TELLUS International, Inc

TELLUS International, Inc Innovative Cloud Business Models We help our clients with plan execution like channel business and program development.

Founded in 2005, TELLUS International is a management consultancy that helps software vendors (ISVs) and System Integrators (SIs) with business model transformation and validation of selected business model. Our proven interactive workshops and educational sessions in software business and business model transformation enables our clients to build a go-to-market and an execution plan with solid bjectives, tasks and timelines.

I saw an interesting article on ZDNet and decided to share my thoughts on the analytics/BI domain.I have spent roughly h...
02/18/2025

I saw an interesting article on ZDNet and decided to share my thoughts on the analytics/BI domain.

I have spent roughly half my career developing, implementing, and leading software companies in the data warehousing/analytics/BI domain. With the advent of AI, traditional analytics software vendors must now choose between investing in AI to stay relevant or becoming irrelevant.

From an end-user customer perspective, the question is whether the organization has invested in software tools that will stay relevant and if the cost of maintaining the solutions is less than acquiring solutions that are easier to use (driven by AI), easier to maintain, and build new applications in a no-code design environment.

In my experience, data will always be the jewel of any organization, and that part of analytics projects has typically been the most challenging. How do we ensure that the data is clean so we don't end up in this evil circle of "garbage in, garbage out"?



AI also changes software domains like business intelligence (BI) and analytics. Earlier in my career, I spent over 15 years as head of development for two software companies, building and delivering business intelligence, data warehousing, and analytics solutions.

I have written multiple articles about software vendors' challenges when pricing their software solutions (IP). I have a...
02/01/2025

I have written multiple articles about software vendors' challenges when pricing their software solutions (IP). I have also predicted that many of the major AI software solution vendors will have to revisit their software pricing models. Pricing an AI solution is not the same as pricing a SaaS solution.

Today, I ran into an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal titled "No One Knows How to Price AI Tools" (behind the paywall). As the article supports my previous writings, I decided to provide some of the main findings from the WSJ article for the main AI players (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, OpenAI, etc.). I have also included a list of blog articles (with links) that I have written over the past 2 years on the topic. Each of these blogs has links to the original research.



This morning, I ran into this fascinating article (behind paywall) in The Wall Street Journal with the following heading: No One Knows How to Price AI Tools. Furthermore, the article states that "with businesses unwilling to drop top dollar on unproven AI tools, AI software vendors are getting creat

The recent news of Chinese AI development brought back Kai-Fu Lee's 2018 book "AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, ...
01/31/2025

The recent news of Chinese AI development brought back Kai-Fu Lee's 2018 book "AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order".

This has proven to be remarkably prescient in light of recent developments in the AI industry, particularly the emergence of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek. DeepSeek's recent announcement of advanced AI models that rival those of US tech giants underscores the book's relevance.

We are living in unprecedented times when it comes to technology. In my technology career, I have never seen such disruption, and I encourage each and every one of us to study, learn, and understand the impact of AI on our lives. AI should NOT be seen purely as a threat but as a fantastic opportunity to innovate and make a difference in traditional companies by transforming them into more productive entities and new startups using AI technology to innovate new solutions.



Kai-Fu Lee's 2018 book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order has proven to be remarkably prescient in light of recent developments in the AI industry, particularly the emergence of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek. Although the book is from 2018, it describes China's power we

It is nothing new that AI is disrupting companies and ecosystems and, in some cases, destroying companies unwilling to c...
01/27/2025

It is nothing new that AI is disrupting companies and ecosystems and, in some cases, destroying companies unwilling to change course even if the signs were there. Traditional businesses are being acquired by new owners who know how to make them AI-first citizens, which will disrupt others in the same vertical.

We are now posing whether the new entrant, DeepSeek AI, is disrupting what the more established vendors have done in the AI space. The claim is that spent only $6M in training its R1 model, which has the same capabilities as some of the models from OpenAI.

