Featured Article from Software Monetization

Every year, I mark my calendar for Gemalto’s (formerly SafeNet’s (News - Alert)) Licensing Live! event. There are plenty of reasons for doing so, not least because I have the pleasure of being in the company of so many thought leaders all under one roof. Licensing Live! offers a unique opportunity to listen, network, and interact with subject matter experts, industry analysts, software executives, ecosystem partners, as well as Gemalto’s (News - Alert) software monetization customers. It also allows attendees the chance to take a sneak peek at upcoming trends, leverage best practices, and prepare for the software monetization challenges that their colleagues are already facing.

While I was fortunate enough to have been there in person, there’s good news for those of you who were unable to attend this year: the sessions have all been recorded and are available for you to watch online.

There’s no denying that the world is rapidly becoming software-centric. This is evident not only from our reliance on the software applications that run our personal devices, but also by the widespread adoption of “software a service” (SaaS (News - Alert)) among software companies.

The need for information – whether unstructured or delivered in sophisticated analytics reports – is a major factor in the transformation affecting hardware and device manufacturers. While having a cool app can certainly help them gain a competitive advantage and differentiate their products, there is an increasing need for software monetization strategies and solutions that enable businesses to deliver their service or leverage the data collected by their device. And there are other benefits too. Rather than limiting the sale of a device to a one-time occurrence, new features and functionality can now be added as they become available or as customers demand them, thereby creating an ongoing revenue stream.

As we move toward a connected world that’s loaded with information, hardware and device manufacturers are presented with a whole new set of challenges. Oftentimes, because they lack the experience or know-how to deal with software-specific issues such as proactive and seamless electronic software delivery, trials, upgrades, updates, and renewals, they end up causing interruption to their service.

The solution is a software monetization platform that allows companies selling hardware and software to deliver on their brand promises by providing operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy. Businesses have to transform and optimize for a post-sale, on-demand digital economy in which everything is immediate, scalable, and secure. This is an economy where customers are able to get what they want, when they want it, and where brand reputations can be built or destroyed with a single click.

Constellation Research’s Ray Wang explores this topic in greater detail in his excellent presentation on disrupting digital business in the post-sale, on-demand attention economy, which can be viewed here.

An immersive two-day event, LicensingLive! provides attendees with a platform for discussing the various challenges, opportunities, risks, and rewards that a software-everywhere world is creating for businesses. At this year’s event, there were sessions covering such wide-ranging topics as:

• Security for the IoT
• The third industrial revolution – IoT (by Amy Konary of IDC (News - Alert))
• Software monetization strategies to transform your business
• Business transformation execution (by Simon-Kutcher and Partners)
• Improving the quote to cash flow process
• Opportunities and risks in the IoT (by Laurie Wurster of Gartner (News - Alert))
• A panel discussion about key things you can implement today to future-proof your business, and a workshop on license model flexibility for a competitive advantage (led by Chris Kocher of Grey Heron)
   

We also heard a number of real-life case studies documenting the journey from hardware manufacturer to software and services vendor, in both on-premise and virtual environments. Perhaps most compelling of all was HP’s business transformation initiative, which saw the company introduce a new licensing and entitlement customer portal as a means to increasing customer satisfaction and engagement, and reducing support costs.

There are many more insightful, well-prepared presentations that you can watch online at your leisure. Personally, I really enjoyed the real-life use cases, the session on pricing, and the keynote speech by Los Angeles Dodgers’ Steve Garvey.

While we all have very busy days, obtaining valuable insights is always a terrific investment of one’s time. The recorded presentations from Licensing Live! 2015 are just as compelling today as the first time they were delivered.