Efficient Monetization Platform for Software as a Service
SaaS and Cloud computing service vendors must assess and understand exactly how to charge their customers for the service that they provide. In a cloud computing pay-as-you-go model, revenue is generated based on thousands, hopefully millions, of customer interactions. The SaaS delivery model often shifts a company’s revenue stream from a small number of large transactions to a large number of small transactions. This calls for a very efficient financial operations model, much like the model utilities follow. This presentation is geared toward informing business leaders about the implications of monetizing online offerings and introducing components of an efficient SaaS monetization platform.
Ranjit Nayak, Founder and President of Marketing • eVapt

Sales & Marketing When it Comes to SaaS
Selling and marketing a SaaS organization requires a different formula than most traditional sales and marketing models. Everyone in a SaaS organization is a part of a customer-focused culture. There is not one sale which has not included marketing and not one marketing effort which has not included sales. In this session attendees will learn some of the best practices to sell and market a SaaS organization. Attendees will walk away with new understanding about where distribution comes into play and how to keep distributors, tools to track leads from online and what to do with client feedback.
Sean Bisceglia, CEO • TalentDrive

2:20
Triumph and Pain in Utilizing Marketing Automation to Improve Sales
Learn how a growing professional services provider has used sales and marketing automation to leverage online and offline lead generation activities in order to increase sales and improve their return on marketing investment. This session will feature a case study review of an online lead generation / lead capture and marketing automation integration solution that uses SugarCRM integrated with a small MySQL database script that forms a simple solution for lead capture, visitor tracking and nurture marketing solution.
Brian Briggs, Managing Director • ApexTwo, Inc.
Michael Kriz, Founder and CEO • Acclaro Inc.

Strategic Operating Benchmarks for SaaS Companies
Operating metrics, along with benchmarks from comparable companies, provide important context as SaaS companies look to build out their strategic plans and run their businesses on a daily basis. Discover the key operating benchmarks for SaaS companies and review different operating models related to different strategic goals: fast growth versus profitability with slower growth versus transitioning from a traditional perpetual license business model to a subscription model and the different benchmarks associated with each model.
Lauren Kelley, Founder • OPEXEngine

Growing Your Business in a Slow Economy
As recent news reports confirm the reality of the suspected recession, what is the best way for SaaS vendors to exploit lower price points, simplified implementation, ease-of-use and user satisfaction to turn a “soft” market to their advantage? Do they grab margins or market share? This presentation will explore the competitive benefits and challenges of being a SaaS company in a down market.
Matt Steinfort, President and CEO • Envysion

2:45
Networking Break

3:15
Negotiating Software License Disputes
If your business is involved in a software licensing dispute, will you know the best strategy to employ? Learn key strategies resolving software licensing disputes. Topics covered include overcoming legal obstacles, restoring trust and communication, sharing information without jeopardizing your legal position and understanding both sides’ business and emotional drivers to document new license agreements that fit both parties’ current business requirements.
Robert Scott, Managing Partner • Scott & Scott, LLP

Ensuring Success with Your SaaS Provider Beyond Today
Choosing a SaaS infrastructure provider to meet your needs today and beyond is critical to the success of your business. To ensure your path to migration is forward-thinking with minimal risk there are several key areas to look for in a SaaS provider. As your application expands your infrastructure will need to grow. With the right provider you can remain focused on what you do best and ensure a successful partnership well into the future.
Larry Steele, Vice President of SaaS • SAVVIS Inc.

Step Back, Breathe Deeply, Avoid Panic Pricing
When there are fewer customers and fewer sales, many companies hit the panic button and slash prices. Lowering prices may get you a few customers, but those customers will likely expect lower prices in the future. Even worse, future prospects may also expect lower prices. Are there ways to manage customer or prospect expectations of lower prices? Can you really lower prices without actually lowering prices? Can discounts do more than lower prices overall? We will discuss how to get the greatest competitive advantage, now and in the future, using licensing and packaging options, selective discounting and price levels.
Jim Geisman, Principal and Founder • Software Pricing Partners

3:55
Maneuvering the Web 2.0 Security Landscape
As organizations embrace Web 2.0, it is important for them to begin developing a comprehensive security strategy. Often the question is asked, where do I start? Security should be considered from the beginning of a project but is commonly overlooked until the end. In formulating a security strategy, we will review the OWASP top 10 Web application security vulnerabilities, regulatory compliance, corporate policy, testing tools, coding best practices, certification/accreditation and the right questions to ask a vendor when selecting an end-point/network security solution.
John Pirc, Product Line and Services Executive • IBM Internet Security Systems

SaaS Sales Strategies: Leveraging Sales Benchmarking to Grow Revenues
Learn how SaaS providers are turning to sales benchmarking to learn what it takes to build a world-class sales force, increase revenue per sales head, decrease sales costs as a percentage of revenue and grow enterprise value through improved return on sales (ROS). Attendees will leave this session understanding how to assess the capabilities of your sales infrastructure, identify the type of sales force best suited to their offerings, which metrics they should be monitoring and how to get access to and leverage best practices from world-class sales forces.
Greg Alexander , CEO • Sales Benchmark Index

4:30
Featured Presentation
Simplicity is What Works: Product Development and Go to Market Models for Fast ROI
There is a widening gap today between what software users experience in their work environment and what is available on the Web. As the line between work and home life blurs, people expect the applications they use at work to be as clear, simple and user-driven as the applications they use to run their personal lives. Companies today are much smarter about purchasing software. They're insisting on solutions that have a faster time-to-market, higher ROI and better end-user adoptability. Enterprise vendors must embrace the philosophy of simplicity in business software or risk being sidelined by innovative, emerging vendors in the near future.
Chris Sault, Director of OEM Alliances • QlikView

