During this Internet age, multichannel retailing, i.e. the association of catalogue, Web, phone and the actual stores, has become an engine for growth; it enhances the possibilities for establishing client contact. The paper version of catalogues thus plays a more strategic role than ever before for online retailers.
This support service enjoys widespread popularity among consumers, who admit to making use of it as a complement to the other available channels. For the past ten years or so, the majority of large online retailers have been presenting their catalogues on their sites, yet these companies are still printing as many paper brochures and materials as in the past.
Tomorrow’s real challenge lies within the companies themselves, in their ability to recognize that the synergy derived among the various channels will serve to raise overall customer value. This recognition underscores the importance of building a bona fide multichannel strategy centered around customer value and segmented product lines that take consumer differences into account.

It has been noted that an increasing number of consumers now prefer consulting an e-catalogue rather than a traditional e-commerce Website, since they can now access the same level of detail, with the same contextual depth and ease of navigation that they are accustomed to in the printed versions.
Customer-oriented multichannel strategies, while presenting a number of key challenges, still remain the key to long-term prosperity.

Online 2010 will provide the occasion to assemble all online communication actors: experts in e-mailing, mobile marketing, online video, SEM, SEO, e-commerce development, affiliation, loyalty-building, and mobile commerce.

Wednesday, June 9th, at 3 pm, you are invited to attend the roundtable entitled: “New e-commerce trends in a multichannel setting“, with the participation of, among others, Stéphane Claret, PageOnDemand.com’s Managing Director.

Plan your visit:
Venue:
Porte de Versailles, Hall 5.1

Schedule:
9:30 to 6:30 on Wednesday, June 9, 2010
9:30 to 6:30 on Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sign up now and come meet us to discover our latest product, which is sure to revolutionize the way you produce catalogues: a truly comprehensive multichannel approach!

As beneficial to advertisers as to ad agencies or prepress agencies, the PageOnDemand.com platform streamlines the interfacing of two parties in their search to collaborate. Here is a winning form of synergy that relies upon both reactivity and efficiency.

PageOnDemand.com makes it possible for agencies to quickly respond to new client demands or constraints. This tool offers the potential for continual progress and is permanently upgrading its functionalities. As an added feature, it enables lowering production costs and raising productivity through introducing a new and efficient work organization. For a pictorial depiction…

EuroCloud France’s Convention was held on Tuesday, April 20 at the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The proceedings placed emphasis on distribution aspects within SaaS mode, as such aspects have become essential for subsequent Cloud development. EuroCloud has engaged in extensive efforts to move the retail sector towards indirect distribution. “Distribution channels are a major topic behind Cloud development, and we have undertaken several initiatives this year along these lines“, explained Pierre-José Billotte, President of EuroCloud France.

The shift towards computing on demand over the network as well as the gradual adoption of new models via Cloud Computing (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS) indicate a break with past trends that should significantly transform practices in the areas of software and computing services.

According to the Markess International study conducted in 2009, less than 10% of businesses have actually made use of Cloud Computing services for hosting their infrastructure and computing applications. By 2011, somewhere between one-third and one-half of all companies will have integrated Cloud Computing.

Several series of topics were proposed for this daylong assembly, providing participants the opportunity to express their opinions and learn about the most pressing issues, with roundtable discussions led by some of the industry’s leading actors: “What role is played by software and service wholesalers? What new distribution policies are being conceived by software publishers? How will purchasers and users behave within this new ecosystem?”

“What reality is depicted by Cloud Computing? Who are the present and future drivers of this SaaS extension? Is this simply a new fad or a prominent trend? Which market expectations is this model really addressing?”

Close-up on the session entitled: “What is the reality of Cloud Computing?“…

Hosted by Kareen Frascaria (CloudNews journalist), this roundtable session featured some of the biggest names in the field and early champions of SaaS and Cloud Computing, including Jean-Louis Baffier (Manager of Pre-Purchase Services with Salesforce.com), Cyril Grira (Large Accounts Manager for Google Enterprise), Alexandre Rigaldo (Director of Cloud Computing Programs with the provider Orange), Stéphane Claret (CEO of PageOnDemand.com), Stéphane Duproz (Managing Director of TelecityGroup) and Guillaume Plouin (Head of Cloud Computing Octo Technology).

