Iterate or Die
Agile Consulting for 21st Century Business Success
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Foreword
by Mark Benioff
When we founded salesforce.com in 1999, we had a simple idea: build business applications that were as easy to use as eBay or Amazon.com. Under the hood was a powerful
enterprise-class relational database that we offered as a service to customers of all sizes.
No software to buy, no hardware to set up. Software as a service was born, and customers discovered the power and convenience of cloud computing. The rise of salesforce.com and SaaS raised profound questions for the IT consulting
business. There was no longer a need for a firm to install, patch, test, trouble-spot, performance test, and troubleshoot complex software, hardware, and storage. These tasks
have traditionally represented 50-70% of most IT consulting engagements. Naturally, some traditional players balked at the idea of SaaS and IT consultants as partners.
The disruptive force of salesforce.com and SaaS created an opportunity for a new breed of consulting and an increased focus on customer success has been the direct result.
Consulting 2.0, if you will, has a few key tenets:
1) Focus on success criteria instead of functionality.
2) Focus on client self-suffi ciency.
3) Focus on change management.
Now there is an impressive list of thousands of successful SaaS engagements with this new class of visionary consultants that have embraced the opportunity to define a new standard of excellence for customer success. Behind these key principles is some radical rethinking of the change process itself. One key principal inherent in Consulting 2.0 is the idea of agile software development. Agile deployment methodologies rely on quick, 30 day deliverables, as opposed
to the lengthier time-frames associated with traditional waterfall methodologies. In witnessing the rise of Consulting 2.0, we are also witnessing the rise and success of these
new agile methodologies. Companies like salesforce.com salesforce.com, eBay, Google, and Bluewolf all rely on agile development to make cloud computing transparent, productive, and successful.
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About the Book
About the Author
Eric Berridge, Co-Author
At the end of the dot com bubble burst Eric Berridge saw an opportunity. Layoffs, consolidations and bankruptcies raged around him. Amidst the chaos, Eric
took a risky gamble and co-founded Bluewolf, which today is the world's
largest leading provider of professional services for on-demand
software applications. Berridge's vision to see a marketplace need for
enterprise consulting services that were affordable, added measurable
value and were iterative led to the birth of Bluewolf, which turned a
profit in six months. Today, Bluewolf successfully works with more than
1,000 organizations to help them adopt on-demand solutions. Prior to
founding Bluewolf, Berridge held various sales and managment positions
at The Oracle Corporation and The Interworld Corporation. He has a B.A.
in Shakespearean Literature from U.C. Berkeley and an M.B.A in
Entrepreneurial Finance from New York University, and lives with his
wife and three childeren outside of New York City.
Michael Kirven, Co-Author
For over 15 years, Michael has expertly navigated many companies
through complex technology implementations. Michael is focused on
coaching these companies to implement software better, faster, and more
economically, as well as building effective internal models for the
long-term support of mission critical applications. Michael is also
committed to and passionate about the development of the Bluewolf
Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to awarding college
scholarships to New York City public school students pursuing careers
in technology. He also sits on the board of Virtual Enterprises
which is dedicated to bringing private sector innovation and resources
into the New York Public School system. Michael received a Bachelor of
Arts in English from the University of Georgia. He lives with his wife
Emily and two children, Johnny and Eve, in Brooklyn, New York.