R "Ray" Wang
R "Ray" WangNews Analysis: Jive Fills Warchest, Ready to Battle Enterprise Software Giants And IPO?
with Jeremiah Owyang - Customer Strategy (@jowyang) and R "Ray" Wang - Enterprise Strategy (@rwang0), both founding partners at Altimeter Group. Cross-posted link here.
Community Platforms Evolve Into Social Business Category
Having tracked the social business category for some years now, and having watched the category grow, many players have expanded into other niches. At first, the community platform space (e.g. InGage, Jive, KickApps, Lithium, Mzinga, etc.) was insular, focused only on enterprise communities. However, the space has evolved into Social CRM, Application Platforms, Social Media Management Systems, Brand Monitoring, corporate email systems and will eventually morph to focus on VRM and customer experience that’s native to the customer. This evolution may manifest into social, it may play out into mobile, and it may take even radical forms including in store displays advertising.
The Situation - C Round Funding
Jive, who recently raised a $15mm in 2007 has capped off their war chest with a hefty $30mm ‘C round’ for a total of $57.5 million in total. Why this large amount? ‘D rounds’ are virtually non-existent out of Sand Hill road, and if they need investment they’ll have to get from a partner corporation.
SWOT Analysis
- Strengths: Jive has been hailed as a leader in the social software category, (i.e. Forrester Wave and three Gartner Quadrants), and continues to show growth with large clients, claiming sales in the range of “$75,000-$150,000 per customer. Some of those deals include ten - with average selling prices (ASP's) of $1 million, four of which closed in the last two quarters. While Jive is not yet cash-flow positive, the company has 3,000 customers, 15 million users, and will end the year on a $100 million run-rate” (source). Jive's recent acquisition of brand monitoring company FiltrBox demonstrates the pre-cursor of SCRM systems. In addition, Jive has formed a variety of strategic partnerships including social business consultants Dachis Group. The team recently hired a new CEO, Tony Zingale, a seasoned leader of Mercury Interactive, where he clinched $1B revenues and led a $5B sale to HP. Last but not least, the company shifted their headquarters from trendy Portland, Oregon to tech (and VC) centric Palo Alto, CA.
- Weaknesses: They’re undergoing a cultural shift from a hip Portland startup, to becoming a tried and true enterprise player. With a new CEO and with a new CMO (Kiker has moved on) to take the helm soon, Jive will have to undergo both an internal mindset change as they shift to battle enterprise players. Also, as Jive takes on larger clients, they risk alienating their small and medium size clients who can’t afford, or can’t scale with Jive’s new value proposition.
- Opportunities: Expect this war chest to be used to bolster the sales and marketing team. C-rounds often focus on getting the company ready for a “material” event. Jive will most likely use this time to build out significant partner channels and business development with enterprise clients. Platform investments should support new partner models that support value added service growth. Expect Jive to focus on bookings and immediate recurring revenue in order to maximize value for a ‘material’ event. Significant acquisitions may come after a material event but not likely at this point in time.
- Threats: Key threats come from larger vendors who may suddenly gain a “social” religion. Jive must transform from dominating the small pond of community platforms to winning the large enterprise. Corporate strategies must prepare the company for a new type of battle in the enterprise application market. Should an Oracle or SAP decide to enter the market, it may make overtures for an acquisition. Salesforce.com and RightNow are the biggest CRM threats as they have integrated with key social business constituents. Chatter for Salesforce.com offers competitive features on an existing footprint of innovative customers. Mainstay social business platform Microsoft Sharepoint can continue to win favor through having a large direct and channel sales force. New threats may come from reemerging vendors such as Broadvision, who bring a pedigree of traditional eBusiness. While Jive is often compared with Lithium, the likely outcome - continued verticalization and increased friction with the larger enterprise software players. CEO Tony Zingale often publicly denounces incumbents for having Social media “bolt on” features and Jive bloggers often throw bombs at the CRM vendors. Expect incumbents to use their existing enterprise footprints, CIO relationships, and direct and channel sales teams to their advantage.
SWOT Summary
- Jive hit a milestone moment, as this $30M dowry prepares them to move into a new category. The result - funding provides an accelerant for rapid expansion as organic growth will not be enough to achieve a velocity that existing enterprise incumbents may already be able to leverage.
- Jive must partner with more system integrators, enterprise class software vendors, and integration providers to gain a solid foothold with enterprise buyers. The money is clearly in the enterprise buyer market where existing ERP, CRM budgets can be gleaned.
- Expect Jive to bolster recurring revenues, and stabilize growth, and prepare for an IPO in 2011 –an achievement we haven’t heard much about here in Silicon Valley for nearly 10 years.
The Bottom Line For Competitors - Don't Be Last To Play Catchup
Market and solution footprint consolidation will continue around the key components of social business. Expect market laggards and legacy competitors to work out their build/buy decisions over the next 8 to 12 months. Most legacy software vendors lack not only the R&D prowess, but also the DNA to successfully launch a social product. Early consolidators will gain the best deals. Laggards will be odd man out during the rapid consolidation in the next 18 to 24 months
The Bottom Line For Buyers - Invest In Jive But Keep Them Vested In Your Success
Jive will emerge as one of the winners in providing social business solutions. The company has the potential to IPO and succeed as an independent provider. Other competitors will emerge and play catchup over the next 24 months. However, should an IPO event succeed, the funding will provide Jive with the war chest to go after adjacent competitors and build out its base. During the journey towards an IPO, customers and prospects must keep the management team focused on investing in successful deployments and outcomes, ensuring they get rapid service and support despite focused on top line growth.
Your POV.
Are you a Jive customer? How do you feel about the funding ? Has Jive continued to give you excellent service? Do you feel you have Jive's attention? Are you in the market for social CRM solutions and have a question? You can post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity or better yet, join the community!
Please let us know if you need help with your Social CRM efforts. Here’s how we can help:
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Related resources and links
- Tuesday’s Tip: Applying The Five Stages Of Adoption Towards SCRM Projects
- News Analysis: Lithium’s Acquisition of Scout Labs Ups The Ante in Social CRM
- News Analysis: Biz360 Acquisition Signals Attensity Group’s Move Into Social CRM
- Monday’s Musings: Avoiding Failure In Social CRM Projects Requires Ecosystem Coordination
- Research Report: The 18 Use Cases of Social CRM – The New Rules of Relationship Management
- News Analysis: Siperian Acquisition Vaults Informatica Into An MDM Leadership Position
- News Analysis: Jive and Radian6 Partner – Great For Business, But Could Fragment IT Systems
- Event Report: Salesforce.com Pushes Social CRM Technology — But Don’t Expect Companies To Be Successful With Tools Alone
- Monday’s Musings: Why Every Social CRM Initiative Needs An MDM Backbone
- Personal Log: Altimeter Group – Helping Organizations Bridge The Technology Obsolescence Gap
- Monday’s Musings: 10 Essential Elements For Social Enterprise Apps
- Best Practices: Debunking Eight CRM Myths
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Disclosure
Although we work closely with many SCRM vendors, we want you to trust us more. Jive is currently a client of Altimeter Group but not that of Insider Associates, LLC. For the disclosure policy please refer here.
Copyright © 2010 R Wang and Insider Associates, LLC. All rights reserved.