微软收购Yammer背后的玄机

    的确，企业IT之所以出现风云激荡的变化，很大程度上就是由于移动化的驱使。安装了基于云计算的软件之后，人们几乎可以使用移动设备在任何地方工作。移动设备要求应用程序具有好看、好用的界面。“自带设备上班”的现象使员工们从此不必整日守在桌前面对着依赖上一代软件的沉重的老式PC。同时平板电脑和智能手机也越来越社交化。微软发布了新的Surface平板电脑之后，甚至连那些反感苹果的职场人恐怕也要被移动化招安了。

    Facebook的IPO后，许多投资者都惊呼“科技已死”。或许消费性社交媒体今年夏天的确有所降温，但企业市场却绝非如此。正如Inc的埃里克•谢尔曼所写的那样，“实用”永远比“酷”强（而且也更有利可图）。他解释道：“爱情和友情至今依然没能产生一个能赚钱的新经济。”而企业软件有着清晰的企业用途和明确的生钱途径，因此是一棵IT业的常青树。

    毕竟企业界每年花在上一代企业IT上的钱——包括花在软件、数据中心和PC上的钱，已经达到另人震惊的6,000亿美元。随着这些笨拙的体系逐渐淡出历史舞台，为移动时代设计的基于云计算和“软件即服务”的企业解决方案必将迎来更广阔的商机。

    本文作者莱恩•霍姆斯是HootSuite公司的首席执行官。他的公司是一个社交媒体管理系统，拥有400万名用户，其中包括79家《财富》（Fortune）100强企业。由于每天的工作都涉及管理Facebook、Twitter以及其它全球最大的社交网络，因此霍姆斯在大企业与社交网络的交叉领域是一名专家。他经常为《纽约时报》（New York Times）、《华尔街日报》等提供咨询，并经常在TEDx、SXSW等重大科技会议上发表演说。

    译者：朴成奎

    Indeed, it's the move to mobile that has driven, in large part, the changes roiling enterprise IT. Mobile devices run on cloud-based software, accessible from anywhere. They demand apps with slick, easy-to-use interfaces. The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) phenomenon lets employees circumvent and subvert clunky, legacy PCs bloated with yesterday's enterprise software. And tablets and smartphones are aggressively social. Microsoft's launch of its new Surface tablet should bring even Apple-averse workplaces into the mobile fold.

    In the wake of the Facebook IPO, investors have wondered out loud whether tech is down for the count. While consumer social media may be cooling for the summer, the enterprise market is certainly not. As Inc's Erik Sherman writes, useful is always better (and more profitable) than cool: "[There] still isn't a new economy to run on love and links," he explains. Enterprise software - i.e. tools with clear corporate applications and a clear path to monetization - is a perennial performer.

    All in, annual spending on last-generation enterprise computing - on-premises software, data centers and PCs - comes to a staggering $600 billion. As those clunky legacy systems get phased out, opportunities exist for cloud-based, SaaS enterprise solutions built for the mobile era.

    Ryan Holmes is the CEO of HootSuite, a social media management system with four million users, including 79 of the Fortune 100 companies. In the trenches everyday with Facebook, Twitter and the world's largest social networks, Holmes is an expert at the intersection of social media and big business. He is consulted regularly by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other outlets and speaks at TEDx, SXSW and major tech conferences