TranslateSocial networking and systems management – an unlikely combination?
Bob Tarzey, Service Director, Quocirca has posted up on http://www.it-analysis.com/ about Spiceworks and the social media size.
Can social networking actually be useful? There are plenty of claims made about Twitter’s usefulness for getting concise messages to a broad audience or using LinkedIn to track down old colleagues who may be able make an introduction to a new prospect. But what about direct benefits—such as finding quick solutions to problems or getting better deals on products?
It seems that the lesson from systems management vendor Spiceworks is—yes it can. Spiceworks has a business model that sounds very bubble 2.0. It provides a set of systems management tools for free and makes its cash by other means. But can Spiceworks actually return a profit where Facebook, Twitter and many others have not? Spiceworks is a private company with VC backing and does not disclose its profitability, but having gone through two rounds of capital raising, it says it has no need for a third.