Day One, Tuesday, February 28th

Morning

7:00 - 8:00AM  Breakfast, Registration

8:00 - 9:00AM

Opening Remarks and First Morning Keynote Address: The Future of Data in the Cloud

In his storied career, Roger Sippl has built two billion dollar companies, Informix and Vantive, and brought a third to IPO (Visigenic), earning him the Golden Hat Trick Award" from Cristina Morgan at JP Morgan/Hambrecht and Quist for three Silicon Valley IPOs. A pioneer in creating the relational database technology and systems that now dominate the industry, he's learned something about the care, feeding, and management of data.

In his keynote, Roger will take a look at the future of data in the cloud. As the SaaS model converts desktops and corporate datacenters from information hubs to spokes to the Cloud, the nature, value and ubiquity of data is changing at light speed. Data silos are unacceptable in an increasingly conntected world but it's the nature of cloud applications to create them. Businesses and customers expect their data to be instantly available from the Cloud, but that opens everyone's information to pilferage, privacy, and compliancy liabilities. And while the on demand model enables SaaS companies to communicate and learn from their customers at speeds and depths never possible in on premise environments, the problem now is how to access and report on that data quickly and effectively.

This important presentation examines the present state of data in the cloud and focuses on how access, management, and transformation must adapt and change to in this brave new world.
 

Roger Sippl, Elastic Intelligence 

9:00 - 10:00AM

Keynote Address: Key SaaS Metrics from the The Softletter 2012 SaaS Report

Softletter' s SaaS research provides the industry with the standards and benchmarks by which SaaS technology providers measure their business operations and compare their financial and operating metrics agains their peers. Now in its fifth year, The Softletter SaaS Report is the industry's largest repository of hard data and facts on SaaS.

During this presentation, Softletter managing editor Rick Chapman will examine key metrics dealing with:

• SaaS revenue growth and profitability
• SaaS lead generation, management, and conversion to sales
• SaaS and participation in international markets
• SaaS trial access and freemium conversion to sales rates
• SaaS pricing and subscription models
• SaaS discounting levels
• SaaS resubscription and churn rates
• SaaS/Cloud infrastructure costs and models
• SaaS R&D costs and use of Agile development models
• PaaS choices and evaluations
• SaaS channels
• SaaS professional and customer service levels and measurements
• SaaS and product and community management

This session will provide the audience with insight into the industry's development and key operations challenges available nowhere else.

Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman, Softletter

10:00 - 10:30AM

10:35 - 11:05PM

MAIN TRACK:

SaaS: The Globe Beckons You

Inherent in the SaaS business model is the opportunity for your company to rapidly expand into international markets and Softletter's SaaS research shows increasing numbers of companies moving into new markets across the globe.

In the 2011 SaaS survey, 69% of SaaS firms reported generating significant revenues from overseas markets.

But where are your best (and worst) international targets? In this session, Jay Greenwald will analyze:

• SaaS acceptance and uptake in global markets, Latin America and other.
   
• How to begin and the concept of international sales becoming a "start-up within a start-up."
   
• Channel considerations in international markets.

• Budget, sales, and marketing elements that need to be incoporated in to your expansion plans.

This session is a must attend for any SaaS company planning an international sales and marketing strategy regardless of what regions and countries you're aiming to expand into.

Jay Greenwald, International Revenue Acceleration

CLOUD/SaaS INFRASTRUCTURE TRACK:

Listen (and Learn) What Your Customers are Doing: Leveraging SaaS Analytics to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Company Profitability

Your free trialists and paying customers are talking to you with every action they take (or don't take) when they use your SaaS application. They are telling you:

• What works in your system.
   
• How engaged they are.
   
• Whether they are ready for a cross or  upsell.
  
• Are they at risk of churn.

The beauty of SAAS, is that you can actually listen and respond.  By instrumenting your application, you can collect detailed usage and business event data and analyze it.

During this crucial presentation, we We will discuss examples of how SaaS organizations today are gaining this insight and how they are leveraging it to better serve their customers, focus their development efforts, and improve their product and profitability.   

