our conversation partner had nothing to do with the breakdown—it’s the technology’s fault, not theirs—but we take our frustrations out on them. You may not be yelling and screaming because often the manifestations are much more subtle – but even being in a negative frame of mind makes us less receptive to what others are saying and quicker to judge.
This isn’t easy to counteract, but start by being mindful of the tendency to displace. And when you feel your blood pressure rising as a result of a technology failure, follow this helpful, and frequently offered, piece of advice: take a deep breath, count to five, and remind yourself exactly what it is you’re mad about. This is simple and common sense, but that doesn’t mean we remember to do it.
Align knowledge management systems (or any system for that matter) with how people do work. Lew Platt, the former chairman, president, and CEO of Hewlett-Packard once said: “If HP only knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive.” Even companies a fraction of the size of HP need a good knowledge management system (KMS) to make sure that knowledge is available and accessible throughout the organization. There are lots of technologies available, and the cloud has made things even faster but, as all good CIOs know, knowledge management is fundamentally not an IT issue — it is a social one.
I’ve studied the use of technology in organizations making everything from snack foods to satellite parts as well as those providing services around the globe, and I’ve seen plenty of examples of massive and costly undertakings to put KMS systems in place that in the end were largely ignored — or at the very least failed to live up to the hype. A system only works if employees are socialized to look to it for information and keep that data current. In putting in a KMS, or switching to a new one, it’s less important which technology you choose and more important that you align it with how people do work. Too often, a new KMS often conflicts with the way that employees currently use informal networks to seek and provide information. The chances of a new system —knowledge management or any kind of system —succeeding is dependent on choosing a technology that aligns with how people already work (or in some complex cases, overhauling how people get work done if the existing systems are inefficient— but that’s a longer discussion).
While we often think of the future of collaboration resting on the shoulders of technology, that is only part of the story. Sure, technology provides opportunities, but it’s important to view technology and social systems as partners. The promise of tomorrow’s collaboration requires actively considering, designing, and fine tuning both.
