Software Business Conference 2007

8:15-8:45 Opening Keynote -- Challenges and Opportunities for Software Companies - A Licensing and Protection Vision -- Thomas Lindeman, Group Product Manager Software Licensing & Protection Services, Microsoft

All software publishers today serve two major segments - customers and pirates! Balancing the challenge of reducing piracy with the opportunity to better serve customers is difficult, but can be achieved. For the software business, licensing and protection technologies for software products are vital - they protect sensitive IP, they enforce and enable the rules of business models, and they directly influence the customer experience. This keynote will describe a not too distant future where releasing products doesn't mean releasing IP, where using strong licensing actually provides more options for customers rather than fewer, and where internet delivery of products is no longer a threat but a means to grow opportunities.

8:55-9:25 Keynote -- Targeting “The Long Tail”: a Strategy for Software Partner Ecosystems -- Colleen Smith, VP of Software as a Service Programs, Progress Software

This keynote will discuss best practices for implementing an increasingly effective and popular strategy for independent software vendors (ISVs) and their technology partners - the pursuit of "The Long Tail." In this context, "The Long Tail" refers to the segment of organizations with smaller user bases that actually comprise a majority of the target market for new software implementations. Rather than focusing on the largest companies with thousands of end users, of which there are only a few hundred, ISVs and their technology partners may be better served by targeting their offerings at the thousands of smaller companies with hundreds of end-users. In particular, there is an importance of a partner ecosystem in which all participants share this approach - creating in an environment in which technology partners provide key tools and insights tailored to the strategy. The speaker will provide several impressive case examples in which targeting "The Long Tail" has helped smaller ISVs remain competitive and relevant to present and future customers.

9:30-10 Keynote -- Evolution of Software-as-a-Service Ecosystems -- Anshu Sharma, Senior Manager, Oracle SaaS Program Office

SaaS Providers are increasingly looking to an ecosystem of providers to enable them to rapidly build, deploy and manage on-demand applications. The first generation of SaaS ISVs had to build and integrate the infrastructure components and the auxiliary services to provide a solution to their customers. Building on-demand applications from scratch is no longer prudent, as service providers must rapidly bring new solutions to market while keeping the costs low. There is emergence of platform vendors, infrastructure providers and other enablers that can assist the SaaS ISVs. In this presentation, we will explore the role played by platform players, infrastructure service providers, sales and marketing enablement and the SaaS provider; how the various players interact and the key criteria you can use to evaluate potential partners.

10-10:45 Morning Networking Break in Exhibit Hall

Oct 2 General Sessions

10:45-11:15 General Session -- Global Demand For Human Productivity Impacts Software Companies -- Vladimir L Pavlov, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of the International Software and Productivity Engineering Institute

Moore's Law did not double the productivity for human beings. To accomplish that will require a change not in computers, but in the way human beings use them. The focus of IT now must be on human productivity engineering, and on the human/machine "relationship". Recently, the rise of new agile methodologies and new technologies will enable humans to become more productive. This productivity improvement will be achieved by optimizing the workflows for the first element in the pair "human + computer" and enabling people to unleash their true creative potential. This shift indicates a great opportunity for the software industry, but it is also a challenge for many companies. This presentation will demonstrate ways to benefit from this opportunity through best practices and corporate strategy.

10:45-11:15 General Session -- The Growth and Development of Online Backup Services -- Chris Schin, Director of Product Management, Symantec

Increasingly, organizations are utilizing on-demand software solutions ("SaaS") to cheaply and easily obtain the capabilities they need. This software as a service model has helped organizations of all shapes and sizes increase productivity, reduce IT costs, and make use of advanced software capabilities. Still, despite the hype around SaaS, many organizations remain confused over what SaaS actually is. Unfortunately, this confusion is most prevalent among customers who could benefit the most from SaaS adoption. The speaker will discuss the SaaS model, its benefits and adoption growth, and provide examples of organizations that have begun to employ SaaS solutions to maximize ROI, minimize resource requirements, and restore focus on core businesses.

11:25-11:55 Breakout Sessions

Executive Strategy Track: Building Your Management Team: The 20 Skill Sets Needed to Achieve Rapid Growth – Bob Norton, President, C-Level Enterprises

Hiring will determine 95 percent of a company's success. As venture capitalists often say the three keys to success are management, management and management. Learn many methods that can greatly increase hiring success rate and help identify the best people for a specific need every time.

