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Marketing Automation Leader Marketo Wins Best of SaaS Showplace Award

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:10:00 GMT

Marketing Automation Leader Marketo Wins Best of SaaS Showplace Award

Marketo Helps Acteva Generate $2M Revenue

San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) June 15, 2009 -- www.marketo.com - Marketo, the fastest growing provider of marketing automation and revenue-building best practices, today announced that it has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 as the latest initiative by THINKstrategies to bring attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations, and greater profitability.

Companies of all sizes representing high technology, business and information services, financial services, communications, manufacturing and healthcare have helped fuel Marketo's phenomenal growth. We are inspired by their success as we continue our mission to change the way marketing and sales teams work together to ignite explosive revenue growth.

"Generating greater results for marketing programs is essential in today's tough economic climate," said Jeffrey M. Kaplan, the founder of the SaaS Showplace and Managing Director of THINKstrategies, the strategic consulting firm which conceived and administers the Showplace. "Marketo's success personifies the powerful business benefits which can be gained by leveraging SaaS-based marketing automation solutions."

Marketo's BoSS award is shared by the success of Acteva, an online event registration service and Marketo customer. Acteva uses Marketo Lead Management to create personalized marketing campaigns for diverse audiences. In addition to supporting $2 million in new revenue, $400,000 in cost savings and achieving 350% ROI in only three months, Acteva credits Marketo with improving lead quantity and lead quality while reducing the company's cost per lead.

"In the areas where we have focused our efforts using Marketo, Acteva has achieved 100% annual revenue growth," said Ed Lemire, Vice President of Marketing for Acteva. "As the Acteva community has grown to 14,000 event organizers, we rely on the power and flexibility of Marketo's automated campaign management software to maintain an ongoing conversation with multiple audiences personalized to their preferred interests and pace."

"We are proud to be recognized by the SaaS Showplace for the significant savings and additional revenue our solution has helped customers like Acteva achieve," said Phil Fernandez, President and CEO at Marketo. "Companies of all sizes representing high technology, business and information services, financial services, communications, manufacturing and healthcare have helped fuel Marketo's phenomenal growth. We are inspired by their success as we continue our mission to change the way marketing and sales teams work together to ignite explosive revenue growth."

About Marketo

Marketo is the fastest growing provider of marketing automation and revenue-building best practices. Marketo's uncompromising on-demand solutions enable marketing and sales teams to collaborate throughout the revenue cycle, from the earliest stages of demand generation and lead management to the pursuit of revenue and customer loyalty.

Marketo Lead Management gives Marketing the power and flexibility to automate demand generation campaigns and deliver more high-quality leads with less effort, and Marketo Sales Insight helps Sales understand, prioritize and interact with the hottest leads and opportunities to close more business faster. Known for providing the most innovative customer experience and the fastest time to value, Marketo was voted 'Best Marketing Automation Application' by Salesforce customers on the Force.com AppExchange. As of June 2009, more than 200 mid-market and enterprise companies in nine countries have selected Marketo.

About the SaaS Showplace

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Showplace® is a service of THINKstrategies, Inc. This Showplace was established in 2006 to provide the following benefits,

Give enterprise decision-makers a quick directory of the leading SaaS providers and a convenient source of valuable insight regarding SaaS trends.
Give SaaS providers a targeted tool to increase their visibility among enterprise decision-makers, and gain access to key enabling technology suppliers.
Give enabling technology suppliers a specialized platform to increase industry awareness regarding their SaaS solutions.

The SaaS Showplace is now the largest and highest ranked, vendor-independent, online directory and resource center of industry best practices in the SaaS market. For more information, go to www.saas-showplace.com.

About THINKstrategies, Inc.

THINKstrategies, Inc. is the only strategic consulting services company formed specifically to address the unprecedented business challenges facing IT managers, solutions providers and investors today as the technology industry shifts toward a services orientation.

THINKstrategies' mission is to help our clients re-THINK their corporate strategies, and refocus their limited resources to achieve their business objectives. THINKstrategies helps enterprise decision-makers with their sourcing strategies, IT solutions providers with their marketing strategies, and VCs with their investment strategies.

In addition to the Software-as-a-Service Showplace, THINKstrategies is also the founder of the Managed Services Showplace, a vendor-independent, online directory and information resource center of managed service solutions.

For more information regarding THINKstrategies' unique consulting services, visit www.thinkstrategies.com, or contact us at info (at) thinkstrategies (dot) com.

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Gary E. Smith
SAAS Architect - SAAS in a Connected World
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QuickArrow Unveils Next-Gen Integration with Microsoft Outlook®

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:18:00 GMT

QuickArrow Unveils Next-Gen Integration with Microsoft Outlook®

Spring Release Enables Better Scheduling, Tighter Project Cost Controls, Improved Project Planning Capabilities, Smoother Quote-to-Cash Automation, Improved Reporting Performance, and More

Austin, Texas – March 18, 2009 – [PR2WEB] - QuickArrow, Inc., the leader in SaaS Services Automation, today announced the availability of the Spring Release of its Professional Services Automation (PSA) solution. This release is highlighted by several innovative additions, including a next-generation integration with Microsoft Outlook® and the debut of its new user interface, featuring the Ext JS® framework.

Next-Gen Integration with Microsoft Outlook®

QuickArrow’s new Outlook integration enables the seamless transfer of detailed schedules between the PSA Industry’s leading Resource Management solution and the world’s leading email and calendaring software. QuickArrow’s new Add-In transfers detailed project and task-level information to appointments, rather than simply blocking out time in Outlook. Users can easily configure the Outlook Add-In to synchronize automatically.

“Outlook is the de facto calendaring tool in most corporate environments, and so if appointments aren’t scheduled there, the result is often lost productivity or missed assignments,” said Malcolm Hawker, QuickArrow’s vice president of product management. “Our new Outlook plug-in addresses that, and helps our clients ensure they can get the right person in the right place at the right time.”

Adoption of Ext JS® extends UI advantages

The Spring release also introduces QuickArrow’s new user interface which leverages the Ext framework, a JavaScript library for building rich internet applications that incorporates high performance, customizable UI widgets, and other features to enhance the user experience. QuickArrow, already recognized in the PSA space for its ease-of-use, has rolled out Ext JS® to improve the overall design and usability of its project setup functionality, making it even easier to create and staff projects. Moving forward, the company plans to incorporate the Ext framework throughout their entire application.

“While there are certainly other Javascript frameworks available for developing web apps, none compare to Ext when it comes to producing a slick, intuitive user experience. It’s skinnable, customizable, cross-browser compatible - and that’s why we also use it here at Thomson Reuters,” commented Micheal Eicher, vice president of professional services at Paisley, a Thomson Reuters Company. He continued, “We have been a QuickArrow client for several years, and the launch of this new UI is yet another confirmation of their commitment to helping us better manage our people and projects.”

Reporting Performance Improvements

For several consecutive quarters, the company has also focused on enhancing its reporting capabilities and performance to provide clients with real-time, up-to-the-minute visibility into their operations – a process that can otherwise take weeks or even months, which often means that critical business decisions are based on outdated or even inaccurate data.

“During our annual audit process, we literally run hundreds of reports through QuickArrow,” said David Erikson, technology specialist with ISH, Inc. “We recently completed our ’08 audit, and the speed of report generation was really stellar, making the entire process much less cumbersome.”

With this release, the company has achieved performance improvements of up to 4X on several key reports over the last year. Some of the reports impacted include but are not limited to:

Expense Reports

Schedule Items

Project Metrics Reports

Revenue Recognition Reports

Opportunity Admin Reports

Employee Metrics Reports

Time Reports

Employee Admin Reports

QuickArrow’s Spring Release also features enhanced time card controls, a key component of their ongoing initiative to help clients fully automate their quote-to-cash processes.

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Century Furniture Crafts Automated Sales Order Entry with Esker DeliveryWare

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:13:00 GMT

Century Furniture Crafts Automated Sales Order Entry with Esker DeliveryWare

SAP customer quits paper to improve process visibility, accuracy and cost control

Madison, WI - [PR2WEB] - March 17, 2009 -- Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, announced today that Century Furniture LLC, a premier manufacturer of fine quality residential furniture, has implemented Esker DeliveryWare to automate entry of sales orders into its SAP application. Century Furniture's Esker DeliveryWare implementation is part of the company's ongoing efforts to drive cost out of processes and products, support green business and continually improve customer service.

