NASHUA, N.H. –July 1, 2008 – Two years ago Brian Zanghi, CEO of Kadient, and his team successfully began to lead the company's product from premise-based software to Software as a Service (Saas). A shift to SaaS is recognized as a difficult transition for software companies, requiring changes at every level of the organization.
Zanghi offered tips on the transition many other companies are currently taking on at SaaS University in Boston on June 18. Saas University was developed by Softletter as a forum for technology companies to gain more insight into the developing world of SaaS. "There is no road map. You are trailblazers and thereby tasked with figuring it out on your own," Zanghi stated as he spoke to a crowd of industry colleagues.
Zanghi, who successfully steered Kadient through the SaaS transition over the past year, offered insights to the audience, most of which were either contemplating a move to SaaS or currently in the transition process. Among their concerns are cash flow or recognizing revenue and creating a paradigm shift within the company. A move to SaaS requires companies to go from enterprise sales, recognizing large revenue at a set point rather than drawing that revenue out across 12 months. The entire organization must embrace the change from executives, to sales, to marketing, to finance.
Zanghi addressed these concerns with 10 key pieces of advice:
- Prepare to be a Trailblazer
- Embrace Total Change
- Clear the Decks and Focus Relentlessly
- Collapse the Cycles
- Trust your Instincts
- Forget Everything You Know
- Make them Users Before They Become Customers
- Unlock the Optics Treasure Trove
- Trust Your Customers
- Recognize Life in the New World, and Enjoy the Trip
About Brian ZanghiBrian Zanghi is President and CEO of Kadient. Brian brings more than 20 years of sales and executive leadership in the high technology industry to Kadient. Since joining the company in 2004, he has led the transformation of Kadient from an RFP automation software company to the leading provider of on-demand sales knowledge applications.
Brian is a frequent speaker and writer on the topics of sales and marketing effectiveness and the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model. He is author of
The Role of Venture Capital in Transforming Your Business, published by Aspatore in the book
Inside the Minds: Software Venture Capital Best Practices. His article
10 Lessons from a SaaS Transformation was featured on
Sandhill.com. He has spoken at the MIT Sloan Sales Conference, the MIT Venture Capital Conference, Software 2008, the IDC Sales & Marketing Effectiveness Summit, and Softletter’s Marketing & Selling SaaS Seminar.
About KadientKadient helps companies improve sales performance by arming their sales people with the content, messages, and strategies they need to win at every stage of the customer’s buying cycle. Using Kadient’s on-demand sales knowledge application, sales people can sell on value, stand out from the crowd, and accelerate sales cycles, while marketing teams gain more control and consistency in the messages delivered to the marketplace and have greater impact on revenue. To take a test drive, go to
www.Kadient.com and click on “Experience It.”.
Contact:
Jeff Ernst
Vice President of Marketing
603-249-1419
jernst@kadient.com