Sales Track: Accelerating Sales by Focusing on Value -- Michael Nick, President, ROI4Sales
Selling software is different now; it's more complex, more competitive, and typically a longer sales cycle. The bottom line is, buyers expect sales professionals to be more consultative, and sellers expect buyers to evaluate and select a vendor based on value delivered. Selling now requires a whole new skill set. As a professional software sales person, you must learn to sell differently. You must shift the paradigm from salesman - prospect to one of a partner.

Software and Services Track: Making Money as SaaS -- Gary Ramsey, COO, LeCayla Technologies
There is much received wisdom on how to be successful at SaaS, and much of it contradictory. Should you offer a free trial or a free basic service? Should you charge per use or a monthly subscription? Happily there are some simple rules to follow that will allow you to optimize your revenue model. Take a look at various revenue models and where they have been successful. The speaker will discuss how sales models and pricing are interrelated and how different companies have dealt with these issues. He will outline the keys to success in effectively administering a SaaS revenue model and help you identify the optimum model for your market.

Marketing Track: Creating the Horizontal Vertical – How to Build Your Business Around Your Customers -- John Walles, VP Business Development, DecisionOne

Is your company emulating many of the large players by trying to be all things to all verticals? If so, chances are you are missing a huge piece of your key verticals' market share. To become a best-in-breed software company, you need to excel and gain notoriety in at least one industry. This session will examine a whole new way to approach your customer base - going a step beyond the trend of combining services with software to approaching a vertical and owning the whole ecosystem - providing all the software, services and hardware necessary to run its businesses and service its customers along the horizontal continuum of the customer's product or service lifecycle. This session will show that by focusing on only acquiring those assets that are specific to and synergistic with a particular industry, your company can gain the necessary momentum to capture the profits and market share that may heretofore have been eluding you.

11:55-1:00 Lunch in Magnolia Ballroom

Oct 2 1-1:30 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Blasting Through Growth Chokepoints: How to Avoid The Deadly Growth Plateaus Brought On, Surprisingly, By Your Own Success – Brian Turchin, President, Cape Horn Strategies

It's an unfortunate fact of business that current success can lead to future failure. Your leadership style, your leadership team, your current business strategies, and your current organization, all elements that worked before, may now plant the seeds for your future failure as you successfully grow your business. Discover why this is so and what you can do now about it.

Sales Track: Partnering With VARs the Right Way -- Robert Cohen, President and Business Editor, Integrated mar.com

Sorry, there is no magic switch. Engaging VARs is NOT going to magically make your sales grow geometrically. It's all about partnering, defined by the speaker as "the act of making sure you alliances feel like they are getting more out of the relationship then they are putting in". The speaker will discuss what it takes to develop a successful VAR channel and why it is essential to do so if you are selling software solutions to the SMB marketplace. Topics discussed will include: what it takes to be a great partner; strengths and weaknesses of VARs; comfort marketing; lead generation; setting realistic objectives; who owns the customer relationship; and how to recruit the right VARs.

Software and Services Track: SaaS v. Traditional Enterprise Software: Building a Sustainable Model and Taking It to Market – panel led by Tim McAdam, General Partner, Trinity Ventures

This panel of leading SaaS CEOs, investors and industry pundits will share their views on how the emergence of SaaS into the marketplace has altered the dynamics of everything from budget allocation and hiring to pricing and go-to-market strategy -- all leading to a dramatically different financing strategy. Hear the differences in the two business models, including market drivers and limitations that impact financing. And see what experts have to say about how companies can learn and apply key principals to their new ventures as they prepare for fundraising. Join in the discussion as this panel of experts as we review the keys to building and financing a sustainable SaaS model and taking it to market.