In the long run, what impact will this have on the AI market (other than the and technology market sank)? How will venture capitalists view this, and are they willing to invest in training models in the same way as before? Time will tell, and it will be fascinating to see where this leads. I can't remember a more interesting time in technology during my career.



TELLUS International

I can't remember any other time in my career when I have witnessed so many disruptions on so many fronts concerning technology. It is changing the way we work, changing the ecosystems in multiple industries, and destroying many traditional businesses that were reluctant to face the reality that AI i

The transformation of channel partners and software vendors has not stopped during my career in channel development (30+...
12/30/2024

The transformation of channel partners and software vendors has not stopped during my career in channel development (30+ years). I experienced firsthand the transformation from on-premises software solutions to SaaS solutions by facilitating hundreds of workshops for independent software vendors and educating hundreds of channel partners on how to transform their businesses.

We are now in a completely new era in which channel partners and software vendors are challenged with technology transformation and, in some cases, replacing entire careers with AI-driven technology. This means that society is transforming, and software vendors and channel partners are trying to figure out what to offer clients who are unsure of the ROI and what it will do to their organization from a transformational perspective.

I ran into a great LinkedIn article by Larry Walsh from Channelnomics and decided to reflect on some of the experiences and lessons Walsh describes in his article. I recommend you check out Walsh's article through the link in my article.







TELLUS International, Inc

I have lived and breathed software channels my entire career. I learned how they worked as a young product manager for Finland's second-largest software ERP company.

I felt it appropriate to review a book that aligns well with each of us looking towards a new year. Some of us have made...
12/29/2024

I felt it appropriate to review a book that aligns well with each of us looking towards a new year. Some of us have made plans for how the new year will look. I selected the book Four Thousand Weeks—Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. It is a book that should "ground you" on what truly matters regarding "time management," we expect to be more effective in our personal lives and careers. Burkeman explains in his book how he, as an individual, has failed in different "time management" programs, and he gives the reasons why this has happened. It is super interesting to all of us to read about as you will identify yourself in many situations. I did.

Now, specifically with the advent of AI and GenAI, people are expected to be even more effective as the assumption is that the time we spend on tasks will diminish and, in some cases, go away completely. However, the human nature is greedy, we will not stand still. Things that will go away, we will add new things as that is how we "tick" as humans. Or, has any of your superiors told you that now, with AI, you will have more time for yourself? I guess not, and it shouldn't be that way either. But it should not be that we continue investing time in the wrong things, resulting in consuming valuable time from those 4000 weeks we have to ourselves on average. I am also telling my personal story of what these 4000 weeks matter to me, and you can read about it in the article.

Happy and prosperous New Year to all of you!

Yours,

Dr. Petri I. Salonen











TELLUS International, Inc

Reviewing Four Thousand Weeks—Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman is appropriate as we are on the brink of changing from 2024 to 2025. This is my 26th book review of the year.

I like to write about the importance of leveraging AI in your work. For this, I wanted to share my personal journey of u...
12/28/2024

I like to write about the importance of leveraging AI in your work. For this, I wanted to share my personal journey of using AI and why I think it is a game changer. I also wanted to explain why AI has become a necessity for my company, TELLUS International, and the tools I use daily.

When I founded TELLUS International 19 years ago (we will have our 20th Anniversary this June 2025), I wanted to base our offerings and how we work on a solid foundation. That meant that any frameworks we use, any methods we choose, need to be based on industry-standard frameworks.

During 2024, I have had the pleasure of creating multiple research papers on different topics in partner strategy, software pricing, etc. These projects have been founded on solid research and all founded on strong foundational frameworks. We do not strive to create academic articles, but we want to ensure that if we recommend anything to our clients, we can back it up with data. That is how my professor educated me, and I am sticking to it.

When you base your decisions on data and best practices, you are in a much better position to create an ex*****on strategy that will be successful. Flimsy research, flimsy decisions with failed ex*****on.

I love to share my experiences and what I have learned from them. I have to say that the past two years have been amazing from a learning perspective. I have really taken an energetic approach to learning things such as pricing in the AI era, got several protected certifications, and created foundational papers for customers. I will continue on that path.

