Entitlement and Compliance Management

Transitioning from a Hardware to a Solution-Centric (hardware + software +services) Business Model – Part 2

By Ram Visvanathan

In Part 1 of the blog, I talked about the imperatives that drive Intelligent Device Manufacturers (IDMs) to turn to software and services for their revenue growth and introduced 5 key challenges that these companies face, which were:

1. Business model differences
2. Inflexible operations
3. Non-compatible policies
4. Internal system capabilities
5. Organizational culture

I also detailed out in Part 1 the first two challenges. In this blog I will detail out the remaining three challenges and suggest a few ideas that can help IDMs in their transition.
  

3.   Non-compatible policies. Policies are framed to support the needs of a business model. Hence many of the policies of hardware companies fail to satisfy or even are at conflict with the needs of the software business. For example, as marginal cost of software is nearly zero, compensation and bonus structure in software companies are skewed to disproportionately reward top sales performance. A common policy for sales compensation between hardware and software would risk losing the software sales people by paying lower salaries. 

Besides managing existing policies, new policies that relate to software lifecycle events for e.g. software compliance enforcement policies (when would you deny software access, how would you respond to extra usage, do the policies vary across customer segments, geography etc.,) need to be developed. 

The diverse nature of the two businesses needs policies that can support them.  The organization should undertake a careful analysis of the combined businesses to identify the ones that can be standardized, those that need to be different and those that need be newly defined.

4.   Internal system capabilities. The ERP and CRM systems of hardware companies are designed neither to track software licenses and versionsat customer sites nor to manage entitlements for different software lifecycle events. Besides, the foundational capabilities required for supporting new software business models like managing bundled offerings, enterprise contracts, billing based on usage, recurring invoicing and sophisticated revenue recognition and allocation mechanisms are not well supported by traditional ERP systems.

I find that these poor system capabilities affect IDMs' top line and bottom line by inhibiting their ability to launch new products and business models, increasing operational costs and impacting customer satisfaction. While this is an issue for many software companies as well, I find that IDMs try to bend their internal systems a lot more until they break.


5.   Organizational culture. Software companies not only experience shorter product lifecycles but also experience rapid evolution of business models. Hence developing a viable software business is a continually moving target. To support this rapid change, the culture of software companies is more collaborative that enables them to co-exist in an ecosystem with other partners while at the same time they are also likely to have a more top down management approach to facilitate quick decisions.

The culture of many IDMs is at odds with that of software companies and poses significant challenges as they try to grow organically. This challenge is even more pronounced if they embark on an acquisition path. Even IDMs that have a successful track record of integrating acquisitions find these hurdles manifesting into longer lead times, significantly higher integration costs and less than expected benefits.

Companies embarking on a journey to become more solution-centric should be aware of these challenges. Although the path may be difficult and the waters rough, significant rewards exist for the one who traverse. A ship is safest at the harbor, but that is not where it is meant to be.

At Flexera Software, our products and services focus on helping IDMs from a strategic, operational and technological perspective as they navigate through the rough waters. For more information, read the related white papers: Ten steps to optimizing your software licensing revenue and How IDMs are using embedded software to grow revenue

Look forward to hearing your experiences and thoughts.

 

Car-as-a-Service – Part 2: Platform + Apps + Services = Strategies for Growing Revenue

By Bashyam Anant

In Part 1, I talked about the imminent transformation of business models in the automotive industry. In Part 2, I will focus on strategies for growing revenue.

Ford Sync illustrates several strategies to grow revenues from a "platform + apps + services" approach. First, a single software product can be sliced and diced based on software features to create packages targeting specific consumer segments. This helps Ford create Sync offers at different price points based on customer need and willingness to pay, without having to incur manufacturing costs for a specialized hardware model for each need. For example, the "wifi hotspot" is available in one package but not in others. Simply put, this allows auto manufacturers to generate revenues from customers that care about such features without having to manufacture a hardware model. Second, you will note several services bundled in Ford Sync, some thrown in as part of a package while others that require a subscription. For example, vehicle health reports send engine diagnostic information to the Ford portal – this service included in all packages. Personalized traffic alerts and satellite radio, on the other hand, require a subscription plan. Lastly, features like HD Radio mimic iTunes in the sense that they use a "pay per song" model.