In Century Furniture's previous process for orders received via fax, email or hardcopy, employees would check fax machines periodically and sort the orders by placing them in the appropriate wire basket. Emails would be printed and delivered to the wire basket, and hardcopy was delivered to the wire basket. Changes to existing orders followed the same process. All order-related documentation was filed in file cabinets.

The company formed a "paperless committee" that included representatives from its accounting, help desk and network teams to understand cost per page, lease costs and yearly paper purchase costs, which exceeded $300,000 annually. The goal was to reduce that number and address the labor associated with paper.

"Our focus was to effectively remove the baskets," said Stacy Duncan, Technical Services Manager at Century Furniture. "We looked at the costs associated with paper, but also the fact that access to the data was manual. If customer service got a call with a question that required the original order, they would have to call back with an answer after they retrieved the documentation. This required pulling the file and copying, faxing or printing the pages and sometimes all three. So we also looked at how much labor was involved in the sales order process, and the affect on accuracy when you consider the inherent risk of paper getting lost."

After researching options from several different vendors, Duncan and his colleagues at Century Furniture met with Esker at a SAPPHIRE conference and came away convinced that Esker DeliveryWare was the right solution for the sales order entry automation project.

Sales order processing and customer service at Century Furniture have been positively affected by reducing the time spent handling paper orders and improving response time. If there is a question about an order, the need for a return call is eliminated because customer service staff no longer have to look up the customer and order details and then go to the filing cabinet to retrieve the information. Original order data is also accessible from remote locations for confirmation or to reconcile a complaint.

Transparency and control were key advantages that Century Furniture sought to gain from its Esker DeliveryWare solution, particularly within the customer service and credit departments. "The manager of our customer service group had no real-time insight into the daily workflow in order to move work around accordingly," said Duncan. "Now if managers see that workload is too heavy in one area of the customer service group, they can take a portion of those orders and have another area address those. And they can do it wherever they are. The ability to balance out and distribute workload makes the whole department more efficient. The credit department also has direct access to data concerning orders received and billed. All of the internal groups affected by this solution are now more self-service oriented."

According to Duncan, new efficiencies with Esker DeliveryWare have created the potential to take hours per order out of the order entry process. Specific results include:

All printing in the customer service group cut in half
10% reduction of order reprocessing due to lost documents
50% reduction of Days Sales Outstanding rate in order entry, from 5 days to 2.5 days
99% reduction of paper costs
100% reduction of manual archiving costs
4 fax machines 3 leased multifunction devices removed

"Century Furniture shows the great results that happen when a company recognizes it's time to make a change and really zeroes-in on quitting paper -- and creates a sense of ownership in that effort," said Steve Smith, U.S. Chief Operating Officer for Esker. "One of the most interesting outcomes of this story is that Century Furniture actually saw a reduction of common illnesses like colds being passed around among employees in the office after they eliminated so much of the paper handling."

Century Furniture's future plans for Esker DeliveryWare include automation of quotes, proof of delivery and Accounts Payable processing, which would leverage the solution's OCR, workflow, and invoice reconciliation capabilities. Automating return authorizations is another possible next phase.

About Century Furniture
Founded in 1947, Century Furniture is one of the world's largest privately owned manufacturers of upper-end residential furniture. The company's broad product line of wood and upholstered and outdoor furniture consists of bedroom, dining and occasional collections in traditional, transitional and contemporary styling. Century Furniture is recognized in the industry as a leader in design, expertise in finishing and the details of craftsmanship. Its pieces grace fine homes throughout America, including the White House.

About Esker
Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations eliminate manual processes, gain process visibility and control, and reduce the use of paper by automating the flow of documents into, within and out of the organization. With patented document delivery automation software and hosted document delivery services, Esker offers a total solution to automate every phase and every type of business information exchange. Customers achieve significant and immediate operational efficiencies, cost savings and measurable ROI in as little as three to six months. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For more information, visit www.esker.com.

Corporate Contact: Renee Thomas, Esker, Inc. - Tel: 608.828.6140
Investor Relations Contact: Emmanuel Olivier, Esker S.A. - Tel: 33 (0)4 72 83 46 46

© 2009 Esker S.A. All rights reserved. Esker and the Esker logo are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of Esker S.A. in the United States and other countries. SAP and SAPPHIRE are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Esker Launches New SaaS Solution to Automate Vendor Invoice Management

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:03:00 GMT

Esker Launches New SaaS Solution to Automate Vendor Invoice Management

Esker on Demand Accounts Payable Automation requires only a scanner and a simple Internet connection to eliminate manual processing of vendor invoices

Lyon, France [PR2WEB] - March 16, 2009 -- Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, today announced the release of its new SaaS (Software as a Service) solution for management of vendor invoice processes. As an alternative to the traditional software approach, this solution eliminates the need for companies to finance, install and maintain software and hardware. With Esker on Demand Accounts Payable Automation, a scanner and a simple Internet connection are the only requirements to completely automate vendor invoice processing.

Esker Logo

Recent market research has found that about 80% of vendor invoices are received in paper format, indicating that a large majority of companies are still tied to manual processing of vendor invoices. While businesses recognize that these inefficient processes inflate costs, limit productivity (as a consequence of manual entry, approval sign-offs, filing, and other tasks) and create the risk of errors resulting in payment delays, many companies perceive the cost and complexity of traditional software solutions as barriers to automation.

Developed to make automation benefits easily accessible, and to lighten the load for those in Finance, Accounting and Purchasing departments who handle invoices, this new service takes an innovative approach to automation of vendor invoice processing from capture to payment. The service is based on a pay-per-document model and places a complete business application in the hands of the user without the drawbacks of traditional software, offering simple and fast implementation, low cost of acquisition and immediate return on investment.

Esker on Demand Accounts Payable Automation includes the following features:

Data capture: Invoices are scanned and sent to the Esker on Demand service where all data is extracted, then the invoices are available for validation via a secure Internet web page.
Data verification and payment approval workflow: Accounts Payable specialists or other users verify the data captured and add necessary coding information. The invoice is then routed to the buyer for approval according to predefined routing rules relating to the vendor, the amount or cost center concerned.
Archiving: The invoice image is automatically archived and indexed for future reference.
Integration: Invoice data and payment information are passed or made available to the ERP system as an XML, text, or CSV file.
Audit and reporting: The solution ensures traceability of every invoice along with all actions that touch the validation and approval process.

"This solution is the result of leveraging the Esker DeliveryWare process management automation platform combined with expertise in developing Esker on Demand and FlyDoc solutions, which are today used by over 3,000 companies worldwide. With this new SaaS offering we are helping companies eliminate paper from their business processes, reduce vendor invoice processing time and costs, and improve payment cycles," says Jean-Michel Berard, CEO of Esker.

Document process automation on demand and perfectly aligned with the Esker strategy
This new Accounts Payable Automation solution expands Esker's SaaS offering of Esker on Demand and FlyDoc services enabling companies to automate document process management.

"Vendor invoice processing is the first of a set of specific On Demand solutions that we are currently developing with the support of OSEO* that will be launched throughout the course of the year, centered around business management processes including electronic invoicing, customer sales orders and purchase order management," concludes Berard.

With SaaS solutions available worldwide, Esker has positioned itself since 2005 as one of the leading developers of On Demand document automation solutions. In 2008, SaaS represented 26% of total sales revenue. Esker's worldwide production platforms efficiently handle and process 60 million pages each year while serving more than 25,000 users from companies as diverse as 1-800 Flowers.com, Alcan Composites, Inc., BainUltra, Euler Hermes, Fenwick, Manpower, Microsoft, Samsung, State Industrial Products and many more.

More information is available at: www.apondemand.com

*Esker obtained two interest-free loans from OSEO totaling 1 million euros to develop a global On Demand offering that spans processing of incoming documents such as sales orders and vendor invoices, as well as outgoing documents such as customer invoices, reminder letters and purchase orders.

About Esker:
Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations eliminate manual processes, gain process visibility and control, and reduce the use of paper by automating the flow of documents into, within and out of the organization. With patented document delivery automation software and hosted document delivery services, Esker offers a total solution to automate every phase and every type of business information exchange. Customers achieve significant and immediate operational efficiencies, cost savings and measurable ROI in as little as three to six months. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For more information, visit www.esker.com.

