This article about Sage made me chuckle a bit. Sage has implemented IdeaScope from Ryma which is a customer feedback tool for their products. So it makes me wonder, will Sage's customers tell them they want SaaS applications? Their executives seem to have mixed messages after a previous SaaS failure.
I am certain the only reasons Sage hasn't embraced SaaS yet is
1) They have figured out how to protect their revenue source from the traditional license model
2) Technically, they are having challenges.
As for #1, other SaaS vendors are probably taking their market share already so the move could be defensive to minimize the revenue losses to competition. They could also increase their professional services revenue, especially now that they have IdeaScope. Suddently they should have a ton of ideas to act upon.
As for #2, they should just get some quick help.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
How to Improve Software Product Management
At the very least it seems that better product management tools built tightly into the software products delivered would help facilitate the product management function. If you are member of Linkedin join the "Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Group" and read this excited discussion amongst product managers about the future of Product Managers for SaaS companies
Biggest Challenges for Software Product Managers
What Are the Biggest Challenges for Software Product Managers?
- To know what customers really want
- Solve customers' problems
- Develop a compelling vision of customers existing and future needs
- Align vision and objectives: company, each team, etc (Linking product strategy w/corp strategy)
- Customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long-term value for the company
- Determine priorities based on input from different customer groups
- Finding common needs of costumers
- Gathering info about end-users (in case that they don´t sell to them)
- Do more with less/Manage products in a truly global marketplace
- Gathering knowledge about the market, competitors and customers
- Align mktg & development requirements and understand what they want/need
- Getting it right the 1st time (because it is cheaper)
Defining the Software Product Manager's Role
To set the stage, let’s agree upon a common definition of a few terms. I’ll use Wikipedia as a reference.
Product Management - is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
Product Marketing - deals with the first of the "4P"'s of marketing, which are Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion. Product marketing, as opposed to product management, deals with more outbound marketing tasks. For example, product management deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm, whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects, customers, and others. Product marketing, as a job function within a firm, also differs from other marketing jobs such as Marcom or marketing communications, online marketing, advertising, marketing strategy, etc. A Product Market is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public.
Software Product Management - is the process of managing software that is built and implemented as a product, taking into account lifecycle considerations and generally with a wide audience. It is the discipline and business process which governs a product from its inception to the market or customer delivery and service in order to generate biggest possible value to the business [1]. This is in contrast to software that is delivered in an ad-hoc manner, typically to a limited clientele, e.g. service.
Role of the Software Product Manager in its traditional on-premise model is defined as:
The product manager leads and manages one or several products from the inception to the phase-out in order to maximize business value. He is working with marketing, sales, engineering, finance, quality, manufacturing and installation to make his products a business success. He has the business responsibility beyond the single project. He determines what to make and how to make it and is accountable for the business success within an entire portfolio. He approves roadmap and content and determines what and how to innovate. He is responsible for the entire value chain of a product following the life cycle and asks: What do we keep, what do we evolve, what do we stop?
Here is a short list of topics how software product managers can deliver better results[1]:
1. Behave like an “embedded CEO”
2. Drive your strategy and portfolio from market and customer value
3. Be enthusiastic on your own product
4. Have a profound understanding of your markets, customers and portfolio
5. Measure your contribution on sales (top-line) and profits (bottom-line)
6. Periodically check assumptions such as business cases
7. Take risks, and manage them
8. Foster teamwork based on lean processes
9. Insist on discipline and keeping commitments
10. Be professional in communication, appearance, behaviors …
This definition doesn’t talk about HOW a product manager achieves his or her objectives.
So, how will the role of the software product manager change with SaaS products?
More to come in the next posting. Stay tuned. This could get interesting.
Product Management - is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
Product Marketing - deals with the first of the "4P"'s of marketing, which are Product, Pricing, Place, and Promotion. Product marketing, as opposed to product management, deals with more outbound marketing tasks. For example, product management deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm, whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects, customers, and others. Product marketing, as a job function within a firm, also differs from other marketing jobs such as Marcom or marketing communications, online marketing, advertising, marketing strategy, etc. A Product Market is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public.
Software Product Management - is the process of managing software that is built and implemented as a product, taking into account lifecycle considerations and generally with a wide audience. It is the discipline and business process which governs a product from its inception to the market or customer delivery and service in order to generate biggest possible value to the business [1]. This is in contrast to software that is delivered in an ad-hoc manner, typically to a limited clientele, e.g. service.
Role of the Software Product Manager in its traditional on-premise model is defined as:
The product manager leads and manages one or several products from the inception to the phase-out in order to maximize business value. He is working with marketing, sales, engineering, finance, quality, manufacturing and installation to make his products a business success. He has the business responsibility beyond the single project. He determines what to make and how to make it and is accountable for the business success within an entire portfolio. He approves roadmap and content and determines what and how to innovate. He is responsible for the entire value chain of a product following the life cycle and asks: What do we keep, what do we evolve, what do we stop?
Here is a short list of topics how software product managers can deliver better results[1]:
1. Behave like an “embedded CEO”
2. Drive your strategy and portfolio from market and customer value
3. Be enthusiastic on your own product
4. Have a profound understanding of your markets, customers and portfolio
5. Measure your contribution on sales (top-line) and profits (bottom-line)
6. Periodically check assumptions such as business cases
7. Take risks, and manage them
8. Foster teamwork based on lean processes
9. Insist on discipline and keeping commitments
10. Be professional in communication, appearance, behaviors …
This definition doesn’t talk about HOW a product manager achieves his or her objectives.
So, how will the role of the software product manager change with SaaS products?
More to come in the next posting. Stay tuned. This could get interesting.
SaaS Product Management
Indeed the role of the product manager is changing with the advent of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This blog will elaborate on what's causing the changes, who are the champions of the change movement, and what the future vision of the SaaS Product Manager will look like, incorporating SaaS business model best practices.
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