With such a "platform + apps + services" model in place, an auto manufacturer's revenue possibilities are really up to their imagination. For example, for consumers that don't want to pay for a monthly subscription for navigation services, they could offer the option to activate navigation maps of a particular region for a short duration just for the weekend. For entertainment, they could offer movies or video games for rent for the duration of a long trip. Auto manufacturers can also dream up additional services to deliver via the platform. Such as storing a vehicle's maintenance history in the cloud and making it accessible to a new owner should the vehicle change hands. Just like General Electric's TRUEngine program which helps GE engine owners "maximize your asset's marketability and ensure it receives the full range of GE's world-class support. Through our online TRUEngine database, appraisers and buyers can quickly confirm an engine's qualification status by Engine Serial Number (ESN)." Another example: Ford has partnered with an auto insurance provider to track and transmit mileage data which can result in better insurance rates for drivers^[i]. Besides providing endless monetization opportunities and lots of recurring revenues, such imaginative services also grow customer loyalty, not just for the auto manufacturer but also its ecosystem, such as the Ford's insurance provider partner.   

Like Ford, the electric vehicle segment has already embraced many of these ideas. Electric car manufacturers like BMW have partnered with car charging networks like Coulomb Technologies. The dashboard of these cars feature services such as showing drivers maps of charging stations and the ability to reserve a charging spot in them. Like roaming user profiles in the desktop and smartphone world, we conjecture that in future drivers would be able to record and store their driving profiles in the cloud and download them to any vehicle they happen to drive. Imagine logging into any car, and when you do, your seat adjustments, thermostat settings, favorite radio channels, games and more would be available.

 It should be obvious by now that ubiquitous Internet connectivity of cars is the key enabler for "platform + apps + services" models. As Gartner^[ii] points out, "A connected vehicle experience provides the opportunity to move beyond a vehicle-sale-centric business model and toward a variety of monetization opportunities focused on the sum of the automobile ownership, driving experience and user-related aspects."

We see a tremendous opportunity for automotive manufacturers to grow revenues by transitioning to software-driven businesses. The remaining question is how one goes about it. In our experience, a software-driven business transformation will require auto manufacturers to:

1. Re-think product packaging and business models based on how consumers want to use cars and related apps and services. As the Ford Sync example illustrates, car manufactures will need to segment their customers more and create tailored "platform + apps + services" offerings at different prices points.
2. Track and manage entitlements. Every driver and car could be configured differently based on the device platforms (e.g. dashboard system), related apps and services. Layered on top are the different ways drivers might have purchased apps and services, ranging from try-before-you-buy, subscription models, freemium models, pay-by-use, outright purchases and so on. All this can become quite complicated very quickly, but tracking and managing consumer entitlements is an essential pre-requisite to making "platform + apps + services" real. 
3. Automate the entire app, device platform and entitlement lifecycles. These lifecycle processes include: app installation and activation; subscription management; firmware and app updates; device platform provisioning, configuration management, device monitoring and remote management; app upgrades and other changes to entitlements. Internet connectivity is a key enabler for automation of firmware and software updates, as it is for data uploads from and downloads to cars at the heart of many of these processes.

While it is easy to describe the above recipe, executing on it can be a daunting challenge especially since auto manufacturers have very little experience running software-centric businesses. Acknowledging these requirements and putting plans in place to address them is just what you need to unlock 10X financial returns and be the apple of your customer's eyes!

Read this Related Gartner Research Report:

Innovation Insight: Original Solution Orchestrators Extend Innovation in the Demand-Driven Supply Chain The manufacturing business is changing. To remain competitive and drive growth in the face of a demanding marketplace, device manufacturers are differentiating themselves by rethinking their business models and product strategies. Today, more and more manufactures are transforming their business models to be more solution centric, where software drives differentiation and value.