Karl Wirth, Apptegic

 11: 05 - 11:35AM

MAIN TRACK:

Increasing Adoption and Retention of Your SaaS Application

When using using SaaS systems,  subscribers sometimes have difficulty in truly understanding the app, and because of this, they do not maintain usage. They may have been excited about the app initially, but since they did not fully understand all of the features and benefits it had to offer, they stopped using the system. 

In many cases it can take up to 12 months for the user to understand the app, and in order to obtain and retain loyal users, the proper steps and strategies need to be employed to shorten this learning and adoption period.

This presentation will provide attendees with a detailed, step by step program of training and communications to:

• Encourage subscriber interaction with your system
   
• Increase understanding and usage
   
• Build increased sales into your existing subscriber bass

Larry Cates, KeyStone OnDemand
 

Cloud/SaaS INFRASTRUCTURE TRACK:

Making Sound Infrastructure Choices: A Comparative Analysis
 

The numbers from the most recent edition of The Softletter SaaS Survey revealed that SaaS companies have many infrastructure choices to make, from highly virtualized (Cloud) server farms to highly managed service systems and many variants in between.

In our 2012 Report, Softletter noted a sharp shift to SaaS firms deciding to outsource their infrastructure as opposed to managing it in house.

The landscape for infrastructure choices, particularly in the cloud, is maturing, which presents some unique challenges and opportunities for software companies today.  The reality is that if you’ve started your software company in the last four years, you’re probably already leveraging the cloud. 

The implication to the established software vendor in transition is that your start-up competitors already have an advantage, but hope is not lost.  There are strategies that established companies can employ to take advantage of the cloud, create efficiencies to compete and realize the ever-elusive cost savings promised by “going to the cloud”.  In the session, we’ll take stock in where we are today and explore strategies to make your infrastructure choices clearer and more cost effective.

Brian Wolff, BlueLock

 11:35 - 12:10PM

MAIN TRACK:

Exploring & Managing External Sales Channels for SaaS

ISVs (both start-ups and those in the growth phase) are looking to market their SaaS applications through external sales channels, but struggle to find an easy, efficient and affordable path to success.

In this presentation by Dina Moskowitz, CEO of SaaSMAX, Inc. and Derek Cahill, Chief WiseSaaS of SaaSMAX, Inc., learn about:

• The various available external sales channels.
   
• Their pros and cons.
   
• How to determine which ones are a good fit for your App and business model. 

Additionally, learn about “The IT Channel”, building your reseller base, and what we at SaaSMAX have learned about the wants, needs and decision making factors of Solution Providers/Resellers who are plunging in to the SaaS arena.

Dina Moskowitz, Derek Cahill, SaaSMAX

TRANSITION TO SaaS TRACK:

Creating and Managing Regular and High Quality SaaS Product Releases
 

Regular and high quality software releases and deployment are a key part of the SaaS business model. DEVOPS is an emerging set of practices and tools for streamlining communication and collaboration between software development and operations.  SaaS companies are using these practices and tools as a way to streamline the software release and deployment processes.

In this session you will learn: 

• The tools, techniques, and practices used in DEVOPS.

• How DEVOPS integrates with an AGILE development process and can be used with various infrastructure options.

• Real world examples of how SaaS companies are starting to use these new DEVOPS concepts to decrease the risk and cost of software releases.

• How to estimate the value and measure the results of your DEVOPS implementation.

DEVOPS is a great approach for new or existing SaaS businesses to improve and become world class providers.  This session will help you understand how to apply these tools in your SaaS business.

Paul Ressler, The Cirrostratus Group

 12:10 - 1:10PM

Birds of a Feather Lunch: Sit With SaaS Experts to Further Discuss Your Needs and Concerns (Your Choice, of Course)

   Afternoon

 1:10 - 2:00PM

First Afternoon Keynote Address

SaaS and Cloud Computing: Beyond the Tipping Point

NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson's last Softletter keynote address was in 2008, when cloud computing was very much in doubt and not yet mainstream. Now, the Cloud has reached a tipping point and what was seen as a novelty just a few years ago has quickly become the most important trend in information technology. Cloud computing is devouring the opportunities once owned by the on-premise software giants.