Arriving on the scene several years ago, Cloud Computing has revolutionized the entire corporate information system. Capable of reducing investment costs while streamlining working methods, this concept has the power to modify high-level corporate strategy.

As 2010 unfolds, service providers are by and large confident in the demand among professionals for Cloud Computing, particularly on the part of large companies and small and medium-sized firms. The services now available are well structured and clearly defined; moreover, their maturation has led to improved model understanding.

The actors present reiterated the potential obstacles preventing companies from taking the first step towards Cloud Computing solutions: data security and confidentiality. Cloud Computing users actually feel that they’re losing control over their applications and data handling. These fears and hesitations are natural human reactions and can be overcome by Information Services Directors (ISDs) “preaching the gospel”.

The ISDs of major groups have shifted their positions however and are now poised as the most likely Cloud Computing consumers, as opposed to smaller and medium-sized firms, which as of very recently were still considered as having the best suited user profiles. Since the ISDs of large corporate structures are involved to a greater extent in implementing cost-cutting strategies, they have become more aware of their teams’ need to assume the role of project manager with respect to end users, whereas the Information Managers of smaller organizations still view Cloud Computing as a means for replacing their IT teams.

… and a subsequent Focus session on: “How will Cloud Computing change corporate computing?“

Hosted by Matthieu Hug (Co-founder of RunMyProcess), this roundtable comprised Eric Rousseau (CEO of VeePee), Miguel Membrado (CEO of Kimind Consulting), Stéphane Duproz (Managing Director of TelecityGroup), Stéphane Claret (CEO of PageOnDemand.com), Philippe Kalousdian (Associate with IS Lean Consulting) and Christophe Routhieau (Product Vice President of BlueKiwi).

Cloud Computing has today become a real revolution and offers solid opportunities for companies, especially the smallest of structures. All aspects of their operating system are outsourced, implying tremendous budget savings. It is critical however for IaaS suppliers (Telecity and VeePee) to announce their service level agreements (SLA) in order to showcase their robustness, along with their 100% secure service, as a means of building trust and responding to detractors. On the other hand, SaaS suppliers (Salesforce.com and PageOnDemand.com) might be inclined not to propose SLA, preferring instead to rely on a transparent view of their quality of service track record.

Cloud Computing provides:

• Extensibility and adaptability, doing away with the need to forecast resource allocations; Cloud Computing relieves companies of all tasks related to logistics, maintenance and updates while offering significant data storage capacity;
• Virtualization and mobility; no matter the physical locale, a simple Web browser and Internet connection are all that’s required to continue with one’s session and retrieve one’s documents;
• Cost sharing and reduction; consumption is managed via a sharing formula, thus eliminating the need for sizable investments in skilled personnel or in hardware with a very short life cycle.

Here lies the real opportunity for a small organization. This concept fits perfectly into the strategy of company development, competitiveness and durability. The servers become virtual, with companies only being billed for their actual use. It would be an oversimplification to limit the merits of Cloud Computing to a more attractive return on investment. The corporate information system is in essence boundless and can be accessed everywhere. Real-time collaboration of shared documents will be possible from any site in any country at any time. This technological revolution will provide companies with the means to compete with bigger players, whether in terms of investment, human resources, equipment, communication strategies or even interoperability capacity.
Could this market be a driving force behind European innovation?

The EuroCloud 2010 Convention closed with the award of several prizes. The list of prize winners attests to the growing prominence of vertical SaaS products and services.

The impetus here was all about recognizing new, original and practical solutions, which in SaaS mode serve as effective corporate management tools as well.

Maferme won the SaaS trophy, for a comprehensive solution applicable to supervising production and service-related activities intended for agricultural sector operators and farmers.

The jury’s special commendation was awarded to Faascape, a brokerage platform set up between consumers and producers of software functionalities. This project enables developers to offer Web services under a free licensing arrangement (Apache V2). The services created are then hosted within Cloud Computing-type infrastructure.

Lastly, the jury’s prize acknowledging the finest success of an SaaS solution went to Kyriba, leader in the area of SaaS cash flow management applications and a firm with an increasing international profile: a tribute to France’s SaaS achievements!