[i] http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/ford-state-farm-save-drivers-money-car-insurance-telematics-technology-article-1.1090341

[ii] “Predicts 2013: Mobile, Cloud and Information Fuel the Automotive Era of Smart Mobility” Thilo Koslowski, Gartner, November 2012

Related articles

Car-as-a-Service - Part 1: Transformation of Business Models in the Automotive Industry

Transitioning from a Hardware to a Solution-centric (Hardware + Software + Services) Business Model - Part 1

Car-as-a-Service – Part 1: Transformation of Business Models in the Automotive Industry

By Bashyam Anant

Google's driverless car, which was awarded a driving license in Nevada in May 2012, is a bellwether for the technology-driven transformation of the automobile industry.  Observers are dreaming up possibilities as exemplified by "if you give a car the abilities of race car drivers (instead of the average driver) and combine them with "conservative software" used for standard driving then you can develop a safer driving experience."  What if you were able to try out driverless features in your car for one month at no charge? If you liked it a lot, you could buy an annual subscription. When your subscription runs out, you could renew it through your smartphone. On a weekend, you might want to upgrade the driverless feature from "commuter style" to "race track style", and be driven at breakneck speeds on a racetrack.

Such possibilities are endless. At their core, they speak to the imminent transformation of business models in the automotive industry – from a business that is characterized by occasional vehicle sales today to the "car-as-a-service" future which creates an on-going relationship between auto manufacturers and consumers with recurring revenues from sales of apps and services. Note that Google's driverless features were retrofitted onto a Toyota Prius, and were enabled by a combination of hardware platform (e.g. laser radars), breakthrough software and Internet-enabled services, the essential ingredients of a "platform + apps + services" recipe driving the transformation of automotive manufacturers discussed below.

Until recently, comparing Apple to Ford would have been dismissed as a meaningless exercise. In this article's context, however, it serves as an indicator of the payoff that automotive manufacturers can expect should they succeed in replicating Apple's formula of "platform  + apps  + services"  exemplified by the iPhone platform + iPhone Apps  + iTunes content. The table below shows that Ford and Apple are roughly similar by revenue. But, Apple's market capitalization per dollar of revenue (3.1 in the table below) is 10 times that of Ford's.

 

The good news, though, is that these types of returns are very much within reach, and Ford, in particular, is already making progress in that direction.  Ford Sync is an early example of a next generation vehicle information and communications system – a connected, software-driven dashboard in simple terms. Ford offers Sync in four editions based on levels of features, bundled services and optional subscription plans as summarized below:

 

	Sync	Sync with Voice-Activated Navigation	Sync with MyFord	Sync with MyFord Touch
Handsfree calling	X	X	X	X
Entertainment
Voice-activated music search, Bluetooth audio streaming	X	X	X	X
Voice-activated radio tuning		X		X
HD Radio (pay per song)				X
Satellite radio (subscription)		X		X
Navigation	X	X	X	X
Subscription Services				X
411 business search, Personalized news, weather, sports, traffic alerts	X	X	X	X
Vehicle Health Report	X	X	X	X
Wi-Fi hotspot				X

 

Ford Sync illustrates several strategies to grow revenues from a "platform + apps + services" approach, covered in Part 2.

Next time: Car-as-a-Service – Part 2: Platform + Apps + Services = Strategies for Growing Revenue

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Usage-Based Software Licensing Examples and Patterns

By Mathieu Baissac

For the last year, I've been talking to a large number of software vendors and device manufacturers about pricing their products using usage-based licensing models.