Zach Nelson will explain why the Cloud has become an unstoppable force in enterprise computing, from IT efficiency and business productivity to driving fundamental, irreversible transformations in business models. He will also offer his thoughts on why the Cloud has become the dominant software model in the industry, how companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP will respond to the tectonic shifts caused by cloud computing, and what Cloud pioneers like NetSuite see in the future for leading trends such as mobile, social and platform-as-a service as a way for companies to deliver innovative solutions to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Zach Nelson, NetSuite

 2:05 - 2:55PM

MAIN TRACK:

SaaS Selling Models: Building Compelling Value Models that Maximize Sales Success
 

Cloud applications and SaaS may be hot, but your customers' budgets are tight and no one is interested in buying technology for technology's sake in a recession.

This session will focus on the critical success factors in selling and marketing Software as a Service (SaaS) to large Enterprises, specifically how to position the unique values of SaaS applications and apply them to your business value propositions and sales models.  This session examines current sales processes and marketing programs, and pricing models for companies that sell SaaS solutions to enterprises.

Attendees will learn how these practices are evolving and hear projections on best practices from market leaders. Key elements of this highly interactive course will include:

• SaaS value propositions and pricing models.
   
• SaaS sales and marketing approaches.
   
• Developing ROI models.

Chuck DeVita,
Growth Process Group

TRANSITION TO SaaS TRACK:

The SaaS/Agile Connection
 

SaaS and Agile are natural allies. In Softletter's SaaS Report, 66% of SaaS firms reported they were implementng agile methodologies into their development processes. As many Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) face the question of whether they should move their traditional on-premise products to the cloud and, if so, how can that be done, Agile methods represent a promising path.

This presentation will discuss the key planning, architectural, design, and implementation considerations for moving an on-premise product to the cloud. The following areas will be explored:This session will examine:

• Levels of SaaS Maturity
   
• Architectural considerations for an on-demand software product
   
• Key factors in moving to an on-demand product
   
• Why agile development works in developing on-demand products
   
• Key steps to move to an on-demand product
   
• Key lessons learned

This presentation will present a case study that shows how a company followed an evolutionary approach to move from their current on-premise product to a new on-demand product.

Eileen Boerger, Agilis Solutions

 3:00 - 3:30PM

  Networking Break

 3:30 - 4:15PM

MAIN TRACK:

SaaS and the Right Pricing Model
 

There's been a lot of hype recently about "new pay as you go" SaaS pricing models. The only problem with all of this is pay as you go is not new; Softletter's been tracking this model for years; "pay as you go" (or per usage or per transaction) pricing models are used by 29% of SaaS companies.

In this session, software pricing guru Jim Geisman will discuss the various pricing models available to SaaS companies and provide you with a roadmap to picking the model that best fits your business and revenue goals.

Jim Geisman, Software Pricing

MAIN TRACK:

SaaS Sales & Services Compensation Methodologies
 

Selling and Delivering SaaS solutions require a different approach from a traditional on-premise or perpetual licensing model.  You need to align your compensation strategies with your new business model. Key factors are: 

• From a Sales perspective, you need to compensate your sales personnel while managing cash flow. You need to take into account different compensation models and approaches based on your company's growth and development stage. Do you want to pursue multi-year deals and increase cash flow up front? How are you going to motivate your sales force to do so without giving away the store?

• Don't forget service delivery. How are you positioning your services offerings based on your product maturity?  How do you appropriately transition your services organization from a traditional time and materials methodology to a packaged or subscription model so you can adequately motivate your service team while amply enabling your customers?
   
• Lastly but definitely not the least important is ensuring renewals and customer loyalty.  How do you ensure after you acquire your new customers and enable them in your solutions that they continue to renew? This is probably the most important factor given in a SaaS model you're pricing over duration of time versus receiving all the cash up front. 

SaaS compensation expert Laura Roach takes you through a step by step methodology to address this critical topic.

Laura Roach, Blackbaud
 

Local Speaker

4:20 - 4:55PM 

MAIN TRACK:

Lessons from the Field: Successful Growth and Management of a SaaS Company – Organization Structure, Strategic Planning, Customer Retention and Growth, Positive Cash Flow (and the CEO's Role in All of the Above)

ProjecTools, a Texas based SaaS company serving primarily the oil and gas engineering and construction industry, provides an integrated project management solution to manage large oil and gas engineering and construction projects in the areas of Document Management, Engineering & Commissioning, in the past 11 years, ProjecTools has been used to manage over 17 billion dollars worth of oil and gas projects.