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

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Hammond's Candies Chooses SPS Commerce for Supply Chain Integration

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:03:00 GMT

Hammond's Candies Chooses SPS Commerce for Supply Chain Integration

Leading Candy Maker to Automate Order Processing Using SPS Commerce's SaaS B2B Integration Service

Minneapolis, Minn. March 9, 2009-- SPS Commerce, the leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) trading partner integration center provider, today announced that Hammond's Candies, the largest handmade candy company in the United States, will be automating their order processing with SPSCommerce.net's Integrated Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Service for suppliers. The SaaS service leverages SPS' proven integrations with Hammond's Candies' Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains Software) system and its retail customers to provide hands-free processing of purchase orders, invoices, and Advance Ship Notices (ASNs) with their largest retail customers. By automating this function, Hammond's Candies will not need to hire additional resources to manage increasing EDI volume, as well as reduce the chargebacks associated with manual entry processes and enable their sales staff to focus on core responsibilities.

"Our retail customers are increasingly asking Hammond's to communicate via EDI," stated Erin Koelzer, Director of National Sales at Hammond's Candies. "Until now, this is something that we were able to manually process using a web form EDI solution and then rekey into our Great Plains system. However, our volume of orders via EDI increased dramatically in 2008, causing this task to become too cumbersome for existing staff. Instead of adding to our team, Hammond's Candies elected to automate instead. With their proven expertise and outstanding customer service, we selected to advance our use of SPSCommerce.net."

Hammond's Candies has used SPS Commerce's WebForms EDI service since 2007. Their retail customers range from small independent retailers, such as flower shops, to upscale department store chains with stores nationwide. Often these large retailers would send Hammond's a single purchase order that would result in hundreds of separate shipments to their stores. The data entry associated with these orders would often take a day or more. The new solution from SPS Commerce will eliminate this work as it automatically translates the inbound purchase order into the associated UCC-128 labels and shipping documents.

"In today's economy, everyone in the retail ecosystem is looking to become more efficient with their existing resources," stated Archie Black, president and CEO of SPS Commerce. "With SPS Commerce's SaaS trading partner integration center, we can offer a rapid solution to their integration challenges with no software or hardware required, and the solution is proven daily by more than 10,000 suppliers, 3PLs, retailers and other trading partners. We are pleased to have provided Hammond's with the superior customer service that has led them to continue to partner with SPS and adopt new solutions as their needs advance."

About SPS Commerce
SPS Commerce is the leader in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) B2B integration, connecting every partner in the supply chain. Retailers, manufacturers and 3PLs have selected SPS Commerce as their outsourced provider to automate and integrate their trading relationships. Using the SaaS model, SPS Commerce dramatically lowers setup and on-going costs, along with the time and risks of traditional EDI software by outsourcing the entire B2B communication process. The company's offerings leverage its multi-tenant architecture, multi-party sharing, and comprehensive knowledge of thousands of retailer's business processes and specifications and integration expertise with a variety of systems for accounting, ERP, packing and shipping, and WMS. SPS Commerce is the recognized SaaS leader in B2B integration with more than 10,000 recurring revenue customers, pre-built integrations spanning 2,700 unique fulfillment workflows across 1,300 retailers, grocers and distributors, a customer satisfaction rate of 93% and the most comprehensive SaaS product suite available. SPS Commerce is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

For additional information, please contact SPS Commerce at 866-245-8100 or visit www.spscommerce.com.

SPS Commerce is a registered trademark of SPS Commerce Inc. SPSCommerce.net and the SPS Commerce logo are the property of SPS Commerce, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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Esker SaaS Solutions Grow 66% in 2008

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:46:00 GMT

Esker SaaS Solutions Grow 66% in 2008

Document automation pioneer remains ahead of the curve as the SaaS / On Demand market continues to grow

Madison, WI – March 9, 2009 –Esker, the leader in document process automation solutions, today announced revenue growth of 66% for its on demand services in 2008. This growth strengthens Esker’s position in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market, which is estimated at $6.4 billion in 2008 and likely to double by 2012, according to a study by Gartner Group released on October 27, 2008.

With Esker on Demand and FlyDoc service offerings available worldwide, Esker has positioned itself since 2005 as one of the leading developers of on demand document delivery solutions.In 2008, Esker SaaS business was significantly strengthened. Highlights include 66% growth over 2007 $9.25 million in sales revenue, representing 26% of its total revenue; 60 million pages sent annually by mail from its worldwide production facilities; more than 2000 new Esker on Demand customers, including 1-800 Flowers.com, Alcan Composites, Inc., BainUltra, Euler Hermes, Fenwick, Manpower, Microsoft, Samsung, State Industrial Products and many more; and numerous partners integrating Esker on Demand services directly into their applications, including Cegid for its business solutions, Inforsistem in Spain, the Belgian Post, Pitney Bowes Asterion in France and Skype.

“This growth reinforces our positioning as a pioneer company in on demand document automation solutions and SaaS,” said Jean-Michel Bérard, CEO of Esker. “The SaaS model has been at the heart of our strategy for several years following the success of Salesforce.com, and our goal is to achieve, by 2010, more than 50% of our sales revenue via our on demand offerings.”

Designed as on demand document delivery services, Esker on Demand and FlyDoc allow businesses, entrepreneurs, institutions and individuals to automate the sending of mail, fax, email and SMS directly from the desktop or from business applications (office applications, ERP and CRM systems, etc.) and outsource the infrastructure hosting to Esker. Documents sent over the Internet are received by Esker production facilities for processing and delivery. For mail, the processing includes printing, folding, stamping and delivery to the postal service.

With Esker on Demand and FlyDoc services, customers only pay for what they use and there is no need to invest in infrastructure such as fax machines, printers, copiers, metering machines and folding machines — or the labor, consumables and maintenance to keep that infrastructure running.

To make its on demand services available on a worldwide scale, Esker secured two loans totaling 1 million euros from OSEO, the French company that provides financial support to enterprises in startup, innovation, development and other life cycle phases. This financing will assist Esker in providing a global on demand offering that spans automated processing of incoming documents such as sales orders and supplier invoices, as well as outgoing documents such as customer invoices and purchase orders.

About Esker

Esker is a recognized leader in helping organizations eliminate manual processes, gain process visibility and control, and reduce the use of paper by automating the flow of documents into, within and out of the organization. With patented document delivery automation software and hosted document delivery services, Esker offers a total solution to automate every phase and every type of business information exchange. Customers achieve significant and immediate operational efficiencies, cost savings and measurable ROI in as little as three to six months. Founded in 1985, Esker operates globally with more than 80,000 customers and millions of licensed users worldwide. Esker has global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For more information, visit www.esker.com.

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

(for more details visit www.pr2web.com).

For more resources on Software-as-a-Service see: THE SAAS NETWORK

TimeTrade Systems Named Best of SaaS Showplace Award Winner

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:34:00 GMT

TimeTrade Systems Named Best of SaaS Showplace Award Winner

Software-as-a-Service Self-Service Appointment Scheduling Solution Provider Helps Enterprises Better Serve Customers

Wellesley, MA - March 9, 2009 - THINKstrategies, Inc., the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services market, announced today that TimeTrade Systems has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 as the latest initiative by THINKstrategies to bring attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies which are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations, and greater profitability.

TimeTrade Systems is a provider of SaaS-based, customer self-service appointment scheduling solutions for enterprises and individuals.TimeTrade's Enterprise Scheduling Application, TESA, provides large organizations, who must schedule thousands of appointments a year, the ability to provide self-service or assisted-service scheduling through SaaS.

An example of the business benefits of TimeTrade's SaaS solution is Bosley, the leader in surgical hair restoration. The company has over 100 patient service representatives (PSRs) and must schedule more than 9,000 appointments per month at 88 offices through a single call center. For each appointment, the schedules of 26 physicians and 50 senior counselors' have to be coordinated.

Bosley implemented an on-premise version of Siebel for CRM and appointment scheduling, but it was limited in its scheduling capabilities and the PSRs had to use spreadsheets to set up appointments. The company decided to adopt TimeTrade's SaaS-based solution TESA. As a result, Bosley has been able to reduce patient wait times on the phone by as much as 20%, wait-time in Bosley offices by 25%, lower administrative costs 7-10%, and reduce errors and double booking of appointments by more than 80% without additional overhead costs.