There seems to be an explosion of new licensing models being considered. I personally believe that this new approach will be the default pricing model within the next 5 years and therefore wanted to share some potential applications (to stir up the creative juices).  I have kept these examples anonymous, as most of these licensing models have not been released in the market place yet (but soon)…  

• Marketing application vendor
  • Old: moving from user/size of database
  • New: # of emails sent on a monthly basis
• Development platform/ hosted RDMS
  • Old: # of developers, perpetual license
  • New: # of gigs managed on a quarterly basis
• CAD/CAM vendor
  • Old: perpetual license based on features/capabilities
  • New: # of drawings rendered in 3D on a monthly basis
• Telephone equipment provider
  • Old: perpetual license based on features/capabilities
  • New: peak throughput # of text messages sent per month
• Translation services
  • Old: each job was priced based on complexity, language, speed of job
  • New: # of characters translated by the month (regardless of all other factors)
• Video data conversion provider
  • Old: hardware
  • New: # of megs converted per month
• Project management vendor
  • Old: perpetual software based on size of hardware (# CPU cores)
  • New: # of active projects managed per month
• Chip design software vendor
  • Old: perpetual software based on size of hardware (#CPUs)
  • New: # of designs compiled per month
• Application converter
  • Old: perpetual software-per seat
  • New: # of applications "managed" for conversion & perpetual license for capabilities
• Software development tool vendor
  • Old: perpetual concurrent # of users
  • New: # of users exceeding perpetual license per month

There seems to be some patterns:

1. Combination of "usage" (pay-for-use) and "capabilities" (pay perpetual or time-based for access to these services)
2. A significant reduction in what is being monetized (2-3 meters, no more than that)
3. Meters are aligned much closer to the value derived from the use (# of megs converted vs. #CPU)
4. All producers are providing a predictable/consistent pricing meter and a variable component so that CIOs/finance can budget

I think the combinations of:

• Simple
• Easily tied to value
• Mostly predictable

 Is right on the money….

Learn more about compliance management solutions that enable usage-based licensing and pricing.

Year in Review: Most Watched, Read and Viewed Software Licensing and Entitlement Management Content of 2012

By Ann Reist

In keeping with our review of 2012, I also wanted to share with you the Most Watched Videos, the Most Read White Papers and the Most Viewed Webinars. "

Most Watched Videos

1. Creating "One Avid" with a Unified Software Licensing Framework
2. InstallShield Uses Tamper Resistant Software Licensing Code to Prevent Piracy and Hacking
3. Subscription Licensing Helps Transform Business from Hardware to Software-Centric
4. Insights from Citrix: Software Licensing Implications of Virtualization and the Cloud
5. Software Pricing and Packaging Best Practice Advice from Software Pricing Partners
6. Software Licensing Implications of Moving Applications to the Cloud

 Most Read White Papers

1. 2011 Key Trends Software Pricing and Licensing Report**
2. 10 Reasons to Buy a Software Licensing & Entitlement Management Solution
3. IDC White Paper—Software Licensing & Entitlement Management: The Next Generation
4. How to Grow SaaS Revenue, Profits and Market Share with Use-Appropriate Software Licensing and Pricing
5. Software License Compliance Management: Optimizing Software Revenue and Customer Satisfaction
6. Ten Steps to Optimizing Your Software Licensing Revenue
   

** Note the 2012 Key Trends Software Pricing and Licensing Report is now available.

Most Viewed Webinars

1. 2011 Key Trends in Software Licensing and Pricing and 2012 Predictions
2. Why Software Publishers are Migrating from Certificates to Activations
3. Software Licensing and Entitlement Management: The Next Generation—An IDC white paper webcast
4. Bridging the DevOps Divide by Automating the Handshake between Dev and Ops
5. Making the Most (Money) with Your SaaS Offering
6. Creating a Customer-Centric and High-Performance Entitlement Management System

 

Use Embedded Software Licensing and Entitlement Management to Fight Hardware Commoditization and Competition

By Matthew Dunkley

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with many device manufacturers across many prominent industry sectors.  And today, more than ever, the commoditization of hardware and ever increasing competition (in a truly globalized world) continue to be key challenges faced by many device manufactures.

