But First a Word from Our Sponsor…
by Zia Zaman
In a rare solipsistic interlude, allow me to spend this post talking about why FAST has been driving the fastforwardblog and this conversation about Enterprise 2.0 and the User Revolution. We firmly believe that it is our mandate as the leading search company to continue to beat the drum about the User Revolution and search’s central role therein. Companies that are building revenue streams that empower users are increasingly looking to search to help them achieve market power. Also, as our CEO recently pointed out, “more and more enterprises are realizing that search is a strategic tool and are adopting it as a vital part of their IT infrastructure.” We’re benefiting from these trends as is witnessed in our well-received Q3 results press release. This tailwind is giving FAST palpable momentum: it reported revenue in line with expectations, cash collections at a record high, and impressive growth in both deferred and recurring revenue. One analyst wrote “Fast is on the right track with it comes to strategy in our view with its business focus on monetization and high-end enterprise.” BASF, Bayer AG, Disney, EDS, KDDI, Petrobras, Pfizer are recent wins that join an impressive roster of global enterprises that see the value in enterprise search.
Why shine the spotlight on us? We’re evidence that there is strong market momentum towards user-empowering applications of Enterprise 2.0 and search technologies. Our customers and our results validate that we’re on to something. The value of this discussion forum and blog are numerous, not the least of which is that it acts as a lubricant for companies that are considering taking the next step. With a nod to Safa Rashtchy (a potential keynote speaker at next February’s fastforward), the User Revolution is in full-swing and FAST is helping propel it.
FAST