Marketing Track: Wikis in the Workplace: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything -- Jeff Brainard, Director of Marketing, Socialtext

* Overview Web 2.0 trends & technologies, as well as business implications
* Discuss wikis & common use-cases, including detailed customer examples
* Review critical business feature requirements & vendor selection criteria
* Discuss how wikis co-exist with IT infrastructure, like portals & directory services
* Recommendations for deploying wikis & stimulating end-user adoption

Oct 2 1:40-2:10 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: SaaS -- The Threat From Within: How Cannibalization is Creating a Civil War with Large Enterprise Software Vendors -- Ken Rudin, CEO and founder, LucidEra

Small and nibble SaaS disruptors in the space, who were built from the ground up to host these powerful solutions, are in a much better position to advance their position in the market and bleed customers away from the software behemoths. The speaker saw this David versus Goliath dynamic play itself first hand in his previous post at Siebel. In direct response to Sales-force.com's pioneering SaaS model, Siebel launched is own on-demand business unit, which touched off an internal civil war when Siebel CRM OnDemand began cannibalizing its core on-premise solutions. Learn how large vendors are cannibalizing their core business units by moving to the on-demand model.

Financial Track: Knowing When and How to Approach VCs and Private Equity Firms – Javier Rojas, Managing Director, Kennet Partners

Are you approaching new levels of growth and opportunity, and you're not quite sure what to do about it? Here is your chance to learn what VCs and Private Equity firms want to see and hear when you approach them. Learn not only when to raise capital, but why capital is essential to scaling a company for success and how to prepare for that important first meeting with your potential investment partners.

Product Development Track: Increase Customer Satisfaction With Remote Support Software -- Andre Angel, President and CEO, NTRGlobal North America

As a software developer or IT solution provider, you spend significant time and money developing your offerings so they are the best on the market. These investments, however, don't always result in perfectly working software for the external customers using your products and services. Customers may be stymied by a new application or other computing issue when integrating your software into their businesses. In this talk, learn how this instant, personalized approach can reduce support costs while delivering a better support experience for your customers.

Marketing Track: Changing Marketing Strategy Issues – How the Software Business is Getting Crazier -- Guy Smith Principal, Silicon Strategies Marketing

Marketing strategies for software has never been simple or painless, but recent changes in the industry have multiplied the complexity of strategic planning and driven otherwise calm executives to tears. Competing forces of market expansion (geographic and tier-access), delivery, pricing and buzz have opened new opportunities while multiplying competitive threats. Review the interrelated issues of the Internet, delivery models, development methods (such as open- and dual-source), price expectations, how software is marketed, and how even the smallest of software vendors can compete globally. At the heart of this new market reality is how the Internet has changed who can reach who, and how it has reset buyer expectations concerning vendor trust, evaluation and acquisition.

Oct 2 2:20-2:50 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Next Generation Partner Opportunity Management -- Shinya Akamine, CEO, BLUEROADS

The changing nature of today's reseller channel requires a new approach to partner sales, marketing, and lead management. Partner opportunity management empowers the large reseller community to create incremental sales opportunities for vendors and channel partners. This session will introduce attendees to these next generation channel management solutions and offer best practices.

Product Development Track: Agile Enterprise Rollout—The Greening of the Software Industry – Ryan Martens, CTO, Rally Software

The speaker presents a premise around the necessity of the greening of the software industry and the trends such a transition requires: SaaS, Agile Software Development, and Social Networks. We will then define our 3-stage Enterprise Agile Rollout approach for adopting Agile practices that directly attack the Take-Make-Waste model. For each of these stages of the rollout, specific practices will be provided; what benefits they bring businesses in the 21st Century, what roadblocks businesses may have to overcome in order to derive these benefits; and, how businesses will know if they have truly adopted the practices.

Software and Services Track: Establishing and Growing a Successful SaaS Business -- Joe Gustafson, Founder and CEO, Brainshark

The SaaS market has exploded in recent years, but not every company that claims on-demand software will achieve long term success unless their culture, skills and processes truly support their users' business needs. Today's successful SaaS leaders recognize their users are looking to them to provide more than 99.9 percent up-time. Joe Gustafson, a SaaS pioneer, will discuss the business of SaaS -- what is required of you as a vendor, what your users will expect, and what you need to understand about your customers - and will share best practices for establishing and growing a SaaS business.

Marketing Track: Relationship Marketing 2.0: The Demand Creation Model to Align Marketing Strategy with Sales Execution in the On Demand World -- Henry Bruce, President, The Rock Annand Group

The struggle for SaaS software companies to profitably attract and retain customers has never been greater. Innovative SaaS/on-demand delivery models require far more effective sales and marketing strategies, practices and cost models to reach and develop relationships with buyers. What's needed are strategies that capture, qualify, filter and nurture those suspects not ready to buy so sales can focus on the most qualified opportunities. The new model, termed Relationship Marketing, employs integrated sales and marketing automation technologies to measure and manage the entire demand generation process.