There is a close correlation between these trends and the types of questions I am asked by such device manufacturers:

• "How can I increase market penetration?"
• "How can I drive new revenue streams and support new commercial models?"
• "How do I stay competitive?"
• "How do I protect what I have now?"

Typically I reply by asking questions about the company's products and business models, before explaining how embedded software licensing and entitlement management may be able to solve some of the challenges, including:

• Reducing manufacturing complexity and costs by producing one model of a device and using licensing to turn on/off device capabilities, capacity and software; and then selling it in many ways
• Supporting and introducing new licensing and pricing models and metrics like pay-as-you-grow to address the needs of diverse customers

This often leads to many more questions, including "How does that work?"

To help explain and demonstrate, I have created this video to help show how embedded software licensing and entitlement management can manage device capability and capacity.  In this simplistic case, by provisioning licenses for additional axis of movement on a robot arm, controlled by an intelligent device. The controller has many similarities to industrial controllers (32 bit processor, feature rich peripherals, Linux operating system).

Watch the video: Monetize and Enable Device Capabilities with Embedded Software Licensing: A Demonstration

 

How are you using embedded software licensing and entitlement management to fight commoditization and competition?

 

Agile Product Development or to Develop Agile Products?

By Matthew Dunkley

Since starting out as an embedded software engineer nearly 20 years ago, I have worked with teams using a variety of software design methods, from Structured Design, to Object Oriented Analysis (OOA) and Object Oriented Design (OOD) – evolving to Unified Modelling Language (UML) and using both waterfall and iterative development processes.  More recently, 'Agile Methodologies' have facilitated a development lifecycle that is both adaptive and evolutionary with the key aims of minimizing delivery times for working software, responding to on-going change (incorporating new or refined requirements much later in the development lifecycle than was traditionally acceptable) and minimizing what can be cumbersome development process.

There are obvious benefits to the business of an Agile approach.  Developments will to a greater degree keep pace with evolving product requirements, whilst demonstrating earlier than usual progress in the form of 'working software' delivered at regular intervals.  This in turn means earlier revenue streams after a shortened time to market, all-be-it for a product that will not have full functionality from day 1.  For many devices, the time spent in development in terms of effort, cost and duration is still considerable.  Once the device reaches the market there are on-going challenges similar to those experienced during the development process.  Product requirements will continue to evolve post launch along with the rising expectations of consumers anticipating updates and enhancements.  For the consumer, the experience of adopting software updates and enabling new features is expected to be clean, fast and immediate.  Poor customer experiences including failed updates, lock-out from authorised applications / features, prescriptive use of a device can quickly turn them off!

Therefore, as important as the trends towards an Agile Product Development Lifecycle are, the requirements for Agile Products that get to market quickly, continue to change and adapt seamlessly and at an ever increasing pace to meet consumers' evolving requirements including changing buying patterns, is even more important.   In this context an Agile Product will exhibit strong traits of adaptability, flexibility, ease of configuration, rapid time to market and maximise real-time commercial opportunities.  This can be achieved by:

• Using a well-managed and automated field update process
• Implementing a configuration management process that can be used throughout the lifespan of a product
  • Note: Both of the above will require tolerance for ownership change

The combination of trusted software licensing (to protect and monetise software and device capabilities and capacity), entitlement management (to manage the license lifecycle) and software delivery/software update mechanisms integrated with business systems enables customers to experience the benefits of an Agile Product:

• Immediate access for those entitled to software updates
• Close to real-time feature upgrades (e.g. purchased via online store) enabling increased downstream revenues from existing customers and often utilising leading-edge licensing techniques
  • E.g. Commercial models such as feature trials, feature rental, metering, usage tracking, true up, pay as you go, etc…

These mechanisms greatly increases the opportunities for the device manufacturer to monetize features but also the chance for the consumer to try them and use as much as they like – when they like…resulting in providing customers with an Agile Product. 

