In ancient times, juggling was seen as a ritual that symbolized the seeds of Order and Chaos. It was believed that throwing balls in the air in a certain sequence would ensure fertile soil and good crop harvests. For today’s software companies, managing multiple licensing systems is more Chaos than Order, and no amount of juggling will yield the desired results. That’s why so many ISVs are turning to software monetization as a means of creating a more unified licensing experience.

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Balancing the back office

As Territory Sales Manager for the Benelux region at Gemalto Sentinel, I recently worked with Cadac Group – a leading provider of digital design information solutions – to help increase its back-office efficiency.

Until recently, Cadac was using three different licensing platforms for its software product lines. Besides the headache of running disparate platforms in parallel, high operational costs and licensing inflexibility hampered its ability to adapt to customer and market needs. The company could see the difficulties its customers were facing, yet its licensing capabilities at the time made it hard to match the right feature bundles with the right prices.

A good catch

Cadac needed to replace its legacy licensing systems with a single platform that could (a) support its entire portfolio of cloud-based solutions and traditional software applications, and (b) provide easily adaptable licensing and pricing models. Initially, the company considered building an in-house licensing solution, but after careful consideration of the alternatives on the market, it decided that Gemalto was the right vendor to bring order to its back office. Indeed, Cadac was no stranger to the Gemalto Sentinel product line; as an existing Sentinel RMS customer, it was already reaping the benefits of robust and feature-rich license management.

Today, with its implementation of Sentinel EMS with Cloud Licensing, the company is able to manage on-premise and service-based product licenses from a single web-based interface, and reduce operational costs in the process. Sentinel has also enabled Cadac to integrate the licensing process with its CRM system, so it can flexibly bundle features into new offerings and adapt its pricing accordingly.

Eye on the ball

Another key benefit of the Sentinel range is its usage tracking and reporting capability. This provides valuable insight into license activation, feature usage, and customer demographics, among other metrics. Having this level of visibility into how software applications are consumed is great for two reasons: it enables companies to build product roadmaps that are closely aligned with their customers’ needs, and it makes it easier to capitalize on upsell opportunities.

A helping hand

As pleased as I am with the way this project has turned out, I cannot take all the credit. Gemalto’s Professional Services team has been instrumental in helping Cadac align its requirements with the Sentinel technology. The team ran a workshop that included all Cadac stakeholders, and this facilitated the implementation of Sentinel EMS and Cloud Licensing with the company’s products. In fact, Cadac was able to quickly replace its entire licensing technology thanks to the integration of its SDK with the Sentinel Cloud SDK.

One thing I have learned in my time at Gemalto is that when it comes to licensing, the fewer back-office systems a company has to manage, the better able it is to innovate and maintain its competitive advantage. Cadac is a perfect example of this, having achieved operational efficiency and increased profitability through its partnership with Gemalto. As for complex juggling acts? Well, those are best left to the street performers for whom juggling is their core competency.

For a more detailed account of our work with Cadac, read the case study.