Because they have achieved these measurable business benefits, TimeTrade Systems has been named the latest BoSS Award winner. A full description of the company's winning BoSS Award submission can be found at http://www.saas-showplace.com/awardSummary.php?key=1169.

"We're extremely pleased to be awarded the Best of SaaS Showplace Awards," stated Ed Mallen, President and CEO of TimeTrade Systems. "More than ever, organizations are seeking out technologies that will enable them to increase revenues, improve customer service, and do so while lowering operating costs. Bosley is just one example of the hundreds of businesses who have chosen TimeTrade to increase on-demand appointment bookings and create a platform to improve access to customer data and better manage resource utilization. Across healthcare, retail, financial services markets and government agencies, we continue to experience significant demand for our solutions and help all our customers achieve considerable business benefits."

"One of the unique benefits of SaaS-based solutions is the anywhere/anytime access it gives users which permits more cost-effective customer self-service," stated Jeffrey M. Kaplan, the founder of the SaaS Showplace and Managing Director of THINKstrategies, the strategic consulting firm which conceived and administers the Showplace. "TimeTrade Systems' TESA solution is a perfect illustration of the tangible business benefits that SaaS solutions can generate for companies like Bosley."

The previous winners of the BoSS Awards announced earlier this year are,

CrownPeak, a Content Management System (CMS) provider that offers a SaaS solution which helps customers accelerate their Web publishing and better manage their web content.
ActionStep, a multi-dimensional SaaS vendor based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its end-to-end, Web-based, business system includes Marketing, CRM, Sales, Operations, Accounting, and HR management solutions for multi-divisional, multi-currency businesses.
Xactly, a provider of on-demand sales performance management solutions that enable sales and finance executives to design, implement, manage, audit and optimize sales compensation management programs easily and affordably.
SPS Commerce, a leading supplier of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), business-to-business (B2B) integration, connecting partners in a supply chain.
Savvis, an outsourcing provider of managed computing and network infrastructure for IT applications with 29 Data Centers around the world, including London, Singapore, and Tokyo, connected through a Tier 1 network.

# # #

About the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards

The BoSS Award program is an ongoing initiative to identify and promote SaaS, and 'cloud computing', companies which are offering on-demand solutions which are generating measurable business benefits for their customers.

BoSS awards nominations are not only accepted on an ongoing basis, but more than one winner can be awarded in each SaaS Showplace Application, Industry and Enabling Technology Supplier category.

BoSS award winners are given special designation on the SaaS Showplace, with a summary of their award-winning solution(s) and customer success story. Award winners are also recognized in the SaaS Showplace newsletter, and are able to promote their award designation on their website and in pre-approved company material.

For more information or to nominate a BoSS award winner, go to http://www.saas-showplace.com/registerforbossaward.html.

# # #

About the SaaS Showplace

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Showplace® is a service of THINKstrategies, Inc. This Showplace was established in 2006 to provide,

IT/business decision-makers a quick directory of the leading SaaS providers and a convenient source of valuable insight regarding SaaS trends.
SaaS providers a targeted tool to increase their visibility among enterprise decision-makers, and gain access to key enabling technology suppliers.
Enabling technology suppliers a specialized platform to increase industry awareness regarding their SaaS solutions.

# # #

About THINKstrategies, Inc.

For more information regarding THINKstrategies' unique consulting services, visit www.thinkstrategies.com, or contact us at info@thinkstrategies.com.

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

(for more details visit www.pr2web.com).

For more resources on Software-as-a-Service see: THE SAAS NETWORK

Boomi Selected as 2009 CODiE Award Finalist for Best On-Demand Platform

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:31:00 GMT

Boomi Selected as 2009 CODiE Award Finalist for Best On-Demand Platform

Company Honored for Solving the SaaS Integration Challenge With Industry's First Integration Platform as a Service

BERWYN, PA - Boomi®, the market and technology leader for on-demand integration, today announced that its integration Platform as a Service has been named a finalist for "Best On-Demand Platform" in the Software & Information Industry Association's (SIIA) 24th annual CODiE Awards. Boomi's industry-leading technology provides customers and partners with on-demand integration via the cloud as well as the ability for independent software vendors (ISVs) to productize and embed integration services to end customers.

"The competition is particularly steep this year during the 24th Annual SIIA CODiE Awards, making selection as a CODiE Finalist a real achievement," commented Ken Wasch, SIIA President. "All the companies on this year's list of CODiE Finalists should feel justifiably proud of their accomplishment in making it to this stage, and have much excitement to look forward to regarding the upcoming CODiE Awards voting."

Through a unique combination of journalist and expert peer review, the CODiE Awards recognize 71 categories of outstanding products and services. Nearly 190 judges encompassing tech trade journalists, consultants, educators, IT and product specialists, and other knowledgeable, yet neutral, experts have reviewed all of the products entered. Finalists were chosen from more than 850 nominations submitted by 600 companies.

"We are thrilled to be nominated as a finalist among such a competitive landscape, especially because the CODiE Awards are judged by our peers in the technology industry," said Bob Moul, CEO of Boomi. "2009 has already been a significant year of growth for our company as more and more customers, ISVs and system integrators make the shift from legacy integration products and appliances to join the cloud revolution."

Boomi is the creator of AtomSphere(SM), the industry's first Platform-as-a-Service for integration. Boomi's "connect once, integrate everywhere(TM)" architecture is the best solution to solve integration challenges as more and more consumers of SaaS are demanding that integration be delivered as a service. Forward-thinking ISVs and PaaS providers such as salesforce.com, NetSuite, Intuit, SmartTurn, Taleo, and Zuora are already using AtomSphere to solve the integration challenge on behalf of their customers.

Established in 1986, the CODiE Awards celebrate outstanding achievement and vision in the software, digital information and education technology industries.

About Boomi

Boomi is the market-leading provider of on-demand integration technology and the creator of AtomSphere, the industry's first integration platform-as-a-service. AtomSphere connects providers and consumers of SaaS and on-premise applications via a pure SaaS integration platform that does not require software or appliances. ISVs and businesses alike benefit by connecting to the industry's largest network of SaaS, PaaS, on-premise and cloud computing environments in a seamless and fully self-service model. Leading SaaS players such as salesforce.com, NetSuite, Intuit, @Task, Taleo, and Zuora rely on AtomSphere to accelerate time to market, increase sales, and eliminate the headaches associated with integration.

For more information about Boomi, visit www.boomi.com.

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

(for more details visit www.pr2web.com).

For more resources on Software-as-a-Service see: THE SAAS NETWORK

iAPPS 2.5 Released by Bridgeline Software

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:28:00 GMT

iAPPS 2.5 Released by Bridgeline Software

Expanded functionality, improved data integration, and enhanced user experience; enables customers to cost effectively manage and maximize the performance of their web applications

Woburn, MA, February 19, 2009 - [PR2WEB] - Bridgeline Software, Inc . (NASDAQ: BLSW), a developer of SaaS-based web application management software and award-winning web applications, today announced the release of iAPPS 2.5 which includes a series of enhancements for iAPPS Content Manager and iAPPS Analytics, Bridgeline’s flagship web content management and web analytics software products. The iAPPS Product Suite is an innovative SaaS solution that unifies Content Management, Analytics, eCommerce, and eMarketing capabilities - enabling users to swiftly enhance and optimize the value of their web properties. The 2.5 enhancements further extend iAPPS’ position as an innovation leader in integrated web application management software and offer Bridgeline customers a superior user experience through tighter and deeper product integration, more timely and targeted data for improved decision making, and additional functionality for more effective management of web content.