3-3:30 Afternoon Networking Break in Exhibit Hall

Oct 2 3:30-4 Breakouts

Financial Track: Business Strategies: Acquiring to Become an Industry Leader -- Robert Farrell, CEO, Metastorm

When one software company acquires or merges with another, there are 3 primary assets involved: the product(s), the customer base, and the employees. Too often, acquisitions result in product consolidation or discontinuation, massive layoffs, and unhappy customers left with an obsolete product and little hope of recouping their investment. However, when done properly an acquisition does not have to be negative but rather can help drive market leadership in a sector. This session will outline best practices for identifying and integrating synergistic acquisitions that result in value-add for everyone. A case study will showcase how a mid-size company successfully executed an acquisition strategy to set itself apart from its competitors and benefit its industry - proving that M&A is not just for the big guys.

Software and Services Track: Software As a Service Opportunities and Pitfalls -- Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman, Managing Editor and Publisher, Softletter

SaaS is a quiet tsunami sweeping through the software industry. Research firms such as Gartner predict that the SaaS market segment will grow from $6 billion in 2006 to $20 billion by 2011.The speaker will discuss the latest results from Softletter's SaaS Best Practices and Results survey. The report covers current trends in SaaS pricing, sales models, infrastructure, development, professional services and much more. The session will provide detailed analysis of the results and examining both the opportunities and the pitfalls uncovered by the report.

Marketing Track: Leveraging the Power of Viral Marketing: the Hottest Marketing Initiative on the Planet -- Bob Conlin, Chief Marketing Officer, Centive

Viral marketing is one of the hottest, most creative, highest ROI marketing initiatives on the planet right now. No form of marketing is more compelling than an interactive, moving, talking, singing advertisement that a person chooses to watch. Over the last few years, the cost of producing videos has decreased significantly, with the introduction of new technologies that simplify the process and further increase processing power and growth of storage. The speaker will share his experience with viral marketing and the lessons he has learned.

Oct 2 4:10-4:40 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Successful Corporate Repositioning: Staying Relevant in a Changing Marketplace, and Ahead of Your Competition -- Mark Buczynski, Vice President/Marketing, BitArmor Systems

Emerging firms consistently face the challenge of remaining relevant to their target markets. Their innovative, disruptive technologies are frequently ahead of the market, and may require a repositioning of the firm to successfully communicate a value proposition to changing targets, and win sales. One such company is BitArmor, which has recently unveiled a new positioning in the information security sector. It discovered that going after a vertical market other than its initial target would be more likely to result in sales success; the company had to revise its messaging and domain expertise to take advantage of the opportunity.

Financial Track: Turning Compliance Into A Competitive Weapon: Best Practices in Turning Legislative Pain into Profitable Gain -- Louis Columbus, Partner, Enterprise Compliance & Quality Management Practice, Cincom Systems

Committing to continually align with mercurial customer requirements and needs while managing suppliers to a more market- than cost-driven set of objectives is central goal of software companies. In addition insights into the best practices of companies using audits to accomplish these strategic goals is provided. This presentation does not look upon audits then as the micromanaging of processes, rather frames audits as a critical set of techniques for ensuring a company can stay in alignment with its two main reasons for existing: serving customers and delivering a strong return on shareholder investment.

Sales Track: Rationalizing Traditional Software Pricing to Software as a Service (SaaS) -- Drew Wright, Co-founder, Technology Finance Partners

Whether you are a traditional software vendor looking to offer flexible options through subscription pricing or a SaaS start up looking to dethrone the traditional vendor, correlating a perpetual license model to a subscription or utility offering can provide substantive management insight or relevant competitive intelligence that will improve sales success and optimize transaction revenue. This session will provide a rational approach to converting traditional software pricing to subscription pricing, highlighting key pricing factors and tactics to consider when developing your SaaS positioning strategy. Methodologies for analyzing and presenting the potential impact on corporate performance, commissions and other operational considerations will also be discussed.

