It is my pleasure this week to introduce Christopher Poelker of FalconStor Software to our listeners. Chris Poelker is the author of Storage Area Networks for Dummies, and has over 30 years of experience architecting storage, backup and disaster recovery solutions. Chris specializes in storage virtualization and data protection, and is currently the vice president of Enterprise Solutions at FalconStor Software.

I had a conversation with Chris before the show, and I have to admit, it took me a little time to see where we might take the interview. But consider this – one of the basic tenets of developing a SaaS product is “don’t build what you don’t need to.” If the feature doesn’t add to core value or if it is available already in the marketplace, leverage what exists whenever possible.

The software that FalconStor provides is a case study to this point. In many business-to-business applications the storage, retention and control of customer data is not only critical it is regulated. How do you deliver a service in this market without getting into that issue more deeply than you would like? Are there other services you could offer that would make your product richer but not take you away from concentrating on your core value to your users?

It is an interesting question and a sample of one of the many kinds of issues Jim Geisman of Software Pricing Partners will be discussing at our upcoming workshop in San Francisco, May 13th , 2010. http://blog.sciodev.com/2010/04/12/saas-develop-price-operate-and-succeed/

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Jim Geisman of Software Pricing Partners joins Mike Dunham of Scio Consulting to discuss the choices vendors have in developing and operating a SaaS business - And the importance of their upcoming workshop in San Francisco for deciding on their product roadmap.

You can find more information about the workshop at http://bit.ly/exec-pricing.

People say that marketing for "cloud services" are really over the top right now - selling a lot more promise than can be delivered. If that's true, social media is somewhere out in the stratosphere of hype - pushed into orbit by leaders like Twitter and Facebook - I've heard many people say if they were trying to avoid reading yet another article on the wonders of connecting to "communities" on the web.

I'm looking forward to this conversation because social media is still a widely misunderstood subject among SaaS and Cloud Service providers. Many see everything social as an unnecessary and noisy "distraction" that is a waste of resources and time. I understand their point of view because if they come from traditional software marketing, support, and sales environment, they are part of a legacy that rarely focused on end-users or tried to foster communications among them. And if you've ever tried to sip from the Twitter fire hose, you can probably understand their discomfort with jumping on the band wagon.

If that's the case for you - I hope you'll set your prejudice aside and listen to our podcast this month on Haut Tech Conversations on December 30th at 10am Central. We're going to be talking with Jonathan Hyland, the Client Relationship Director for iCIMS, a leading SaaS provider of "Talent Management Systems." Jonathan is deep in the trenches of the user community at iCIMS because he is responsible for managing the client renewal pipeline, user satisfaction, user advocacy, and maintaining visibility of the value proposition their services deliver.

Joining Jonathan on our panel will be Jessie Kliza, the Business Development Director for Apprenda and Peter Cohen of SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors, who also happens to be one of our fraternity of Haut Tech Irregulars.

if you are a SaaS or cloud services provider and you think marketing in the on-demand world is just the software business as usual - you have a few surprises coming.

Agile methodologies are often (and I believe should be) used in SaaS development. The practices and the irregular drip of new features and enhancements go well together in the on-demand world. But for marketing, if you're not prepared for it - it can become a constant din of new features you suddenly have to consider in your marketing you might not be prepared for. How do you manage the delicate interaction between product development, the user community and marketing?

To address that question we are speaking to Peter Cohen of SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors. Peter is the founder and managing partner of SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors. His firm provides expert guidance to help companies effectively market and sell software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to enterprises.
The firm’s clients includes several large, well-established clients, looking to enhance their SaaS marketing practices, as well as smaller companies that need guidance in launching a new SaaS solution to the market.

Our panel includes:

Justin Pirie, who was on our last show and is a SaaS and Cloud product manager and marketer who has been working in subscription software for over four years. Justin is based in the UK.

Ron Arden is the Vice President of Strategy & Marketing for eDocument Sciences. on focuses on SaaS computing and using social media tools to drive business for eDocument Sciences, and recently became an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional. He has over 25 years of strategic planning, marketing, sales, business development, consulting and technical experience in the information technology industry.

I'm sure it will be a great conversation and you can find more our blog - but please Join Us!

Pricing services - how do you do it? Is there a rational process? Can you tie it to value? Cost? Developing a price is one of trickiest parts putting a new service online. Prospective customers have to believe the value can be realized and existing customers must find the value exceeds the subscription. A monthly subscription is easier for prospects to swallow but a yearly provides a bigger hit for cash flow and maybe higher retention. Which is better in the long run?

These are just some of the issues facing services vendors in the growing SaaS and cloud services market. In our September 8th podcast on Haut Tech Conversations, we’ll address those questions with our guest, Jim Geisman of Software Pricing Partners. Jim spoke at the first SaaS Summit. His firm has focused on software pricing since 1987 and has consulted internationally on issues of software pricing and deal structuring. He has written extensively on software pricing and is a frequent speaker.

Joining Jim on our panel will be two of our Haut Tech Irregulars (well, they were both on the first show so that makes them at least irregulars!) – Steve Plunkett of Servitizer and Lincoln Murphy of Sixteen Ventures. Steve has started a blog series about services pricing and has some products coming out in that space so I know he will have some interesting thoughts to bring to the conversation. Lincoln always has something up his sleeve so I’m sure he will add a lot to the mix as well. And we will have Justin Pirie, an experienced SaaS Product Manager and startup entrepreneur to bring his field experience and real world questions to the discussion. It is going to be a very interesting conversation – so please – JOIN US.

This month, we explore the real meaning of "Service" in SaaS and on-demand business with our guest, Steve Plunkett, CTO of Servitizer. Our panel this week will include Luis Aburto, CEO of Scio, Mikael Blaisdell of The HotLine Magazine, and Lincoln Murphy of 16 Ventures.

For an overview of our topic – check the Haut Tech Blog article: http://blog.sciodev.com/2009/08/11/saas-cloud-service-beyond-the-hype-cycle/

Please join us live so you can call in and ask your questions of our guest and panelists. Our show is done in a simple, conversational style – and you are always welcome to be a part of the conversation.