The enhancements to iAPPS Analytics, a next generation web application management solution, further leverage the power of integrated web content management and web analytics with an industry first publishing impact analysis feature. This capability overlays content publishing dates on web analytics trend graphs, such as exit pages or top pages, to determine how and when changes to web content impact analytical results. For example, an exit page report will illustrate the trend in how frequently users exit a website from a particular page and if a change in that trend, negative or positive, correlates with a published modification to that page. This type of data overlay display is very powerful and is only made possible by the native integration of iAPPS Analytics with iAPPS Content Manager. In addition, through improvements to graphical trend analysis features, administrators can more effectively monitor site activity and changes over time. Moreover, iAPPS 2.5 offers superior visitor loyalty reporting as well as an improved analytics dashboard with graphical enhancements that provide quicker access to meaningful analytical data results.

iAPPS Content Manager also benefits from significant user experience enhancements. Many of iAPPS’ state-of-the-art AJAX enabled administrative interface elements have been updated to further streamline tasks and improve on an already industry leading user experience. At a feature level, iAPPS Content Manager now offers full-text search for uploaded site content, including PDF, Word, and PowerPoint documents, and extends overall site security management into search results and front-end display ensuring that only those users meant to access particular content are able to view it in the search results. Additionally, iAPPS Content Manager now includes updated Unicode and multi-lingual support for full inline editing with Unicode character sets. Finally, iAPPS 2.5 offers website user groups for not just improved, but also customer-administrator enabled user management of large secure websites to facilitate more effective delivery of persuasive content.

Corresponding with the enhanced iAPPS 2.5 feature set is support for a defined and extensive iAPPS template library to facilitate more cost effective development and quicker deployment of iAPPS Content Manager and iAPPS Analytics websites and applications. This library of Bridgeline certified templates represent commonly needed page layouts and website functionality. Each template is able to be customized to specific requirements, look and feel, and security as needed for a particular website or application. For Bridgeline customers, this means quicker time to market and an improved return on investment for their web application investment budget.

About Bridgeline Software

Bridgeline Software is a developer of web application management software and award-winning web applications that help organizations optimize business processes. The iAPPS Product Suite is an innovative SaaS solution that unifies Content Management, Analytics, eCommerce, and eMarketing capabilities – enabling business users to swiftly enhance and optimize the value of their web properties.

Combined with award-winning application development services by Microsoft Gold Certified development teams, Bridgeline Software helps customers to cost-effectively maximize the value of their rapidly changing web applications. Bridgeline Software's teams of developers specialize in web application development, information architecture, usability engineering, SharePoint development, rich media development, and search engine optimization.

Bridgeline Software is headquartered near Boston with additional locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, New York, Washington, D.C., and Bangalore, India. Bridgeline Software is a recipient of the Inc. 500 award for one of America’s fastest growing companies and currently has over 600 customers ranging from middle market organizations to divisions within Fortune 1,000 companies that include: Healthcore, The Bank of New York Mellon, Marriott International, Berkshire Life, PODS, Honeywell, Budget Rental Car, Washington Redskins, Sun Chemical, AARP, National Financial Partners, The Packard Foundation, DTCC, Cadaret, Grant & Co., National Insurance Crime Bureau, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Georgia Lottery.

To learn more about Bridgeline Software, please visit www.bridgelinesw.com.

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

(for more details visit www.pr2web.com).

For more resources on Software-as-a-Service see: THE SAAS NETWORK

Xactly Named Latest Best of SaaS Showplace Award Winner

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:28:00 GMT

Xactly Named Latest Best of SaaS Showplace Award Winner

On-Demand Sales Performance Management Solution Provider Drives Measurable Results for Ingres in a SaaS-Based Environment

Wellesley, MA - February 19, 2009 - THINKstrategies, Inc., the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services market, announced today that Xactly Corporation has been named the latest winner of the new Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

Xactly Corporation is a leading provider of on-demand sales performance management solutions. The company's flagship product, Xactly Incent, enables sales and finance executives to design, implement, manage, audit and optimize sales compensation management programs easily and affordably.

A case example of Xactly's business benefits is Ingres Corporation, a leading provider of open source database management software and support services. Ingres' CIO, Doug Harr, has migrated nearly 100 percent of the company's core IT infrastructure and applications to SaaS and open source software solutions. The company faced a number of sales compensation management challenges, such as handling multi-currency payouts, attempting to maximize compensation process accuracy and productivity, and ensuring SOX compliance. Ingres has successfully tackled these challenges and more, while achieving new levels of operational efficiency and sales performance by replacing its manual process for managing incentive sales compensation with Xactly Incent.

Ingres reports that it took approximately one-tenth the time to deploy the Xactly Incent sales compensation management solution compared to previous experiences with installed legacy on-premise software. And Xactly Incent's annual subscription price is less than half the annual maintenance of the legacy software. More importantly, the company was able to reduce the full-time equivalents (FTEs) dedicated to managing sales commissions from 1.25 to .5, even while sales headcount increased 20 percent. Error rates on commissions dropped over 50 percent, saving Ingres at least $50,000. In addition, Ingres has gained greater visibility into its sales team, reduced dispute time from three weeks to one or two hours per quarter, and achieved nearly paperless and fully auditable routing of sales plans and certification letters.

"As a result of deploying Xactly Incent, the work involved in managing incentive compensation decreased by 90 percent from a year ago," according to Mike Kostow, vice president of business operations of Ingres. "From sales to finance to operations, the whole company has benefited from this increased productivity because time previously spent filtering through compensation issues is now dedicated to focusing on more strategic matters."

As a result of these measurable business benefits, Xactly Corporation has been named the latest BoSS Award winner. A full description of the company's winning BoSS Award submission can be found at http://saas-showplace.com/awardSummary.php?key=428.

"We're extremely pleased to be named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace Awards," stated Christopher Cabrera, president and CEO of Xactly. "This award is further testament to the tangible business value we work hard to provide to all our customers."

"SaaS is being implemented by companies of all sizes to help them improve their operations while reducing costs," stated Jeffrey M. Kaplan, the founder of the SaaS Showplace and Managing Director of THINKstrategies, the strategic consulting firm which conceived and administers the Showplace. "The measurable business benefits which Ingres has gained by implementing Xactly Incent is a perfect example of how SaaS solutions are out-performing traditional on-premise applications and helping companies achieve their corporate objectives in difficult times."

The first winners of the BoSS Awards announced in January 2009 were,

CrownPeak, a Content Management System (CMS) provider that offers a SaaS solution which helps customers accelerate their Web publishing and better manage their web content.
ActionStep, a multi-dimensional SaaS vendor based in Auckland, New Zealand. Its end-to-end, Web-based, business system includes Marketing, CRM, Sales, Operations, Accounting, and HR management solutions for multi-divisional, multi-currency businesses.

# # #

About the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards

BoSS awards nominations are not only accepted on an ongoing basis, but more than one winner can be awarded in each SaaS Showplace Application, Industry and Enabling Technology Supplier category.

For more information or to nominate a BoSS award winner, go to http://www.saas-showplace.com/registerforbossaward.html.

# # #

About the SaaS Showplace

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Showplace® is a service of THINKstrategies, Inc. This Showplace was established in 2006 to provide the following benefits,

Give enterprise decision-makers a quick directory of the leading SaaS providers and a convenient source of valuable insight regarding SaaS trends.
Give SaaS providers a targeted tool to increase their visibility among enterprise decision-makers, and gain access to key enabling technology suppliers.
Give enabling technology suppliers a specialized platform to increase industry awareness regarding their SaaS solutions.

# # #

About THINKstrategies, Inc.

For more information regarding THINKstrategies' unique consulting services, visit www.thinkstrategies.com, or contact us at info@thinkstrategies.com.

______________________________________________________________________

Submit Press Releases to THE SAAS NETWORK send to SAAS@pr2web.com.

(for more details visit www.pr2web.com).

For more resources on Software-as-a-Service see: THE SAAS NETWORK

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Back to Main Page

Gary E. Smith
SAAS Architect - SAAS in a Connected World
THE SAAS NETWORK

IT RESOURCE NETWORK

THE CLOUD NETWORK | THE BPM NETWORK | THE SAAS NETWORK | THE SOA NETWORK | WEB 2.0 NETWORK

Gartner Fact Checks the Five Most-Common SaaS Assumptions

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:52:00 GMT

Gartner Fact Checks the Five Most-Common SaaS Assumptions

Analysts Warn Against Basing SaaS Deployment Decisions on Unproven Theories

STAMFORD, Conn., February 19, 2009 —

The rise in popularity of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model has resulted in a number of assumptions about this emerging model, but it has been difficult for many companies to separate truth from fiction, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner analysts have examined the top-five assumptions to provide a bit of a reality check on the state of the SaaS industry.

