120329 Open View Venture, Firas Raouf keynote presentation

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Measuring, Managing and Monetizing for Success in the Cloud

Mass Technology Leadership Council Breakfast Seminar March 29, 2012

Service vs. Technology: What Should Your Cloud-based Company Deliver?

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A Cloud Revolution… or Evolution?

• The concept of cloud computing has been around since the 1960s.

• Since then, it has undergone a metamorphosis into ASP, SaaS, IaaS, and what we now holistically call cloud-based services.

• Companies delivering cloud-based technology/service need to adapt to what modern consumers expect from their solutions.

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So, What Do Customers Really Care About Today?

It’s all about SERVICE, not technology:

• Ten years ago, an ASP or SaaS company’s most important differentiator was its technology.

• Today, customers care about:- Constant service availability- Their specific pain/need addressed the way they want- Reliable service onboarding and support- Exceptional user experience

• Your challenge is how to deliver a service – not a technology – to resolve their specific pains and needs

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How Do the Best Cloud Companies Address Evolving Customer Expectations?

A market segment is a classification of potential customers by one or more characteristics, in order to

identify groups of customers, which have similar needs and demand similar products and/or services

concerning the recognized qualities of these products, e.g. functionality, price, design, etc.

Wkipedia

1. Focus sharply on a core segment

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• You need a segment focus to be able to deliver the

right solution to the right user through the right channel

• You need the right solution to achieve clear competitive differentiation

• Your core segment gives you the beachhead from which you can grow into other segments

1. Focus sharply on a core segment

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• Create a relationship between customer acquisition, onboarding, support, retention, and upsell.

• Key metrics to focus on include:

2. Optimize distribution economics

CAC: Total cost of acquiring a customer

ASP: Average revenue per period, per customer

BE: The breakeven period for recouping CAC

Churn: How much revenue churns per period by cohort

CLT: Customer life time (inverse of churn)

LTV: Revenue generated over the life of the customer

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• Segment focus creates differentiation

• Differentiation leads to higher lower CAC and higher ASP

• Focus on user experience leads to lower churn and higher LTV

2. Optimize distribution economics – Leverage your segment focus

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• Content marketing allows companies to:- Communicate and engage directly with their core

customer- Develop thought leadership that speaks to those

customers’ common pain - Efficiently and inexpensively create brand awareness

• It also creates a forum for long-term engagement with current customers, allowing companies to provide better service and improve retention.

3. Leverage content marketing to lower customer acquisition costs

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• It’s not effective or efficient to cast a wide net and try to reel in every possible customer you can catch

• Your goal should be to execute sales and marketing strategies that speak directly to your core segment – and no one else.

4. Executing sales and marketing strategies around thecore segment

Business

120329 Open View Venture, Firas Raouf keynote presentation