I would love to hear how you advance your career or business by applying AI. If you haven't already, make a New Year's promise to start doing so first thing in January 2025.

Yours,

Dr. Petri I. Salonen

, .ai, , , , , , , , , , , , , TELLUS Internationa

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leveraging-ai-boutique-management-consulting-firm-my-journey-salonen-eedzc

If you have read my LinkedIn Newsletters and blogs, you know I have been preaching about embracing AI and identifying how to use it in our daily work. In this article, I wanted to share some ideas on how I, as the owner of a boutique management consulting firm, use AI to be more effective and better

This is the time of year when I have traditionally reflected on the past year and the upcoming year. These are, to some ...
12/22/2024

This is the time of year when I have traditionally reflected on the past year and the upcoming year. These are, to some extent, personal, and each one of us should stop and think about what we have accomplished, what we are proud of, and what we don't want to repeat going into the new year.

I have had the honor of working on fantastic projects. There have been a variety of them, but they have all contributed to the TELLUS International, Inc platform. I am not talking about a technology platform but what TELLUS can offer its clients as part of the IP we have collected for almost twenty years. Yes, TELLUS has a birthday in June 2025.

We are proud to have been able to support ourselves and our family as business owners. Being a business owner is not always easy; there are always ups and downs, but at the end of the day, you can always look in the mirror, as everything you do is up to you. Every mistake, every misstep, every won deal, every happy client—you are the one who will have to own it.

I am super proud of my wife, Rita Salonen, who is running her travel cruise business TELLUS Travels, and she has gained clients from all corners of the world. Rita and I immigrated to the US 26 years ago, and Rita used to be a very successful travel agent for one of the biggest travel agencies in Finland. She gave up her career for a while to support both of our children growing up, and once they grew up, she got back to the work she loves and now as the owner of the agency, not as an employee. Her clients love her, and they return to her year after year to book cruises.

Both of us work virtually, and we spend two months a year working from our 32-foot Class-A motorhome. I have attached some pictures to my article, as those are the most precious times of the year when we explore this beautiful country.

However, this article is about TELLUS International, my work in my boutique management consulting firm, my thoughts on the past year, and some reflections on the upcoming year. I decided to work this Saturday, December 21st, as the US is slowing down. It is a good time to sit and reflect. We all need to do this more often, but unfortunately, life takes over with all of the business, and we forget to stop.

My promise for the year 2025 is to continue sharing my own learnings in both of my LinkedIn newsletters so I can feel good that LinkedIn selected me as a Top Voice this year (which I did not know to exist), which was a great surprise. I love to educate and share information; there is a saying, "Sharing is caring," and I truly believe in that statement.

I wish you all a great holiday season and a fantastic and prosperous 2025.

Yours,

Dr. Petri I. Salonen



It has been my tradition to reflect on the past year and what I see for the upcoming year, 2025. I apologize for the length of this article.

Many of us have been surprised by the meteoric rise in AI technology. I have written several articles on the impact of A...
12/20/2024

Many of us have been surprised by the meteoric rise in AI technology. I have written several articles on the impact of AI on software vendors, enterprises, and our careers and on what each of us must do to stay current in our careers.

I have been in the technology field for a while now, and I have never seen such a change in technology or its threat to some industries and professions. Unfortunately, doubters still have decided to ignore the development pace, and it will be a harsh wake-up call one of these days for the naysayers. I don't want to sound like a doomsday forecaster, but as an educator, I want people to recognize that they need to start focusing on what kind of impact AI will have on their careers.

In this article, I refer to the time after GenAI (yes, we are already moving beyond GenAI) and towards autonomous agentic AI, which is self-directing agents that humans do not direct. This is already happening, so it is not a dream. It will accelerate the pace in many professions and the way people are assumed to work with AI.

