The Outlook

At last year's Meeting of the Minds event on Software trends for 2003-2004, we shared with many of our CEOs, CIOs and LPs our thoughts on the "real-time enterprise". The appeal of "real-time" ranges from visibility, to management, down to productivity for workers. Real-time is a re-statement of the "Anytime/Anywhere" trend first predicted by Stanley Davis in 1987 in his seminal book "Future Perfect". Real-time enterprises allow immediate insight, visibility and status to customers, partners and suppliers. This "visibility" is appealing to senior managers and IT because it compresses decision-making time and increases productivity.

Discussions with the 35 members of Outlook's CIO/CTO Council suggest that real-time has become the vision to which IT departments are aspiring and new projects are emerging. So this quarter we've focused our WaveFront article on The Real-time Enterprise.

Meetings with entrepreneurs each week further confirm this trend - some of the hottest companies receiving funding provide real-time systems or real-time infrastructure. Outlook itself has already invested in companies providing real-time customer information, real-time information from facilities, and real-time process visibility. With our new $140M fund, we are actively seeking serial entrepreneurs who are designing the next wave of real-time enterprise applications and infrastructure.

Who knows, in the not-too-distant-future, perhaps we'll even see the Real-time VC arrive to Sand Hill Rd.

The Outlook Ventures Team
June 2003

The Wave Front
Real-Time Enterprise - Driving A New Era For Enterprise Software

Outlook Ventures first reported in 2002 on Real-time enterprise as one of its Top 10 Trends for the Enterprise. In this article, Outlook's Principal, Edgard Capdevielle, explores in greater depth this trend which is now driving venture investment decisions and new start-ups.
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Improving Sales Performance
This article is aimed at Outlook Ventures' portfolio companies and other startups focused on growing sales and marketing activities.
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CEO Interview: Vincent Deschamps, Echopass
We welcome Vincent Deschamps to the Outlook Family as the new CEO of Echopass. In this interview, Vincent discusses Echopass and the value it brings to the enterprise as well as challenges ahead.
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News from the Portfolio
Selected press announcements, news, articles or reviews that feature Outlook Ventures or our portfolio companies.
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CIO Interview: Documentum
George Lin, CIO of Documentum, talks about his role and business trends in his organization, including IT budgets, spending priorities, and interesting new technologies.
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Event: Meeting of the Minds
On June 5th, Outlook Ventures sponsored and hosted the 5th "Meeting of the Minds" event overlooking the water, at the Seaport Conference Center in Redwood City. The event show cased several of the CIOs who are members of Outlook's CIO Council and focused on the topic of "CIO Perspectives: Enterprise Software and Infrastructure".
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