ProjecTools is a 100% SaaS company that has grown from a vision in 2001 of how global projects could be managed, to a profitable and rapidly growing company in 2012 - without outside investment or venture capital.

In this session, ProjecTools CEO Jerry Morgan, will present some real world SaaS successes, mistakes, lessons and enlightening stories, including:

• Choosing a development technology.
•  From datacenters to the cloud and the transition to DevOps.
• Marketing and Sales – What really works for a small, growing SaaS company?
• Vertical or Horizontal Markets?
• International Markets and the cloud.
• Driven customer service for retention, growth, loyalty and referrals.
• The SaaS curve – when the users start driving product direction!
• The continuously evolving organization structure of a SaaS company.
• How to maintain profitability and cash flow through perpetual growth.
• The SaaS CEO's role.
• Planning for the future – where do we think the industry's headed?

This session will provide the audience insight into what it really takes to start, manage and grow a SaaS company from the ground up, with a few funny stories (i.e. mistakes!) along the way.

Jerry Morgan, ProjecTools
 

Local Speaker

TRANSITION TO SaaS TRACK:

SaaS User Interface Design: Learning How to Paint With a Different Palette

The growth of SaaS is shaking up software user design in ways not seen since the introduction of the graphic user interface (GUI) to the masses by Apple and the first Macintosh. Many SaaS companies when making the transition to SaaS make the mistake of simply porting their existing applications to SaaS via various approaches such as terminalization, virtualization, and abstraction layers that provide an on-demand infrastructure on which an existing application interface is hastily placed.

This session will examine the direct and negative impact "old school" UI design can have on your bottom line. Detailed before and after case studies will analyze

• How you must desgn SaaS systems for a new user "democracy"
   
• How bad design choices can damage your SaaS revenues
   
• Case studies showing before and after redesigns with call outs on the specific design elements that were changed to meet the needs of modern SaaS apps.

If you're currently transitioning to a new SaaS system attendance at this session is a must.

Paul Giurata, Catalyst Resources

 5:00 - 5:40PM

Second Afternoon Keynote Address: SaaS and the Rise of Community Management (and the Death of Traditional Product Management)
 

The growth of SaaS spells the end of product management as it's been defined in the software industry for the last thirty years. After SaaS ERP vendor Plex transitioned from client/server to SaaS, it jettisoned its entire product management/product marketing management framework. Current product management functions such as tick list herding, MRDs, PRDs,  "Agile" product management and the concept of no responsibility, no accountability, and no authority are as relevant to SaaS companies as DOS 3.0 and floppy disks.

Replacing "product managers" will be "community managers," a new breed of people who will be tasked with optimizing your SaaS community, monetizing it, and working in an environment of bottom line metrics and measurable performance. If you're thinking about pulling out your checkbook and wasting money on outmoded product management training courses, obsolete product management research, reports, and publications, and the latest theories on "Agile" product management, put that check writing hand back in your pocket and attend this session to discover what your CMs should be doing to put money in your pocket more quickly.

Patrick Fetterman, Plex Systems

 5:40 - 6:20PM

Third Afternoon Keynote Address: Scaling Your SaaS Business

In addition to offering their own SaaS applications and Cloud services, Oracle has been working with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) for the past several years to help them build their own highly scalable, reliable and secure SaaS offerings.

During his keynote, Kevin O’Brien will share Oracle’s view of this rapidly evolving space, both as a solution provider and supplier of enabling technologies. He’ll also discuss key SaaS business objectives and best practices based on Oracle’s extensive experience working with ISVs.