Hearty congratulations also go to the three other solutions nominated from among the 49 submissions:
Adelya, a customer loyalty and relations platform dedicated to brand names and based on the NFC (Near Field Communication) family of mobile and virtual technologies;
Qualys: Go Secure, capable of analyzing Websites using 4 different security tests. Once a site has successfully passed this scrutiny, a Qualys Secure seal is generated to reassure the clientele of e-commerce sites;
“We are the cloud“: Business Intelligence Solution”, Bime is able to connect a maximum number of data sources, whether installed in-house or from online services, with the possibility of mixing and matching. Bime provides users with immediate responses to any question regarding their activities.

Thanks are extended to Bime for its feedback on this daylong SaaS and Cloud Computing assembly, which can be downloaded here.

The full set of Convention presentations are available by clicking here.

This assembly will be held on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 from 9 am to 5 pm in the meeting rooms of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The impact of Cloud Computing and SaaS on the strategies adopted by industry professionals as well as on the new opportunities available to resellers will be among the highlights of this convention.
Latest news items can be combined under three headings:

• The emergence of Cloud Computing, which underscores the increasing emphasis on Service-oriented aspects, through a wide array of forms, no doubt laying the groundwork as tomorrow’s references in the field;

• Distribution difficulties encountered by SaaS and ASP actors, a topic that cuts to the heart of concerns shared by all professionals;

• The issue of ensuring a productive dialogue between SaaS applications, service aggregation software, front office and back office.

Significant trends outlined at the ASP Forum

As a specialist in catalogue design and production run in SaaS mode, PageOnDemand.com is constantly striving for technological innovation in order to provide the best services to its clients.

During the convention program, Stéphane Claret, CEO of PageOnDemand.com, will take part in a couple sessions (“What is the Cloud Computing reality?” and “How will Cloud Computing modify corporate computing practices“), in order to share his vision for Cloud Computing and explain the stakes involved for tomorrow’s business environment.

We look forward to a fruitful exchange with you and sharing our vision of this dynamic model evolution.

Remember to sign up right away! http://inscription.eurocloud.fr/

The MP presented the meeting agenda by noting: “To those who thought I was coming today with political intentions, well that’s not the case, I’m once again here to simply enjoy your company.“

The objective of this session was to assess the state of progress for projects underway at the Hors Média Observatory, which was pleased to announce that its membership had doubled from 2008 to 2009!
The objective for 2010: Focus squarely on participation as a means of intensifying dialogue, in an effort to be as representative as possible in dealings with public authorities and advertisers.

The OHM in Shanghai

This event is a critical one to be held in an emerging country and loaded with potential regarding the activities of OHM members. “The true benefit of this opportunity lies in establishing a collective approach.”
Françoise ODOLANT authored the charter adopted among major groups and small/medium-sized firms. She has a Purchasing background and proposes a full-fledged business trip to the event, complete with professional meetings and a business development perspective.
“We’ve got to get out and meet the movers and shakers, the time has past when we can simply concentrate on the French scene.”

The links between the graphics sector and the World’s Fair run through the Design Trade Show, which caters to more than just architecture and includes all fields involved in visual communications. France will play a major role during this Show and enjoys a tremendous freedom of expression regarding the organization of conferences and other events.

OHM working groups

We were very glad to get acquainted with the 7 working groups overseen by OHM, with the objective set for this year of attracting at least 2 advertisers per group.

Close-up on Marc Ayrault’s Group, Advence

Marc Ayrault’s motivation to get involved with this initiative was initially sparked by the spectacular rise in Internet use, which has entirely transformed everyone’s trade.
“I felt it was vital to provide a clearer vision of how we were all reacting and expose potential areas of overlap among such a diverse set of professions.”
The group was assigned to create an open-ended, freestyle map with the aim of defining the basis of their collective work.

During the second phase of the group’s program, Mr. Ayrault plans on drawing up a status report for each major segment tagged as one of tomorrow’s leading fields.
“Our goal is to offer key insight, in the form of factsheets or otherwise, of what will certainly be the next stage of your career.”
Each company has to reassess its occupational profiles, the most edifying example being the American firm UPS, which through closer attention paid to customers better understood their needs and made the necessary adaptations to remain competitive.
For the next meeting, we will already be poised to progress in a number of strategic directions and provide the initial building blocks.
“It goes without saying that by gathering in greater numbers around the same concerns, our responses will be more effective. Your individual input is important, but the interactivity generated during these sessions is even more so.”

PageOnDemand.com will be very eager to participate in the meaningful exchanges organized by this working group!

