SVPMA Monthly Event - Selling SaaS in a Product World with Mike Schmitt, Director of Product Management, Brocade Communications December 2, 2009

Organization: SVPMA - Silicon Valley Product Management Association
Topic: Selling SaaS in a Product World: Challenges for a product manager when selling services
Speaker: Mike Schmitt, Director of Product Management, Brocade Communications
Date: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 9pm
Location: Network Meeting Center at the TechMart - 5201 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara
Cost: Free for Members. $25 for pre-registered Non-Members. $35 at the door.
More info: http://www.svpma.org/meetings.html

Presentation:
As product managers we are always being asked to (figuratively) think outside of the box. But what does that mean in a literal sense? How do you take a product based company to a service based – Software as a Service (SaaS)/ Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) model? This discussion will look at the challenges hardware technology companies face when trying to monetize offerings other than their core goods.

This session will talk about overcoming objections throughout the company: from Sales who are focused on selling products and insist customers will not pay; Back office operations not designed to deliver intangibles, to Finance who wrestles with Revenue Recognition and compliance challenges.

Speaker:
Mike Schmitt has worked at Brocade for 8 years where he has been responsible for building and delivering most of the company’s market expansion products and services. He is also responsible for out of the box marketing with his creation of DCX Man and comic book style of marketing collateral focused on the company’s key consumer.

Before taking on the challenge to build and market support and service offerings at Brocade, Mike worked as a product manager developing high-end hardware products. Prior to Brocade, Mike consulted to hardware companies on Reliability, Accessibility Serviceability (RAS) and compliance engineering for consumer, telecommunications and medical equipment. During the early part of his tech career he was responsible for business development in a venture funded company that brought DVD technology to the home computer.

Official Website: http://www.svpma.org/meetings.html