“In recent years there has been a great deal of hype around SaaS,” said Robert DeSisto, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “As a result, a great number of assumptions have been made by users, some positive, some negative, and some more accurate than others. The concern is that some companies are actually deploying SaaS solutions, based on these false assumptions.”

Gartner has taken the top-five assumptions that users make and provided a fact check on their accuracy.

Assumption 1 — SaaS is less expensive than on-premises software.

Fact Check: True during the first two years but may not be for a five-year TCO. SaaS applications will have lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for the first two years because SaaS applications do not require large capital investment for licenses or support infrastructure. However, in the third year and beyond, an on-premises deployment can become less expensive from an accounting perspective as the capital assets used for the on-premises deployment depreciate.

Assumption 2 — SaaS is faster to implement than on-premises software.

Fact Check: True for simple-requirement SaaS, which will be faster, but growing complexity and other factors are coming into play. There is a danger in applying the general rule of SaaS being faster to implement for a specific deployment. Vendors often quote time frames of 30 days to implement but neglect to say that SaaS deployments can take seven months or longer. As the complexity of the business process and integration increases, the gap advantage between SaaS and on-premises deployment times will narrow because a larger percentage of the deployment time is associated with customization, configuration and integration, which are equally difficult with both delivery models.

Assumption 3 — SaaS is priced as a utility model.

Fact Check: False in the vast majority of cases. Many SaaS vendors state that they are utility-based providers, similar to electric companies, claiming that you’re only charged for what you use. However, for most SaaS deployments, this is false. In the vast majority of cases, a company must commit to a predetermined contract independent of actual use. In some cases, the application lends itself to metered use — for example, an e-commerce application may have pricing based on order transaction processes — but for the most part, utility examples are in the minority

Assumption 4 — SaaS does not integrate with on-premises application and/or data sources.

Fact Check: False. There are two primary methods of integrating SaaS offerings with on-premises applications and/or data sources. The first method is batch synchronization, which initially involves loading the SaaS application with data. Once this initial data load has been made, data can be incrementally synchronized on a scheduled basis. The second method is real-time integration using Web services. Another way to combine the two methods is by having a Web service trigger that is based on an event occurring in the SaaS service. Yet another method is emerging that involves integrating SaaS applications at the user-interface level through mashups.

Assumption 5 — SaaS is only for simple, basic requirements.

Fact Check: False, but there are still limits. SaaS applications are highly configurable at the metadata level with many offering customization capabilities with platforms in the form of application platform as a service (APaas). There are industry examples in which complete custom applications have been built using SaaS APaas. However, some gaps remain for complex, end-to-end processes that require complex workflow or business process management capabilities.

Additional information is in the Gartner report “Fact-Checking: The Five Most-Common SaaS Assumptions.” The report is available on Gartner’s Website at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=858812&subref=simplesearch.

Contacts:

Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com

Holly Stevens
Gartner
+44 0 1784 267412
holly.stevens@gartner.com

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

Saugatuck Founder McNee to Present at OpSource's SaaS Summit 2009

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:58:00 GMT

Saugatuck Founder McNee to Present at OpSource's SaaS Summit 2009

Head of leading research firm to share insights on emerging Cloud and SaaS ecosystem, and the most significant market opportunities for providers in the current economic crisis

Westport, Connecticut (PRWEB) February 17, 2009 -- The latest research by Saugatuck Technology shows continuing strong demand across all classes of on-demand applications and infrastructure throughout 2009 and beyond, suggesting that buyers will continue to invest in SaaS and Cloud Computing despite the current constraints impacting all aspects of corporate and public sector spending. While not a panacea for all ills, this suggests that SaaS and Cloud Computing will continue to gain share across all key customer segments - even as providers themselves come to grip with business model challenges and industry consolidation, accelerated by the global economic crisis.

These are two key research themes that will be highlighted by Saugatuck Technology founder and CEO Bill McNee at the OpSource SaaS Summit 2009. The Summit begins Wednesday March 11th at the Westin St. Francis, in San Francisco, California.

McNee will present Saugatuck's latest SaaS and Cloud research in a main-tent session titled, "SaaS and Cloud Opportunities in a Changing Market" on Thursday morning, March 12th. McNee will highlight what Saugatuck sees as the critical ecosystem emerging around SaaS and Cloud Computing providers and users.

McNee will also deliver preliminary insights from Saugatuck's latest SaaS research program, including changes in SaaS buyer demand due to the 2008 economic collapse. The data and insight come from Saugatuck's international SaaS research program, including a web survey of nearly 1,800 executives, conducted in late November and early December, 2009 - a full two months after the start of the current financial crisis. The research also includes briefings with leading and emerging SaaS providers, and in-depth interviews with user executives. McNee's presentation will highlight top-line findings from the research, and explore important implications and challenges that providers face. It will also examine the most important opportunities in SaaS for the 1,000 or more senior executives attending the Summit.

The research behind McNee's presentation research will ultimately serve as the cornerstone for Saugatuck's fourth annual "state of SaaS business" research report, due to be published in late March, 2009. Additional insights, analysis and guidance will be published throughout the year as part of Saugatuck's premium, subscription Continuous Research Service (CRS). Later in the spring, Saugatuck will publish the first major user and vendor business report on Cloud Computing. Saugatuck's Cloud Computing research program also includes a significant global web survey of buyer demand, as well as provider briefings and end-user, executive interviews.

"Saugatuck is delighted to again participate in OpSource's SaaS Summit," stated McNee. "OpSource has done a terrific job turning this conference - now in its fourth year - into a major industry-wide event, across the entire SaaS / Cloud provider ecosystem."

"The kind of rich, mission-critical insights that Saugatuck Technology will bring to SaaS Summit 2009 is exactly what this event is all about," said Richard Dym, CMO, OpSource. "If you are looking to not just survive but thrive this year, you need to come hear from leading thinkers like Bill McNee."

About Saugatuck Technology

Saugatuck Technology Inc. provides market strategy consulting and subscription research services to senior executives, information technology vendors, and investors, combining strategy development, business planning, and market intelligence with first-hand research of executive technology buyer trends. Founded in 1999, Saugatuck is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut (USA), with offices in Silicon Valley and in Germany. For more information, go to www.saugatech.com, or call +1.203.454.3900 in the US, or +49.6123.630285 in Germany.

To request a briefing with our analysts, contact Chris MacGregor at chris.macgregor (at) saugatech.com.
For more information about Saugatuck's subscription research services (CRS), go to http://www.saugatech.com/crs.htm.

About OpSource
OpSource™ delivers Web applications and software-as-a-service for on-demand companies, with hundreds of applications, millions of users and billions of transactions supported daily. OpSource On-Demand, the leading platform for Web application delivery, is defining how Web-based software is delivered. OpSource is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with Web application delivery centers in Virginia, London and Bangalore.

For more information about OpSource, visit www.opsource.net.

About the OpSource SaaS Summit 2009

OpSource is proud to present SaaS Summit 2009, its' fourth annual on-demand industry conference. It has become the world's largest forum for the advancement of the on-demand industry. At SaaS Summit 2009, 1000 executives from SaaS, Web and enterprise software companies will join industry leading analysts, venture capitalists and the press to explore, debate and share their ideas for successfully meeting the application, service and delivery demands of Generation SaaS.

Marketingunity Hosts Technology Webinar to Help Marketers Improve Efficiency and Cut Costs

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:07:00 GMT

Marketingunity Hosts Technology Webinar to Help Marketers Improve Efficiency and Cut Costs

Marketing Resource Management (MRM) Vendor Marketingunity Opens Registrations For Live Webinar Presentation

Newbury, United Kingdom, February 16th, 2009 - [PR2WEB] – Marketingunity, a leader in collaborative web-based Marketing Resource Management (MRM) software, today announces that it is launching a series of free webinars exploring how the latest MRM technology can help marketers to improve efficiency, reduce costs and maximise return on marketing investment. The first webinar presentation, entitled “Cost-effective Marketing using SaaS (Software as a Service)” will be given live at 10.30 GMT on 27th February 2009. The 40-minute webinar is aimed at all managers responsible for marketing resources and budgets, plus CEOs, Managing or Financial Directors and Heads of Procurement with an interest in reducing the cost of marketing without impacting its effectiveness.