5:00
Cocktail Reception

April 29th

8:00
Keynote Presentation
SaaS Market Outlook and Opportunities: Dare to be Different
Everyone is jumping on the SaaS bandwagon. Competition is tough and getting tougher. There are three startups for every SaaS sector and PaaS is helping traditional ISVs to enter the market. Where are the opportunities for success in SaaS? This keynote presentation will discuss how SaaS companies that emulate enterprise software solutions are likely to fail, while those that break new ground and embrace the Internet can create new markets and competitive advantage. Specific examples will highlight how creative startups are taking SaaS to the next level.
Joel York, Chief Marketing Officer • Xignite

9:00
Featured Presentation
How to Build, Manage and Grow Your SaaS Business
Running a software-as-as-service company is very difficult. Do you know the SaaS specific metrics, the different SaaS sales strategies, or the technologies than non-subscription companies need in order to build, manage and grow? Learn strategies to help determine what technologies are must-haves from the beginning, and what can wait until certain growth points and find out what the biggest challenges are for growth and how to overcome them.
Tien Tzuo, Founder and CEO • Zuora, Inc.

10:00
Networking Break

10:30
Predictive Selling: Integrating the Art of Selling with Behavioral Science to Drive Greater Sales Performance in today’s highly competitive environment, software companies are challenged more than ever to gain greater productivity from their sales organization. Research and case studies show that getting a 5 percent improvement in your “B” and “C” sales reps will yield a 70 percent increase in revenue when compared to the same improvement from the “A” players. The secret lies with identifying the DNA of the top performers, the “A” players and benchmarking the rest of the team against the “A” profile, enabling sales managers to focus on those skills that need improvement.
Stephen D’Angelo, Co-Founder and CEO • Spring Lake Technologies

Adding Cloud to IT - Preparing to Address the Paradigm Shift
As IT organizations shift their paradigms from on premise to the cloud, they will need to shift their focus to visibility, governance and effective processes to manage the future of IT. Learn how IT can handle the massive amount of data explosion, device proliferation, cloud applications and multi-vendor dependencies while ensuring the service levels, security and performance of their new IT. SaaS for IT Management can be the answer by allowing CIOs to address these growing requirements and continue to up-level the focus on adoption rather than running software.
Scott Kupor, Vice President and General Manager, SaaS • Hewlett-Packard

11:10
Online Marketing for Software Companies is Different
Today, people search the Web 24/7 for information about your brand, product or service and compare it to your competition before there is any other interaction. However, the technical buyer is a different breed. Their sophistication, group buying process and abhorrence of sales people, makes Internet software sales and marketing a complex process. This presentation will discuss online marketing techniques for the software industry, including how to be seen by potential buyers, defining your target audience and how to turn leads to sales on your site.
Susan Dorn, CEO and Founder • RingMaster Software
Tish DiRuocco, Marketing Analyst • Spring Above Marketing

SaaS on the Desktop
Customers demand ability to access and use applications more quickly than ever. Users want access to applications when they need it, not just when connected to the Internet cloud. The explosive growth of Software as a Service is fulfilling immediate access to applications, but with drawbacks: minimal user interface and tether to the network. On-premise software developers offer richer applications and offline capabilities, but traditional download technology and hard media distribution doesn't fulfill the "get it now" mentality of SaaS. The result is an on-premise software vendors moving toward a Web-based offering while Web-native SaaS providers are moving to the desktop.
Brian Duckering, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Endpoint Virtualization • Symantec Corp.

11:45
Networking Lunch

1:00
Distribution, Customer Service and Support
This presentation highlights how establishing a customer self-service center can help boost your company's competitive edge through better customer support, and reduced product delivery and support costs. It starts out defining the base functionality that a customer self-service center should have and how the customer can be empowered to act when and how they feel it necessary while having their needs better serviced. The flip side is the company downloading support costs, streamlining distribution and reducing service calls. The presentation outlines the goals and discusses how a phased approach can provide tactical wins while addressing strategic goals such as increased sales, marketing, business intelligence and internal productivity gains and reduced time-to-market.
TJ Caveney, Vice President, Sales and Marketing • OMS Safe Harbor


Virtual Appliances Bring SaaS to the Clouds
Many organizations have embraced SaaS to mitigate the challenges of delivering traditional, software by replacing on-premise applications with hosted ones. Now, cloud computing services provide a new model for on-demand application delivery. Enabled by virtual appliances, cloud computing becomes a compelling way to deliver SaaS without requiring an investment in infrastructure. This session showcases the flexibility, scalability and financial savings that result from leveraging virtual appliances and cloud computing to provide a SaaS experience. This presentation will provide a strong case that virtual appliances deployed in the cloud represent a watershed opportunity to fundamentally change the way applications are delivered.
Brett Adam, Vice President of Engineering • rPath

1:40
SaaS: Software M&A’s Bright Spot - Building and Harvesting Value in a Downturn
Although SaaS companies have not escaped the economic downturn, valuations are still strong relative to other software companies, and the inherent benefits of  SaaS make it even more attractive to customers in a downturn. Learn how buyers and investors view SaaS, and how you can maximize your chances for a successful exit, either now or in the future.  We’ll cover a case study on a deal from original decision to go SaaS to the ultimate exit, and review current deal valuations, structures and buyer profiles.
Ward Carter, President • Corum Group

2:30

Conclusion of Conference