Shlomo Weiss is the General Manager of the Software Monetization division at SafeNet. In this role, he oversees product development, services, strategic planning, and go-to-market activities for SafeNet’s industry-leading software monetization platforms. Prior to his current role, Shlomo was VP of Business Development for the Software Monetization division at SafeNet, responsible for global strategic partnerships and for driving new business initiatives. In this function, Shlomo played a key role in launching new business initiatives, managing ecosystem partnerships, and drove the global M&A opportunity pipeline across the company’s business lines. Shlomo joined SafeNet via the acquisition of Aladdin Knowledge Systems in 2009, where he headed strategic business for Aladdin’s Software DRM unit. Prior to Aladdin, he held senior leadership positions in business development, marketing, and sales at Emblaze Mobile, Comverse’s Wydeband unit, and Multiple Zones.
Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).
SafeNet, Inc. is one of the largest data protection and software monetization companies in the world. SafeNet is the market-leading provider of software licensing and entitlement management solutions for on-premise and cloud-based software vendors. Its Sentinel technology is the most trusted brand in the software industry for secure, flexible and future-proof software monetization solutions. SafeNet’s robust portfolio of products and services address every aspect of the software monetization lifecycle – from copy and intellectual property (IP) protection to product catalog management and ongoing end-user experience improvement. SafeNet is the first and only vendor to offer a complete portfolio of software licensing and entitlement management solutions to enable monetization of any type of software – installed, embedded and cloud services – using any combination of business models via any sales channel to any end-user device. SafeNet has 1,400 employees and is based in Belcamp, Maryland.
Tell us about the challenges facing software companies today?
One of the biggest challenges that software firms face today is finding ways to further monetize their existing offering – whether by efficiently expanding their offering to a services-based model, by using back-office management tools to track usage and re-package their software or by preventing credential abuse and ensuring license compliance. Maximizing revenue and profitability is a complex issue, and many software firms fail to realize the amount of money left on the table when inadequate licensing and entitlement tools are used.
Industry research shows that software usage trends are changing. Users are demanding flexible licenses that deliver the promised value, and are looking for ISVs (independent software vendors) who will provide them with usage-based or performance-based licensing. They’re looking for dynamic pricing and they’re looking for more cloud-based solutions. Software vendors will have to address these changing demands.
At the same time, software companies are rapidly discovering the flexibility of cloud-based applications. For an end user, SaaS means easier budgeting, faster deployment and reduced risk. For new market entrants and established software vendors alike, SaaS presents a new opportunity to give customers what they want – while ensuring recurring revenue streams and exploring new markets.
While delivering software as a service opens many doors for software vendors, it also presents a new set of challenges:
1. Staying competitive in a constantly evolving market by accurately tracking consumption and usage of your software
2. Adapting to changing market dynamics and customer requirements in real time with flexible packaging options
3. Improving customer experience and reducing overall upgrade and renewal costs by enabling customer self-service
4. Preventing credential abuse and ensuring license compliance
What is your firm doing to overcome these challenges?
Software vendors are looking to expand their cloud go-to-market strategy and they want to know which licensing models are right for their businesses and how to optimize their offerings. Our advice is to use a licensing and entitlement solution that tracks usage at a granular level and can adapt on the fly to deliver licensing models that meet changing market demands. This definitely requires a flexible, dynamic licensing solution.
The Sentinel family of software monetization products provides an all-in-one solution that meets evolving software consumption trends. A major shift is occurring in the software market and customers are increasingly looking for software licensing models that are customized to meet their individual needs. In most cases, they are looking for consumption-based licensing connected directly to their usage of on-premise applications as well as cloud services. SafeNet’s Sentinel solutions enable them to address these emerging demands.
SafeNet’s Sentinel Cloud Licensing leverages the benefits of a cloud-connected license for both on-premise software and cloud-delivered services with a single back-office platform. The solution provides usage-based pricing and enables new business models for on-premise applications – enabling customers to pay as they grow. Consumption-based licensing is based on feature usage and/or quantities of stored data, transaction data and processing time to meet users’ demands for pricing more aligned with what they get from the software.
The benefits of Sentinel LDK Cloud Licensing include:
– Data Driven – Gives software vendors insight into their application usage to make better products, offer consumption based-pricing and pursue more diverse business models.
– Common Workflow and Back-Office Integration – Allows ISVs to manage on-premise applications and cloud-based services from a single, cloud-based back-end solution.
– Real Time – Adapting to changing market dynamics and customer requirements in real time
– User centric – Enabling ISVs to authorize the access to their software from any machine and any device.
– Remote Control – Cloud-based licensing management for all types of applications from cloud services to locally installed software.