On the positive front, assuming that you have decided to take advantage of AI, I have not seen more opportunities than what we have today. Some of these opportunities are as follows:
⭐Software vendors need help defining AI solutions
⭐Enterprises need help deploying AI
⭐New startups need to build new solutions with an AI-first approach.
⭐Educators need to educate organizations about AI use from a technological and business perspective.
⭐Leadership teams in organizations need to be educated on how business models are changing and need to change in these organizations due to AI being deployed in competing organizations.

You get the idea that there is so much opportunity in the AI domain.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

TELLUS International, Inc

We are truly living in a fascinating era. The advancement in AI technology is moving at a pace that makes it hard to keep up with innovations in different topics.

I have been fascinated by business model transformation my entire career, and that also became one of my company's TELLU...
11/27/2024

I have been fascinated by business model transformation my entire career, and that also became one of my company's TELLUS International main focuses - helping channel partners from MSPs, SIs to ISVs to figure out what to do when the market conditions change or new products are innovated to stay relevant.

I run into an interesting study by Canalys and their 2024 MSP predictions. The MSP space has been slow to change in its business model, but the landscape is changing with the advent of AI and the increased need for cybersecurity services. MSPs with cybersecurity practices see a 20% year-over-year growth in 2024. The question will be about survival in the MSP space, as the field in the "traditional MSP space" is extremely competitive. If the MSP does not have strong differentiation, it will have difficulty growing without capital infusion or being acquired by a larger MSP player.

AI is touching every imaginable industry vertical, keeping us busy in the advisory business. We must stay on top of the technology to advise our clients in both technology and business.

Yours,

Dr. Petri I. Salonen

Each industry is facing pressure with the advent of AI. Based on my experience working in the channel for 30+ years, some channel partners will survive, and some will eventually become irrelevant.

You might think you know everything about the SaaS business, as SaaS has been a major software delivery method for years...
11/14/2024

You might think you know everything about the SaaS business, as SaaS has been a major software delivery method for years. Salesforce.com was founded on March 8, 1999, with Marc Benioff and his co-founders' goal of creating a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to revolutionize how businesses manage customer relationships. That was 25 years ago. So the question that you might have is: What new is there to learn today, as the SaaS business model has been around for such a long time?

Dan Martell et al. have collected the best practices for growing a SaaS business based on their experiences building companies and learning from hundreds of organizations when working with founders. We live in a society where we get information from all directions, and when we run our lives and businesses, we need help to stop and think about whether we are doing the right things in the right manner.

The book "Software as a Science—Unlock Limitless Recurring Revenue Without Losing Control" by Dan Martell et al. is a great resource for revisiting the fundamentals of SaaS business and ensuring that you are not missing anything that the industry is now doing and what is working and what is not working. The book is relevant for various audiences, and I have listed the ones I feel get the most out of it in my article.



TELLUS International, Inc

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/book-review-software-science-dan-martell-et-al-dr-petri-i-salonen-1ntkc

SaaS is not new. One would think that there would be nothing more to uncover.

I have written numerous articles on the pace of innovation that is happening amongst software vendors and the pressures ...
11/14/2024

I have written numerous articles on the pace of innovation that is happening amongst software vendors and the pressures that many software vendors have concerning the pricing and monetization models. The rules of pricing for SaaS are changing, and the question of whether the traditional subscription-based model is valid is an ongoing topic within the industry. Pricing per user will not work in the agent-driven software world. AI-based solutions can't necessarily be priced based on a user as the solution might adapt to the user with different user needs. The pricing needs to reflect these "self-configuring" solutions.

Tien Tzuo, Founder and CEO of Zuora, introduces the concept of "Total Monetization," which reflects how organizations should view their monetization models more holistically, being strong, value-driven, and deep in their understanding of the customer relationship.

When we add AI to the monetization discussion, a new concept for many software organizations, I expect the topic to be hot for years to come.

Yours,

Dr. Petri I. Salonen

TELLUS International, Inc

Not long ago, organizations were willing to pay a hefty perpetual software license with an annual maintenance fee for a needed solution. Some software vendors still offer these perpetual licenses, and it is beyond me how they survive, as most software organizations have offered subscription-based li

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