Marketing Track: Upgrading Enterprise Email Systems to Increase Efficiency, Boost Revenue and Streamline Business Processes -- Kelly Wanser, CEO, ColdSpark

Today, many organizations that rely on email to drive revenue -- and thus want to expand the scope of their messaging abilities beyond that which legacy email systems can offer -- are turning toward a centralized platform approach that provides a rich unified set of features, reduces costs and addresses the compliance, security and fraud risks associated with traditional approaches. In this presentation, ColdSpark CEO Kelly Wanser will discuss how purpose-built, next-generation email platforms can streamline business processes and increase revenue for both enterprises and service providers.

Oct 2 4:50-5:20 Breakouts

4:45-5:30 Financing Roundtable: Where’s the Money and How to Get It –- VC Panel includes: Tim McAdam, General Partner, Trinity Ventures; Javier Rojas, Managing Director, Kennet Partners; Dean Riskas, President, TriplePoint Capital; and Rod Werner, Senior Vice President, Venture Capital Group, Technology and Life Sciences Division, Comerica Bank; moderated by Mark Jenson, Partner & National Director, Venture Capital Services, Deloitte & Touche LLP

Have you been bootstrapping your software company and think it's time to raise some capital? Do you have a business plan that you have completed and now want to get it funded? Is your company finally generating revenue -- or even better, sustaining and growing from reinvestment of that revenue? Are you at a crossroad where you must decide whether or not to cash in on some of the equity in your business? Are you approaching new levels of growth and opportunity, and you're not quite sure what to do about it? Here is your chance to learn what VCs and Private Equity firms want to see and hear when you approach them. Learn not only when to raise capital, but why capital is essential to scaling a company for success and how to prepare for that important first meeting with your potential investment partners.

Sales Track: How to Escape the Price-Driven Sale -- Matt McDarby, Senior Client Executive and Team Leader, Huthwaite

Several powerful but generally unrecognized market forces have redefined the concept of customer value. The kind of value for which customers will pay a premium is no longer embodied in product, services or brand name. Great and innovative products, excellent customer service and recognizable brands are now merely prerequisites--those attributes sellers must have just to earn the right to compete. But, unless sellers want to compete principally on price (i.e. rely heavily on discounting strategies as the main source of differentiation) then they must approach the customer from a new frame of reference. In short, sellers whose main expertise is in their ability to communicate product differences are on a short path to commodity selling. Sellers must now be the primary engine of value creation.

Marketing Track: Increase Profits via Effective User Adoption: 3 Critical Decisions facing Software Executives Cttempting to Compete via Effective Usage -- Chris Dowse, CEO, Neochange

For progressive software executives, there is a significant opportunity to capture market leadership and increase profits by competing on the basis of effective usage. However, like any paradigm shift there are critical decisions to be faced to ensure success. Software executives need to address the following: Redirect operational investments to the development of an EUA competency; Expand the Professional Services charter along the customer's entire organizational adoption lifecycle; Prioritize Service Model initiatives using an EUA allocation criteria.

Oct 2 5:20-7:30 Reception in Exhibit Hall

Oct 3 -- Software Business 2007 -- Day Two

8-8:30 Keynote: Hacker-Resistant Software for Today’s Flat World -- Kevin Morgan, VP Engineering, Arxan Technologies, Inc.

Today’s software developers are striving to come up with the next best application that dominates the global marketplace and provides a dramatic return on investment. While ensuring that the software has world class features, often times, a critical development component gets overlooked: software protection from pirating, tampering or reverse-engineering. The result is typically a tremendous loss of potential revenue and profits. All anyone has to do is a simple web search to find cracked software for diverse software titles. Kevin Morgan, Vice President of Engineering of Arxan Technologies Inc., will discuss the importance and feasibility of developing hacker-resistant software applications, thereby protecting an organization’s revenues and core IP. He will outline what companies can and should (and should not) do to ensure software applications are fortified against compromise. Morgan will share software protection best practices that prevent hackers from finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities, allowing companies to protect their software product assets, maximize their product sales and the return on software investments.

8:35-9:05 Keynote: Software-As-A-Service: Challenges and Solutions -- Theodore Forbath, Chief Strategist Software Development, Wipro Technologies

9:10-9:40 Keynote Dynamics of IS and Business Innovation Today -- Grant Bodley, VP, High Tech Sector, SAP and Calvin Do, Vice President and CIO, EFI

Today's economy is characterized by a huge opportunity in the mid-market for software companies. Is your company positioned to take advantage of the market? Join two executives from SAP as they share innovation and strategy how companies IS infrastructure can accelerate growth and performance. Get a clear understanding how mid-market software providers are transforming their business through business applications and best practices. Attendees of this keynote will come away with the tools and knowledge capital to stage their company for growth.