MRM is a new class of web-based management tool that enables customers to maximise return on marketing investment by boosting productivity, streamlining key processes and optimising the efficiency of all marketing resources. The Marketingunity webinar will offer key case studies highlighting the benefits that MRM technology is delivering to a range of organisations today, and will include an update on the very latest state-of-the-art tools that are being implemented by visionary Marketers as a route to reducing marketing costs without cutting corners. Registration for the webinar is free and open now.

For the full agenda and details of how to sign-up, please visit the Marketingunity website: www.marketingunity.com/webinar/index.asp

Chris Hopwood, Managing Director for Marketingunity comments: “The recession is tempting many companies to cut marketing costs, but they don’t want the associated drop in marketing activity, because they know that will have a negative impact in future. The only way to cut costs without also cutting activity levels is to make more efficient use of marketing budgets and staff. This webinar will show real-life case studies of companies that have achieved exactly that.”

Marketingunity offers one of the most comprehensive web-based MRM applications on the market, spanning the entire marketing product life-cycle from project planning to campaign fulfillment. The Marketingunity^TMMRM solution replaces the use of separate desktop spreadsheets by providing a single, unified online environment where marketing teams, field staff, agencies and suppliers can collaborate to proactively plan, execute monitor and report on campaigns; manage digital assets, workflows and approvals; procure goods and services cost-effectively, and ensure timely fulfillment. The result is reduced costs, administration overheads and delays, and faster time-to-market – and longer time-in-market – for campaigns. The Marketingunity MRM range includes editions for Enterprises and Agencies, and for on-premise or SaaS (Software as a Service) deployment. It is delivering measurable time and cost savings and ensuring the highest possible return for marketing spend for over 1200 blue-chip global enterprises today.

About Marketingunity (www.marketingunity.com)

Marketingunity is a privately-owned Marketing software company based in Newbury, UK. Since its foundation in 1996 by Managing Director Chris Hopwood, the company has specialised exclusively on database-driven, web based business software applications. In 2000, the company launched the UK’s first Web-based suite for Marketing procurement. Since then, continuous development driven exclusively by customer and market feedback has resulted in Marketingunity – one of the most comprehensive Marketing Resource Management (MRM) suites on the market.

Marketingunity is a modular suite of collaborative, web-based marketing applications that manage marketing operations and enhance productivity and performance across the whole Marketing Value Chain for all aspects of the marketing ecosystem, including corporate in-house marketing, procurement teams, field marketing staff, external agencies and suppliers.

Marketingunity is one of the most widely used MRM solutions today and has developed an impressive blue-chip customer base with over 1,200 global organisations, including global brands from the finance, retail, telecom and travel sectors.

Trigent Partners with Industry Thought Leader THINKstrategies for Client SaaS Solutions

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:39:00 GMT

Trigent Partners with Industry Thought Leader THINKstrategies for Client SaaS Solutions

Trigent has partnered with the thought leader in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) arena, THINKstrategies to provide best of breed SaaS solutions to its clients.

Southborough, MA - [PRWEB] - February 11, 2009 -- Trigent Software, Inc. today announced that it has partnered with THINKstrategies, Inc. to provide SaaS thought leadership and transform ISV software products and SMB applications to the next generation of software (SaaS) solutions.

Trigent Software

"SaaS is a dominant, disruptive and transformational force in the software industry today. SaaS breaks software entry and cost barriers for users and helps vendors penetrate markets and gain loyal and renewable customers" said Errol James, President, Trigent Software. "The THINKstrategies and Cutter Consortium survey reveals that over 63% of responding organizations are using SaaS solutions and over 97% of the responders were satisfied with the SaaS solutions they were using."

The THINKstrategies and Cutter Consortium survey reveals that over 63% of responding organizations are using SaaS solutions and over 97% of the responders were satisfied with the SaaS solutions they were using.

With the thought leadership and services of THINKstrategies' Managing Director, Jeffrey M. Kaplan, Trigent is uniquely positioned in offshore and/or outsourced software development services market to help both ISV and SMB customers with business strategy and consulting services for establishing, managing, developing and maintaining SaaS solutions.

"I was especially drawn to Trigent's vast experience with ISV software development, and the rich knowledge and capabilities of its staff," says Jeff Kaplan, who is also the founder of the SaaS Showplace. "Combined with their solid offshore delivery capability and track record of success, they are in a great position to efficiently and cost-effectively transform any company's business model and software to SaaS."

"Moving to SaaS requires redesigning application architecture (multi-tenancy), rewriting core applications, and aligning the underlying organization, operations, security and infrastructure. Additionally, companies need to also rethink business strategy, marketing and sales and how to better monetize their services. This is what our partnership with THINKstrategies brings to our customers" says Chella Palaniappan, Director of Technology.

Trigent will leverage this partnership in the coming years to help its ISV and SMB clients to gain strategic advantage utilizing the SaaS model.

About THINKstrategies
THINKstrategies is a strategic consulting services company formed specifically to address the unprecedented business challenges facing IT managers, solutions providers, and investors today as the technology industry shifts toward a services orientation (i.e., SaaS). The company's mission is to help clients re-THINK their corporate strategies, and refocus their limited resources to achieve their business objectives. THINKstrategies is also the founder of the SaaS Showplace, the largest and highest ranked vendor-independent, online directory and resource center focused on SaaS solutions and best practices.

For more information regarding their unique services, visit www.thinkstrategies.com, and www.saas-showplace.com.

About Trigent Software, Inc.
Trigent is an IT professional services company focused on software development, integration, implementation, support and outsourcing through its hybrid onshore and offshore operating model. Trigent's operating model is to conduct sales, customer relationships, business analysis and front-end consulting onsite with its clients from its Boston, MA headquarters. Trigent performs software design, development, integration, testing, and quality assurance offshore at its world class development, support and outsourcing center in Bangalore, India. Trigent is an SEI CMM Level 4 company and is ISO 9001:2000 TickIT certified.

For more information about Trigent Software and its suite of services, please visit http://www.trigent.com.

Great Expectations: CFOs See SaaS as Critical and Core to Business Improvement

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:37:00 GMT

Great Expectations: CFOs See SaaS as Critical and Core to Business Improvement

Saugatuck Technology Releases First Finance-centric SaaS Executive Research Study

Westport, CT (PRWEB) February 11, 2009 -- CFOs and other senior Finance executives within all types and sizes of user firms expect to use Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to improve their abilities to meet critical business goals, including Finance's abilities to play a more strategic role in business. In fact, Finance executives expect SaaS to enable improvement in all aspects of core and non-core Finance systems and operations.

This significant shift in the attitude and actions of senior Finance executives toward SaaS as strategic to business is a key aspect of Saugatuck Technology's newest research study on SaaS, titled "Great Expectations: SaaS Strategies in the Finance Organization," and released today via Saugatuck's web site at www.saugatech.com/561order.htm.

Great Expectations: SaaS Strategies in the Finance Organization

Today, it is not just Sales and Human Resource departments taking advantage of SaaS. Finance organizations see SaaS as increasingly critical to their evolving business goals, and is increasingly investing in SaaS for both point financial processes as well as core systems of record

"Today, it is not just Sales and Human Resource departments taking advantage of SaaS. Finance organizations see SaaS as increasingly critical to their evolving business goals, and is increasingly investing in SaaS for both point financial processes as well as core systems of record," according to Saugatuck founder and CEO Bill McNee, one of the study's lead authors.

McNee's statement is borne out by the study's key findings, including the following:

While starting from a much lower account penetration base than payroll, SaaS adoption within key financial functions and processes such as electronic billing, cash management, core financial accounting, tax management (both state and sales), budgeting, governance risk and compliance (GRC) and business intelligence (BI) will experience explosive growth of between 40 percent to more than 100 percent by the end of 2010.
CFOs see SaaS as a way to bridge many of the "effectiveness gaps" that exist relative to how well current on-premise systems address their evolving mission and goals.

o The four business goals that CFOs believe SaaS can most improve the effectiveness of Finance include improving ROI, managing performance in the context of risk, reducing process inefficiencies, and optimizing business processes.

SaaS is seen by CFOs not as a cross-Finance panacea, but as a means to enable better, more cost-effective operations.
Finance executives see SaaS as a cost-effective means of getting their organizations out of software and systems management, and enabling them to focus more on their core competency - Finance.