The presentation will focus on:

• Building Enterprise Grade SaaS systems
   
• Core Business Objectives & Operational Requirements
   
• Best Operational Practices for SaaS ISVs

Kevin O’Brien, Oracle

 6:30- 8:00PM

Networking Session

Kick Back, Enjoy Some Drinks and Hors D'oeuvres With Your Peers

Session Sponsored by SaaS Max, the SaaS Reseller Affiliate System

Day Two, Wednesday, February 29th

Morning

7:00 - 8:30AM  Breakfast, Registration

8:30 - 9:15AM

Second Day, Morning Keynote Address: Four Degrees of Separation from SaaS

• Four companies seeking to move to SaaS
   
• Four different challenges
   
• Four different markets
   
• Four different solutions

This insighful presentation will provide four separate, real case studies detailing how SaaS companies met challenges in the areas of:

• Moving to SaaS? Then you're going to have to rewrite your software whether you want to or not. How do you manage the process without driving your company's collective brain insane? How did one SaaS company?

• Analyzing the costs and risks of transitioning. If you decided to build your new system from scratch, you're the main technology provider. Are you up to the task? Can you get it done in a timely fashion? Go the outsource and third party component route and you're now orchestrating an effort you don't totally control. Where are the main risks? How did our case study reduce them?
   
• Facing the fact that you're wrong when you think your UI is a thing of beauty and a great fit to SaaS. It's not. How did one of your peers deal with this ugly reality?
   
• The changing demographics you'll need to face when you move to SaaS. And the growing SaaS/mobile connection. Will you repeat the experience of the on premise firm that built a SaaS version of their product, almost by accident brought it to market, and signed up a thousand new customers in 90 days? Or can you do better?

Jan Aleman, Servoy

9:20 - 10:00AM

Leveraging Business Analytics in Your SaaS System

The best-selling book and hit movie Moneyball tells the story of the Oakland A’s using analytics to build a better baseball team on the cheap. The moral: software is better than people at business analytics. But how can SaaS firms leverage the information they are constantly generating through the constant interaction with their subscribers? How do you help your customers make better decisions and enhance usage while ensuring the stickiness of your application?

This session will analyze:

• What type's of business analytics should you building for your subscribers?
   
• The build vs. buy decision: should you invest in building your own analytics engine or work with provider?
   
• Case stuides on how other companies have structured and presented analytics to their subscriber communities

US Bank built analytics into their online ScoreBoard app, increasing customer satisfaction and boosting client adoption of online services. Small business owners and authorized officers monitor their company’s credit card spending over various time periods, as well as to compare overall credit card transactions to industry trends. The reporting infrastructure they implemented scales to support one million users meeting one of the bank’s major goals: improve the online experience across the organization and encourage more customers to use the Internet channel.

Adam Cohen, Information Builders

10:05 - 10:55AM

MAIN TRACK:

Understanding the Challenges of Implementing Transaction (Activity)-Based Billing

In Softletter's 2012 SaaS Report, 29% of the 202 SaaS companies reporting told us they used activity- or "transaction" based billing as their primary means of pricing their subscriptions; the second most used model was named subscriber (25%), followed by concurrent seats (15%).

The reason for the growing use of activity-based billing is it enables a SaaS provider to more completely align billing with a customer's business processes and goals. But in some instances, customer's may regard it as a "nickel and diming" and implementing an activity model can be complex. This session examines:

• Best markets and fits to activity billing models.
   
• Overcoming subscriber objections.
   
• Integrating other billing compenents into the model such as storage and bandwidth.

Chris Couch, Chief Operations Officer of Transverse, the makers of TRACT (tractbilling.com) will explore the challenges of implementing activity-based billing by dissecting four business models and demonstrating how activity-based billing is helping companies of all sizes create new sources of dynamic revenue and increase ARPU.

Chris Couch, Transverse

Local Speaker

SaaS SALES AND MARKETING TRACK:

Making Sense of Today's SaaS Marketing Landscape (or What to Do Now that the Release Cycle is Gone)

Marketing Automation, Content Marketing, Lead Nurturing, Freemium, Try and Buy. How is a SaaS executive to make sense of today’s marketing landscape? The SaaS model is transforming the way that technology solutions are bought, sold and marketed.

The emergence of this new reality has created three fundamental challenges for SaaS marketing. These are:, getting noticed, getting considered and winning quickly.   In this session, we will examine the three challenges and find ways to capitalize and win in the market.

 Getting Noticed

When you look around SaaS providers, those who do stand out usually take one of three fundamental approaches to differentiation. All can generate OUTSTANDING results and returns. We'll step through each technique one by one.