9:45-10:35 Networking Break in the Exhibit Hall

Oct 3 General Sessions

10:35-11:05 General Session --The Web 2.0 Shift: Reshaping Collaboration & Enterprise Software -- Ross Mayfield, CEO & Founder, Socialtext

Due to changes in technology, demographics, business, the economy and the world, we are entering a new age where people participate in the economy like never before. This new participation has reached a tipping point where new forms of mass collaboration are changing how goods and services are invented, produced, marketed, and distributed on a global basis, as well as how enterprise software is designed and deployed. Discuss how Web 2.0 technologies, like wikis, re-shape how enterprises do business including how their employees communicate and collaborate and how these businesses interact with their partners, suppliers and customers in the new wiki workplace.

10:35-11:05 General Session -- Preparing for the New Game of Competition -- John Ciacchella, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP

More than any other industry, the high-tech sector is both global and faces an accelerating stream of market altering changes. To succeed in this environment where core businesses are constantly challenged and market leadership tenure is shrinking, business leaders need be more than one step ahead. How do they both identify the changes coming and effectively plan and execute company strategies to meet these changes? The speaker will present some of the findings from a recent Deloitte sponsored study looking at how high-tech companies are responding to market altering changes.

Oct 3 11:15-11:45 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Survival Through Simplifying Customer Relationships -- Cris Wendt, Principal Consultant, Macrovision

For the last few years and into foreseeable future the software market will continue to experience single digit growth and market consolidation. Competition for customers has become fierce with many small niche software companies struggling to compete against the industry giants. To survive, software companies must retain existing clients, encourage clients to purchase additional products and services, and attract new clients through a clear distinction from the competition. This presentation will address how to create a business relationship and client experience that retains customers and attracts new clients. Simplifying business relationships involves both a company’s business processes as well as the software used to manage those relationships. In this session, the audience will learn the best practices that leading software companies are using today and how to combine those best practices with the latest technology.

Financial Track: 2007-2008 Software M&A Outlook -- Ward Carter, President, Corum Group

In this special session, we'll examine topics of timely interest, including:
-- What sectors are hot
-- Where the money is coming from
-- Current valuation trends by industry sector
-- Business models that attract this highest valuations
-- Impact of IPO markets on software M&A
-- The global nature of M&A, and overseas buyers
-- Recent transactions, and logic behind the deals
-- Who are the top buyers?
-- The role of private equity
-- Market consolidation trends
-- Working with private vs public buyers

Product Development Track: Software Instrumentation: How to Develop Smarter Products with Built-in Customer Intelligence -- Cameron Turner, CEO, ClickStream Technologies

Microsoft and other companies have long used product instrumentation to create a feedback loop to connect users to developers of their products. Using customer experience feedback, the product development process becomes more intelligent; dynamically enabling developers to focus on profitable features and relieve testers from covering unused features. During this session we'll explore the concept of instrumentation, discuss successful examples of product instrumentation from Microsoft's product teams, identify opportunities for test matrix reduction and discuss how Windows developers can instrument their own applications today, including topics of user sample generation, key performance indicators and lawful user monitoring.

Marketing Track: Accelerate Through the Software “J-Curve" -- Microsoft Ecosystem Dynamics -- Richard Barnett, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Kineticsware

The evolution of the “software ecosystem” is creating new opportunities to accelerate through the investment levels and time to revenue for emerging software companies. The speaker will explore the following:
Ø The J-Curve : Common issues faced by owners of software companies.
Ø Actions software companies/software company owners can take to be successful within the Microsoft ecosystem (straight from a Microsoft insider)
Ø Tips on how to launch partnerships with other small businesses
Ø How to get to the next level/next phase of growth
Ø Insight into the partner channel

11:45-12:50 Lunch in Magnolia Ballroom

Oct 3 1-1:30 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Building a Successful Network of Global Partners -- John P. Joseph, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Envox

Software companies looking to expand their global presence should consider building key distribution partnerships if resources and limited budget are factors. Global distribution is a key element of any software company's global growth strategy and is critical to gaining market share beyond your own country. In this session, learn how to build a successful global network of partners to meet the growing demand for your products and related services at a pace that makes sense for your company.