The report presents data, analysis, and recommendations from two research programs, both of which included web surveys focusing on buyer requirements and demand (Saugatuck's 2008 annual SaaS web survey of business, finance and IT user executives' related to their SaaS and business strategies and activity; and a 2008 web survey of senior finance executives conducted by Saugatuck in partnership with Finance Executives International / FEI and the Finance Executives Research Foundation / FERF). Both research programs also included briefings with leading and emerging SaaS solution providers, and follow-up deep-dive interviews with survey participants.

In addition to the dozens of Research Alerts and Strategic Perspectives research deliverables that Saugatuck publishes each year focused on SaaS, this is the sixth major Research Report to be released in this topic area by Saugatuck since 2006. Previous studies include the following:

Transition to SaaS: An ISV Cookbook ( SSR-545, 12-29-08, 26 pages)

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is increasingly considered "enterprise grade" by many IT buyers, and a viable choice to achieve reduced costs, improved service, and ongoing timely functional currency. As a result, many established independent software vendors (ISVs) are faced with strategic questions that will determine the future of their companies: Will buyers continue to purchase and deploy new perpetual licensed-based software? Should our company begin developing SaaS-based offerings? What is the best roadmap to follow to "SaaS-ify" my business?

Different Wavelengths: SMBs, Change, and SaaS Adoption (SSR-510, 09-30-08, 22 pages)

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is often touted by SaaS providers and others as a key competitive advantage for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) worldwide. Unfortunately, SaaS providers' approaches and offerings too often fail to resonate with SMB executives. Saugatuck's new study of SMB SaaS acquisition, adoption, and management focuses on the business and technological challenges that are unique to smaller firms, and how these translate to business value for SMBs.

Enterprise Ready, or Not - SaaS Enters the Mainstream (SSR-460, 07-10-08, 42 pages)

The explosive growth of software-as-a-service (SaaS) may be netted down to two core realities that will shape SaaS markets for years to come:
o Users want SaaS throughout the enterprise, whether their enterprises are ready for it or not; and
o SaaS is spreading throughout the enterprise, whether the vendors - or their offerings - are ready to support and deliver what users want, or not.
This 42-page study details the disruptive evolution, status, and future of SaaS within user enterprises, from basic applications to cloud-based computing - including the effects of these changes on vendor strategies, offerings, and business models.

Three Waves of Change: SaaS Beyond the Tipping Point (SSR-342, 05-03-07, 34 pages)

In the span of less than a year, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) went from point-solution curiosity to mission-critical applications for user enterprises. And the next wave of SaaS is already being absorbed by user enterprises as platforms for multiple, critical business applications and processes.

SaaS 2.0: Software-as-a-Service as Next-Gen Business Platform (SSR-239, 04-26-06, 34 pages)

Saugatuck's 2006 SaaS Strategic Research Report shows that SaaS is at a fundamental "tipping point" between the current generation of software functionality delivered as a service (what Saugatuck calls SaaS 1.0), and the emerging generation of blended software, infrastructure, and business services arrayed across multiple usage and delivery platforms and business models (what Saugatuck calls SaaS 2.0).

About Saugatuck Technology
Saugatuck Technology Inc. provides market strategy consulting and subscription research services to senior executives, information technology vendors, and investors, combining strategy development, business planning, and market intelligence with first-hand research of executive technology buyer trends.

Founded in 1999, Saugatuck is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut (USA), with offices in Silicon Valley and in Germany. For more information, go to www.saugatech.com, or call +1.203.454.3900 in the US, or +49.6123.630285 in Germany. To request a briefing with our analysts, contact Chris MacGregor at chris.macgregor(at)saugatech.com.

Ultimate Software Surpasses One Million Employees Live on UltiPro® Delivered through Software-as-a-Service

Gary E Smith THE SAAS NETWORK — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:15:00 GMT

Ultimate Software Surpasses One Million Employees Live on UltiPro® Delivered through Software-as-a-Service

Ultimate Software (Nasdaq:ULTI), a leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, today announced that more than 1 million employees across North America are being paid with Ultimate’s UltiPro human capital management solution (HCM) delivered through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Intersourcing.

The industry’s first HCM solution to deliver core Payroll/HRMS through SaaS, UltiPro’s software-as-a-service model has been available since 2002. Today it is the most widely used end-to-end HCM SaaS solution in North America, providing comprehensive payroll and human capital management through SaaS to companies including Nikon Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, International Dairy Queen, Elizabeth Arden, JVC Americas Corporation, and Major League Baseball.

UltiPro through SaaS provides customers with Ultimate’s award-winning customer service and highly configurable HR, payroll, benefits, and talent management functionality—including strategic HR feature-sets and business intelligence across all areas of HCM. Through the SaaS model, businesses get the maximum benefits of UltiPro as an on-demand service without the complexities or costs of implementing and maintaining traditional on-premise software. Ultimate handles all system maintenance; applies new version upgrades; and maintains the hardware, software, and customer data at multiple secure data centers. Customers receive a level of data protection and security most businesses are unable to attain with on-premise infrastructure.

"Our SaaS offering has steadily gained increasing momentum in the market over the past several years,” said Scott Scherr, CEO, president, and founder of Ultimate Software. "Today, we see a majority of companies opting for the convenience and cost advantages of our SaaS model. In fact, in the fourth quarter of 2008, more than 97 percent of our new annual recurring revenues came from our SaaS customers.”

The increasing demand for Ultimate’s SaaS offering is consistent with findings from the November 2008 Gartner report, "User Survey Analysis: Software as a Service, Enterprise Application Markets, Worldwide, 2008,” which determined that nearly 90 percent of organizations expect to maintain or grow their usage of SaaS.

Because UltiPro through SaaS is priced on a per-employee-per-month subscription basis—with no add-on fees for items such as ad hoc reports or off-cycle checks—companies reduce large upfront capital expenditures typical of licensed software. Ultimate’s SaaS option provides businesses with a cost-effective HCM solution that can be particularly attractive to businesses today looking to reduce spending, improve efficiencies, and experience fast payback. Because UltiPro through SaaS can be activated rapidly, customers begin experiencing increased efficiencies and strategic gains quickly.

"UltiPro through SaaS is really the perfect solution for managing human capital. We can accomplish tasks using the Internet from either home or office, we get cutting-edge functionality, and there are no software maintenance worries. I love it because I can focus on my primary goal: to serve our employees,” said Linda Mullenbach, director of human resources for International Dairy Queen. "The customer support is great, which I attribute to the culture at Ultimate Software. Dedication to service radiates throughout the organization.”

UltiPro delivered via SaaS can streamline HR and payroll to save companies time and increase productivity, something that’s even more appealing when organizations must be especially diligent in how they manage their resources. And because Ultimate’s SaaS does not require dedicated IT staff or hardware, organizations can direct IT resources to other critical business projects.

"With UltiPro through SaaS, we’ve been able to change our approach to information technology so that our IT team performs at a higher level—managing core business projects rather than applying software updates or running reports. Since the solution does not require dedicated IT staff, servers, or a software license, we’ve been able to free up our IT staff and eliminate related expenses from our budget,” said Richard Martonchik, manager of human resources operations for the City of Ann Arbor. "By automating our entire HCM program with Ultimate’s unified solution, we anticipate the soft- and hard-cost savings to total approximately $1 million over five years.”

"We’re proud to be the first comprehensive HCM SaaS provider in our space to reach this important 1 million-employee milestone,” said Scherr. "We believe that reaching this goal reflects not only the growing demand for HCM through SaaS, but also validates the strength of the delivery model as the best method to manage human capital—in any economic climate. By combining all of the advantages of traditional software with the convenience of on-demand services, we believe we can help businesses achieve their HCM objectives affordably and effectively.”

About Ultimate Software

A leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, Ultimate Software markets its award-winning UltiPro products as on-demand services through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, Intersourcing, and as licensed software. Based in Weston, FL, the Company employs more than 900 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services. In 2008, Ultimate Software was the first HR/payroll SaaS provider to be audited and awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Certification for security management, was named the #1 "Best Product Development Team” in the nation by the American Business Awards, and was ranked the #1 best medium-size company to work for in America by the Great Place to Work® Institute in June 2008. Ultimate Software has more than 1,700 customers representing approximately 3.5 million employees, including such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, Major League Baseball, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and Sony Music Entertainment.

More information on Ultimate Software’s products and services can be found at www.ultimatesoftware.com.

UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.