Back Office Integration

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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Trends in the healthcare market are placing unprecedented value on the software that lies at the heart of today’s intelligent medical devices. This puts manufacturers under enormous pressure to innovate not only the types of products they build, but also how they go to market. At LicensingLive! 2015, I spoke at length about the licensing issues facing one of the world’s leading medical technology companies, Stryker Corporation, and how it has risen to the challenge.

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The State of Software Monetization survey is here. With the help of Vanson Bourne, Gemalto set out to understand the software monetization industry and sentiments of ISVs, intelligent device manufacturers and software consumers worldwide and what challenges they are facing. Interestingly enough, results reveal that enterprise software customer demands are evolving and software vendors and intelligent device manufacturers need to adopt flexible and adaptable software licensing and software packaging techniques in order to meet these needs and generate more revenue opportunities.

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At this year’s LicensingLive! event in Cupertino, CA, I spoke about the importance of Customer Success Programs, what they involve, and what businesses hope to achieve with them. The success of a software company is often measured in terms of how well it engages its customers. After all, a business without an active user base is like a bird without wings – it simply won’t fly. Read More

Twenty years ago, the idea of intelligent machines that could communicate with one another wirelessly might’ve seemed like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel. I suppose all disruptive technologies do before their time. But there’s nothing far-fetched about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its web of interconnected, software-driven devices. Chances are it’s already a part of your everyday life.

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Aesop’s fable The Grasshopper and the Ant teaches us to “beware of winter before it comes”, meaning that we should anticipate probable outcomes and plan accordingly. Unfortunately for the titular grasshopper, he lacked such foresight and was doomed to spend the harsh winter months without any food. Planning ahead in business might sound glaringly obvious, but all too often, organizations get so caught up in the development of their products, that licensing becomes something of an afterthought to their product development cycle. It’s usually only when a problem occurs that due consideration is given, and even then, it tends to be a cut-and-paste job. This is a rookie mistake, as licensing, when implemented as a software monetization program, can bring tremendous value to an organization.

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How long will it take to get up and running? Without a doubt, this is the question I get asked the most as a software licensing solution consultant.  Instead of simply giving you the obvious answer nobody wants to hear (yes that answer is “well, it depends”) I will simply answer the question.

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Back-office software technologies are an integral part of the back-bone that supports business. However, when the “enterprise” using enterprise resource planning (ERP) software happens to be a software company, back-office systems fall short of providing critical flexible support. Manual workarounds for processes such as recognizing subscription license revenue, reconciling entitlements, and dealing with a contract paper trail have been nearly good enough in the past, but fixing operations is a key requirement for many software companies. Read More

When I think of the word “integrate” there is a clear visual that comes to mind: two things fitting together and becoming something new. Fun fact about me:  I love puzzles. My family and I spend many a weekend hour huddled around our puzzle table (yes, there is an entire table of the house dedicated to puzzles). We even have an upcoming Ask the Expert session on this topic titled “Integration Done Right – Using the Sentinel API’s,” which made me realize just how similar putting a puzzle together is to integrating your ERP and CRM systems. Read More