Getting Considered 

Once you are noticed, you must enter into the buyer’s consideration set. Today’s buyers run self-directed buying processes. Information is shared readily, and the buyer may know more about your solution than the sales rep assigned to them. In this section, we will look at the best demand gen tactics for inserting your solution into active buying cycles, and how this leads to our third challenge.

 Getting the Win

Are you experienced? Products (read enterprise software, large capital purchases, etc) are evaluated and purchased. Services are experienced.  How can shift your go to market tactics to take advantage of this fundamental difference between SaaS and software?  Why are so many vendors stuck in the evaluation mindset when the buyer has moved on? How do you unstick yourself and win?

This invaluable session will help your rethink and recast your marketing tactics and mindset

Ken Rutsky, KJR Associates

10:55 - 11:30AM

Network Break

ROOM ONE

ROOM TWO

11:30- 12:15AM

 MAIN TRACK:

Selling Professional Services in SaaS: Necessary Evil, or a Strategic Part of your Revenue and Profits?

For software companies used to large implementation contracts, shocks await you in SaaS. Professional services are not as highly valued by your customers and there are critical differences  between on premise enterprise software and SaaS professional services implementations.

This session will analyze:

• Six critical components of an effective SAAS professional service organization.

• Managing project/one time revenue vs. recurring revenue streams in professional services.

• Shifting from “on-site” service delivery to a remote services delivery model.

This session will prepare you to understand how to effectively provide and profit with professional services in SaaS.

Merritt Alberti, Deloitte Consulting LLP 

Local Speaker

SaaS SALES AND MARKETING TRACK:
 
Revenue Growth Best Practices for Software and Cloud Computing Companies
 

Every company, regardless of size, needs to grow revenue predictably and profitably.  In order to demonstrate leadership Chief Executives and Business Owners are challenged to grow their companies 20%, 30%, 50% or even 100% year-over-year top line growth.  Growing revenue well is a vital process to master.

During this presentation we will present Four Powerful Business Drivers for Cloud Computing and how you can implement Revenue Growth Best Practices to capitalize on these drivers and important trends.

We will also introduce you to the Revenue Acceleration Map so that you will have a step-by-step roadmap to accelerate and scale your sales and revenue. We will also walk you through an example of how you can engineer your revenue so that you can predict your revenue, sales and customer acquisition for the next 12 months.

Robert Jurkowski, OnDemand Advisors

12:15 - 1:00PM

Working Lunch:  How to Negotiate and Close SaaS Enterprise Agreements
 

Getting your enterprise SAAS agreements closed can sometimes make the difference between an ok quarter and a great quarter. However, these deals are getting harder and harder to negotiate and close. So what do you do? We will go through some negotiating strategies and many practical tips/techniques that should dramatically help get these deals signed. There are no guarantees, but there are methods to dramatically speed up this process.

Jeremy Aber, Owner, Aber Law Firm 

Local Speaker

   Afternoon

 1:00 - 1:30PM

Network Break

 1:35 - 2:30PM

Second Day, Afternoon Keynote Addresses: SaaS 2012: State of the Service, Market Impact, and What the Buyers Tell Us
 

Adoption of the software as a service (SaaS) deployment model has grown for nearly a decade, but its popularity has increased significantly within the last five years. Initial concerns about security, response time, and service availability have diminished for many organizations as SaaS business and computing models have matured and adoption has become more widespread.

But the growing maturity with SaaS has also tested the model and revealed challenges for both buyers and vendors in an increasingly competitive marketplace.  The presentation explores emerging trends in SaaS, profiles the vendor landscape and market impact, and summarizes evolving user adoption patterns of SaaS worldwide based on recent regional survey results.

Key and up-to-date Gartner data will be made available to conferences attendees during this presentation. The session concludes with recommendations to consider implementing today for both buyers and providers of SaaS solutions.

Sharon Mertz, The Gartner Group

 2:35 - 3:20PM

MAIN TRACK:

Building Your SaaS Channel


Channel development wizard Ted Finch will walk you through the process of creating a SaaS reseller program and guide you through some of the most dangerous pitfalls you'll face on your journey. His presentation will focus on:

• Platform perils. The Salesforce,com and Google reseller programs will be analyzed side by side for best and worst practices so that you can learn from the big boys (and prepare yourself in the event you decide to become a reseller of these systems yourself).