Sales Track: Building a Sales Value Chain: Lean Sales and Marketing Principles for Technology Companies -- Eric Nies, Director of Venture Partner Programs, Cincom Systems

The "Sales Value Chain" model is based upon time-tested and proven lean business principles similar to lean manufacturing processes. Implementing a "Sales Value Chain" model can lead to powerful results. The speaker will share lessons learned from the implementation of the Sales Value Chain model, which have resulted in a 150% increase in sales pipeline activity and a 50% increase in sales win-rate.

Product Development Track: Developing Absurdly Ideal Software -- Rick Chin, Director of Product and Marketing Innovation, SolidWorks Corporation

How do companies provide solutions which are viewed as innovations in the eyes of their customers? What makes a solution something customers get excited about and truly support? The process involves embracing problems that matter, envisioning solutions that are absurdly ideal, and applying appropriate filters to identify solutions worthy of pursuing. That is, if software companies had their engineers attack new development starting with the ideal solution, however absurd, and work backward, they might just stumble upon the next e-mail-caliber development. In this session, attendees will learn a step-by-step process of how they can incorporate the absurdly ideal approach to new software development.

Oct 3 1:40-2:10 Breakouts

Financial Track: Extreme Revenue Recognition – Beyond the Spreadsheets -- Dr. Richard Moore, Director of Revenue Solution, Softrax Corporation

Today's software industry is faced with ever increasing pressures, especially in the back-office. Issues such as the use of spreadsheets and revenue recognition plague the finance department. The presenter will discuss the challenges of managing complex revenue recognition processes and the impact various business models have on these processes. You'll hear about the uniqueness of the revenue process, why it is handled outside typical enterprise systems and why companies largely rely upon spreadsheets. In addition, the session will address how revenue KPIs (key performance indicators) can provide a different view into your business, as well as outline success strategies for various software business models supporting the audit and financial controls through a streamlined, compliant revenue process.

Product Development Track: Reclaiming Visibility & Control: Making Offshore Development Work -- Greg Burnell is Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of 6th Sense Analytics, Inc

There was a time when offshore software development seemed like an obvious choice with the promise of an exceptionally high rate of return. But experience has proven that there is hidden cost and substantial risk to the offshore and outsource model. The concern used to be political and cultural—the “giant sucking sound” of jobs going offshore. But today the concern is much more pragmatic: How do we mitigate the risk of our most critical processes and projects skidding off their rails? A recent study by Duke University and Booz Allen Hamilton cites loss of managerial control as the primary risk to offshore development. This has created significant doubt around what once seemed like a silver bullet solution. During this session, Greg Burnell, co-founder & CEO of 6^thSense Analytics will discuss how his company’s SaaS solution helps to address this problem by automatically collecting data about the execution of distributed software development processes.

Software and Services Track: Establishing and Software and Services Track: SaaS Application Delivery Acceleration -- Mark Heslop, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Electronic Software Delivery, Akamai Technologies

Demand for software-as-a-service is increasing as small and large enterprises alike have become more and more frustrated by the lengthy deployment cycles and the costly maintenance of deploying traditional applications such as payroll, accounting, sales force automation, customer relationship management, workforce management, human resources and product lifecycle management, among others. By using a reliable, high-performance, global delivery application delivery and acceleration solution, software providers benefit from increased adoption of SaaS applications without any additional capital investment.

Oct 3 2:20-2:50 Breakouts

Sales Track: Increasing Revenue and Profitability with the Right Software Licensing Model -- Dick Andersen, Vice President of Marketing, TotalView Technologies

Software product licensing is an important part of the product marketing mix that can significantly affect the acceptance of a product in the market. Software licensing defines what the end user can and cannot do with the software, as well as protects the rights of the vendor. At TotalView Technologies, matching product licensing with customers' usage and needs resulted in double-digit growth in both revenue and profitability year over year. In this session, the speaker will review the process one company went through to "Get the Licensing Right," and provide insights into the key factors that need to be considered when developing a licensing model.