Towards the end of 2008 after reading Nicholas Carr’s book “The Big Switch: Rewiring the World”, Mr. Mora developed an interest in Cloud Computing and in the renown it was generating, whether through Google or as a headline story in more specialized press.

Here’s a synopsis of the basic definitions required to understand Cloud Computing, SaaS, IaaS and PaaS:

Cloud Computing : “A model that provides quick access, upon request, to a pool of shared computing resources (servers, storage, applications, bandwidth, etc.), while avoiding extensive interaction with the service supplier” (NIST, 2009).

Software as a Service – SaaS : Ability to use a supplier’s applications by means of a simple Web browser.

Platform as a Service – PaaS : Development and rollout of specific applications on a supplier’s computing infrastructure within a given environment.

Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS : Use of a supplier’s resources for application purposes (servers, bandwidth, storage, etc.)

In reflecting upon this heightened level of interest, Cédric investigated the decision-making mechanisms involved in such phenomena as well as the impacts experienced among the first movers within this market segment:
“How can firms determine whether the specific applications developed and/or hosted inside the Cloud are actually pertinent for their needs and, if so, under which conditions?”

“What will be the impact from use of PaaS and IaaS services on the first companies to enter this market?”

To improve perception of the decision-making mechanisms and impact on organizations, the conclusions from Cédric’s study are now available for consultation by clicking both here and here

Subsequent to this presentation, Pierre-José Billotte, President of EuroCloud France, announced to us that EuroCloud presently encompassed 18 countries, with the addition of Turkey, Ukraine, Malta, Lithuania and Italy.
A total of 25 countries are expected to have joined EuroCloud by the end of this year!

Taking advantage of a one-of-a-kind and well-integrated database, along with totally secure Internet access and the possibility of working in complete autonomy within a close-knit team… such were the needs expressed by the Compagnons du Devoir Marketing Division in its effort to optimize oversight of the catalogue design process.

A detailed look at the choice of PageOnDemand.com’s solution for the layout of their training catalogue: a winning strategy!

After 18 months of studies and preparation, the American market has been penetrated!
Accompanied by senior expert consultants in catalogue publishing, PageOnDemand.com is pleased to announce the opening of a fully autonomous subsidiary, responsible for marketing and communication in both the United States and Canada.
PageOnDemand.com intends to retain its leadership position as a catalogue platform operating in SaaS mode, with activity in the U.S. expected to reach that of Europe in 3 years time.
PageOnDemand.com continues to pursue expansion plans, building on its primary market base in France and entering other European Union countries, starting with Great Britain, Benelux, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Distributed throughout Europe by its network of partners, agencies or via the prepress platform, the dissemination model adopted for North America has remained identical. In accordance with SaaS principles, the driving force behind PageOnDemand.com, American users have access to the same services and benefits as their European counterparts.

Stéphane CLARET, Chairman and CEO of PageOnDemand.com USA, Inc.
“With over ten years of experience in dynamic publishing and catalogue publishing software under my belt, I decided to create PageOnDemand.com. Thanks to the success of this venture, I’m now expanding the firm’s scope to the international level in order to achieve the kind of renown we initially planned. Our primary ambition in the U.S. market is to quickly build our sales channels through strategic partnerships.”

Steve PALLADINO, President of PageOnDemand.com USA, Inc.
“As a business development expert in the technology industry, I’ve held a range of executive positions with IBM, Motorola and Cap Gemini, focusing on both sales management and international development. I’m now applying my skills and experience to the areas of business development, team management and customer satisfaction to help create a success story for PageOnDemand.com USA, Inc.”

Starting from scratch, PageOnDemand.com’s goal was to become the leading platform for producing printed catalogues and Web versions using cloud computing.

Mission accomplished, as PageOnDemand.com today enjoys being the sole distributor of a catalogue publishing solution running in SaaS mode.
This success has been confirmed by the company’s steady growth, with over 2,800 catalogues produced within just 3 years. Another confirmation is the confidence shown by major retailers like Carrefour or Boulanger.

To download press release with format pdf

Taking advantage of the possibilities offered by PageOnDemand.com for greater reactivity in coping with change, quick and secure control over the catalogue creation process leading to strong productivity gains. Such is the strategy adopted by Ms. Cornette. For a close-up of one method’s success story.