• Reseller compensation. Payments and recurring revenue sharing must be properly managed and optimized.

• Vertical program necessities. The process of identifying and building a vertical market channel will be analyzed and outlined to help you kickstart your own efforts. 

Ted Finch, Chanimal.com 

Local Speaker

TRANSITION TO SaaS TRACK:

Managing a Hybrid Porfolio: The On Premise vs. SaaS Syndrome

Transitioning to SaaS is not a one-time, all-or-nothing event. Even in a simple scenario with one product, an ISV must manage a dichotomy of customers:  its new/transitioned SaaS customers vs. its existing on-premise, licensed software customers. This complexity increases dramatically when an ISV has multiple products, each of which may leverage different GTM, pricing, delivery & technology models.

In this session, enterprise SaaS strategist Stephen Williams will examine how ISVs can continually manage their entire portfolio of products to deliver the optimal mix of business models given constantly evolving markets.  Topics will include:

• The spectrum of business model attributes, including GTM, pricing, delivery & technology. 

• Evaluating which products are amenable to different business models.

• Alternatives for structuring organizations and value-delivery chains based upon business models.

• Leveraging third-party partners & technologies.

• Real-world case studies from HP and others.

Steve Williams, Hewlett Packard

 3:25 - 4:05PM

MAIN TRACK:

SaaS Security: How the Bad Guys are Going to Break In

In 2011 major security breaches took place at Sony.  A report by Symantec released in September 2011, stated that cyber crime generates more money than the black market sale of marijuana, cocaine and heroine combined.  Hacker groups like Lulzsec and Anonymous have cost corporations and government tens of millions of dollars. How are they planning to take you down?

This session will provide real world answers. Analyzed will be:

• Software points of vulnerability

• Tactics for breaking open your infrastructure

• Securing your physical plant.

Whenever there is a new cyber crime that hits the news networks, Gregory Evans is whom all the major networks call. Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC, History Channel, Bloomberg and even Canadian CTV News all call on Gregory to provide expert security advice.  In 2010 over 10 million people watched Gregory Evans on TV and heard him speak on the radio. In the first half of 2011 over 20 million people heard Mr. Evans give advice on TV, radio and newspapers.

By attending Greg's session at SaaS University, you'll learn how to harden and prepare your infrastructure and business operations to ward off the bad guys and maintain your business' reputation. You'll also learn what  internal training and resources  you need to remain aware and alert to new security threats and challenges.

SaaS FINANCES TRACK:

The SaaS M&A Story

Looking to sell your firm? Looking to buy for strategic growth and expansion? Need to understand the trends in SaaS evaluations and buy outs as market growth accelerates and expands?

Ward Carter of the Corum Group will be providing hard facts and analysis on the current M&A scene. Analysis of recent transactions will be provided to session attendees as well as summaries and ratios.

In addition, if you're interested in meeting with Ward to discuss your M&A needs, he'll be available for private consultations at the conference; your meetings will be arranged by the Softletter staff.

Ward Carter, The Corum Group

4:10 - 4:45PM

MAIN TRACK:

Dealing with SaaS and Cloud Data Security Concerns
 

What is the number one worry of prospective SaaS and other cloud application customers?  You guessed it – data security!  Corporate CIOs in particular can be nervous about having private and proprietary information residing outside the corporate firewall.  Moreover, with certain types of data, there is an alphabet soup of regulatory requirements to satisfy:  GLBA, HIPAA, COPPA, FERPA, etc.  

As a SaaS provider, how do you respond?  Offering ironclad guarantees of data security is foolish.  You’re not Fort Knox!  Yet there are contractual, certification and other measures that can reassure your customers that their data is safe without leaving you open to huge liabilities if data security breaches do occur.

These and related topics surrounding data security – including the growing opportunities for providing cloud applications to state and federal government agencies -- will be tackled in this fast-moving presentation by a DC-based lawyer with deep experience in software licensing and cloud legal issues.

Michael Whitener, Clearspire Law

 4:45 - 5:00PM

Closing Remarks, Rick Chapman, Softletter