Product Development Track: Leveraging the Mobile Platform to Expand your Business and Create a New Revenue Channel -- Joseph Verschueren, Co-founder/CEO, Formotus

In this presentation, Formotus executives will discuss how software companies can expand their product portfolio to include mobile equivalents of PC applications without draining IT resources. Citing real-world examples, Formotus will discuss how applications for the government, healthcare, financial, insurance and other markets can be easily extended to mobile users to differentiate product offerings and open up new revenue channels.

Oct 3 3-3:30 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Accelerating Business Performance Management (BPM) Through On-Demand Analytics -- Michael MacDonald, CEO, Visual Mining

Business Performance Management (BPM) is a difficult but necessary corporate endeavor. The SaaS platform avoids many of the substantial cost and implementation challenges found in traditional Business Intelligence (BI)/BPM applications. This session will discuss the advantages and concerns when leveraging the on-demand infrastructure to deliver business performance metrics

Marketing Track: The DNA of Technology Leaders: Understanding the Paradox of Technology Marketing -- Phil Myers, President, Pragmatic Marketing

This session will explain a new industry model for making 'Big-M Marketing' a new source of power in the technology value chain and discuss a pragmatic implementation strategy for introducing it in your organization. Recent research with 30 technology CEO's and 700 product management and marketing professionals from 400 companies found some common pain points and success factors in today's technology marketing, including the 5 mistakes that traditional marketers make and the 7 success habits of industry leaders.

Oct 3 3:40-4:10 Breakouts

Executive Strategy Track: Strategic Alliances for Small and Mid-Sized Firms: Beyond “Barney,” to Real Results -- Marc Kalman, Chief Executive Officer, eZCom Software and Robert Greenberg, Executive Vice President, Master System

Too often, both large and small firms will announce "strategic alliances," which have little if any true impact on their companies or their customers. Other firms, however, have discovered that small- to mid-sized firms can successfully build true strategic alliances, to mutually build their capabilities and compete against larger companies in today's competitive market. Kalman and Greenberg will discuss topics such as:
-- The benefits of cooperation
-- Finding the right strategic partner
-- Determining the scope of cooperation
-- Exclusivity v. non-exclusivity
-- Communicating the benefits: internally and externally

Product Development Track: The Business Case for High-Performance Database Connectivity -- Eric Egertson, Vice President of North American Sales, DataDirect

Saving on development costs and tapping into a larger market are just two reasons why major software companies are taking a closer look at database connectivity components when building their industry leading software products. The database connectivity layer - the area where application code connects to the underlying database - has moved from a technical issue to a business priority impacting product performance, maintenance, development costs, service levels and ultimately, revenue generation. In his presentation, Eric Egertson, vice president of sales for DataDirect Technologies will offer C-level executives and business managers at leading ISVs practical advice and anticipated benefits of high-performance database connectivity components.

Oct 3 4:20-4:50 Breakouts

Financial Track: How to Develop a Successful Exit Strategy -- Glover Lawrence, Managing Director, McNamee Lawrence & Co.

Every software company should have a good exit strategy. The rapid rate of acquisitions for software companies in the first half of 2007 is likely to continue for the rest of the year thanks to the consolidation of a maturing industry, cash-rich acquirers and smaller target companies who have good assets but need more liquidity to keep growing. This session will offer real examples and tips for creating a successful exit strategy, such as, what software companies need to do to improve their value and timing of liquidity; what acquirers are looking for; and how to market your company to potential acquirers. Company case studies will include Select Selling's acquisition of OnTarget from Oracle Corporation to form The Tas Group; Playtech's acquisition of Tribeca Tables for $139 million, and Teradata's acquisition of SeeCommerce.

Marketing Track: ROI and Online Marketing: Keys to Success -- Scott Alperin, Senior Manager of Marketing Strategy and Business Development, TechTracker Media

Many ISVs are using the internet as a primary means of selling and distributing their products. A much smaller number are using most or all of the online marketing channels they could benefit from. For some, this is because of lack of expertise or lack of resources. For others, some online marketing has been tried and seen poor returns on their investments. Another significant group are using several online vehicles, but don't know what their ROI really is. Most of these issues can be overcome by choosing the right partners who know their areas and can handle much of the work for you. There are four principles that are applicable for any type of online promotion, from emails to Google AdSense to six-figure advertising buys and for any type of product. They are also do-able for any organization, no matter how large and complex or small and resource constrained. This talk will cover those principles and a checklist of how you can cover them to ensure a successful online marketing strategy.

4:50 Conference Concludes