JackBe

JackBe delivers enterprise mashup software that empowers creation, customization, and collaboration for better business results. Its innovative enterprise mashup platform, Presto, provides a dynamic approach to building applications faster, leveraging information from the web and internal corporate systems, while meeting the toughest enterprise security and governance requirements.

The Challenge

Enterprise mashups are a relatively new technology and JackBe has been at the forefront driving technology innovation and thought leadership since the market’s inception, roughly eight months ago. As the market continued to gain acceptance and credibility, JackBe was getting ready to launch the second version of its flagship platform, Presto 2.0. As part of the launch, the company wanted to gain greater industry exposure as an innovator as well as highlight specific differentiating features, such as enterprise widgets.

The Approach

As JackBe’s new PR agency, PAN Communications jumped into action 12 weeks prior to the product launch to ensure maximum press and analyst attention. The agency immediately set to work, arranging an ambitious media and analyst tour for the company’s dynamic CTO John Crupi, to make inroads with all the market influencers. In a matter of weeks, the company had secured in-person meetings with reporters and editors from ComputerWorld, eWeek, Network World, and InfoWorld in addition to analysts from Gartner, Forrester, AMR, Hurwitz, and IDC, to name a few.

To reinforce JackBe’s value proposition, the team reached out to JackBe customers willing to speak with the press about their positive experiences with Presto. PAN leveraged the pre-briefings to secure positive references from analysts and to invite reporters attending the Web 2.0 Summit to stop by the booth for personal product demonstrations and company introductions. The team also coordinated the launch of PMR – JackBe’s Presto Mashup Ready Partner program – highlighting JackBe’s work with key partners to bring top enterprise mashup technologies to its customers. The early briefings, analyst, partner and customer discussions also gave company spokespeople time to practice and fully crystallize its messaging.

While all of the launch activities were in full swing, PAN encouraged JackBe to continue momentum by drafting thought-provoking blog posts leading up to the launch. This was another tactic to stay in front of their target market. In this way, the agency moved beyond mere promotion of product features, packaging a full story for reporters about the tremendous market potential for enterprise mashups and JackBe’s role as industry pioneers.

The Results

PAN’s well synchronized plan and up-front legwork paid off. By launch time, the agency had an impressive array of respected analysts and happy customers ready to speak with news media to attest to the value of Presto 2.0. The early planning and relationship building, coupled with the notable industry references, also opened up an opportunity for JackBe to be positioned in a major IDG story on IBM’s entrance into the enterprise mashup space.

Instead of positioning the story as a battle between JackBe and IBM, the team showed IDG that IBM entering the game only proved to further validate the market and showed that it was a wise decision to invest in this important technology. Moreover, JackBe’s early stake in the enterprise mashup space made them a go-to source for insights into the emerging market. The release of the resulting IDG story—featuring memorable sound bites from JackBe—just days after IBM’s entrance to this marketplace was perfect timing.

The agency’s decision early on to continue general editorial efforts concurrently with pre-launch outreach also proved fortuitous. Because of these continuing efforts, Network World released a video podcast of JackBe CTO John Crupi white boarding the value of enterprise mashups. This important podcast coincidentally hit the very day of the Presto launch. JackBe reps on the show floor were able to point booth visitors directly to the Network World site, providing an invaluable sales tool on the benefits of enterprise mashups.

The product launch was a huge success, with remarkable media coverage, including product placements, event highlights and industry inclusions in multiple IT magazines and in the blogosphere. A sampling includes:

• IDG, “IBM News May Signal Enterprise Mashup Maturity” (This article also ran in NetworkWorld, InfoWorld, PC World, and CIO)
• NetworkWorld, “Creating Enterprise Mashups”
• Computerworld, “Web 2.0 Expo preview: Mashups upgraded for the enterprise”
• eWeek, “JackBe Upgrades Presto Mashup Tool”
• InfoWorld, “Mashups a hot item at Web 2.0 show”
• OnStrategies, “JackBe Releases Major Refresh of Enterprise Mashup Server”
• KMWorld, “Nimble, quick mashups”
• InfoWorld, “Enterprise mashups revealed at Web 2.0 conference”
• IDG, “Web 2.0 - So what is an Enterprise Mashup, Anyway?”
• VentureBeat, “Mashup companies take over Web 2.0”
• eWeek, “Enterprise Web 2.0 Spending to Reach $4.6 Billion”
• ComputerWorld blog, “Are enterprise mashups the Excel of our era?”
• InfoWorld blog, “Web 2.0…It’s About Process Outsourcing”
• InformationWeek blog, “The Video Mashup (Part 2)”
• Internetnews.com, “Intel Moves into Mashups”
• ZDNet blog, “Enterprise 2.0 industry matures as businesses grapple with its potential”
• InformationWeek, “Web 2.0: Companies Will Spend $4.6 Billion by 2013, Forrester Predicts”

Since the initial launch JackBe has continued to gain momentum with the press and due to PAN’s efforts have secured inclusion in both Investor’s Business Daily and Forbes.com. The company was listed among vendors such as Yahoo!, Microsoft and IBM.