Transitioning from a Hardware to a Solution-centric (Hardware + Software + Services) Business Model – Part 1

By Ram Visvanathan

A recent trend that we have seen across Intelligent Device Manufacturers (IDMs) is that customer needs, competition and commoditization are forcing them to turn to software as an enabler of future growth.  These companies do so either by monetizing their embedded software or by developing stand-alone software that complements their hardware.  However, these companies face significant challenges as they transition from hardware-centric to a solution-centric (hardware + software + services) business model.   

The key challenges are: 

1. Business model differences
2. Inflexible operations
3. Non-compatible policies
4. Internal system capabilities
5. Organizational culture  

Business model differences.  Hardware and software business models are vastly different.  While traditional hardware models typically involve a point sale and minimal recurring revenue, software business models have a high percentage of recurring and follow-on revenue through renewal of software licenses, enablement of additional features or through support contracts that provide rights to upgrade and update software.  It is common for software companies to have a revenue model that is recurring and derived from services to existing installed base (sometimes > 50%), while the revenue model of many hardware companies are related to initial product sale.

Inflexible operations.  The best strategy and plans are likely to remain just that if those cannot be executed.  It is common to see great ideas of product management, marketing or sales fall flat because of the operational complexities.  The challenge is more pronounced for IDMs that want to support both hardware and software business models.  These companies should focus on 3 aspects:

1. Simplifying customer facing operations:   The operations of hardware business, from manufacturing to marketing, are centered on the ability to identify hardware as a discrete unit.  This hardware-centric view creates several hurdles in the software realm.  For example, we have worked with IDMs that require customers to provide their serial numbers as part of the order process.  This not only adds to internal operations complexity but also causes hurdle for sales, channel partners and customers and may even deter a sales.  Organizations also need to develop capabilities for customers to seamlessly manage the different software lifecycle events (like purchasing additional licenses, re-hosts, RMAs).  It is here that most IDMs fail in their execution.  The following quote from a channel partner of a multi-billion dollar IDM in the telecom equipment space sums it well "It takes an act of God to get five additional software licenses"
   
2. Strengthening back-office operations:  Supporting a combination of hardware and software business models require sophisticated capabilities to execute the combined hardware and software supply chain.  In addition to supply chain orchestration, IDMs should gear up to seamlessly execute complex revenue recognition, attribution and the divergent policies associated with hardware and software. 
   
3. Agile Operations:  The realm of software is dynamic and new methods of packaging, licensing and monetizing software are rapidly evolving.  We find that organizations typically have to support a range of software business models that vary along the following dimensions: 
   
   1. Time (perpetual, subscription, term, etc.)
   2. Unit of Measure (hardware centric - per CPU, per device to usage centric – utility, pay as you go models)
   3. Delivery mechanism (from on-premises to company hosted to 3^rd party hosted)

To support these diverse business models, IDMs need to have operational capabilities that are not only robust but also agile.  The question of "Can elephants dance?" is not a luxury these companies can afford.  They have to.   

In Part 1, I covered the first two of the five challenges that I had outlined.  In my next blog, I will cover the other three challenges and suggest a few ideas that can help IDMs in their transition.

 

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Device Manufacturers: Adopt the Holy Trinity, Go Intelligent

By John Lipsey

The challenges facing device manufacturers are enormous: Increased competition from new players on the world stage have a commoditizing effect across the spectrum - from medical devices and telecommunications equipment to oil and gas machinery and building automation. Complex supply chains, devices becoming a commodity, and rising fuel and transportation prices are driving manufacturing costs up and margins down. And rapidly evolving markets and changing customer needs require a heightened flexibility and nimbleness that most old-line manufacturers simply don't have.

Flexera Software’s Vincent Smyth believes that “Going Intelligent” provides manufacturers with a solution – enabling them to regain their competitive footing, lower costs and more flexibly tailor their products to meet customer demands.  What’s the formula for going intelligent?  Intelligent Device = App-enabled Hardware + Flexible Licensing.

Read the full article Device Manufacturers: Adopt the Holy Trinity, Go Intelligent.

Consumerization of Industrial Technology

By Bashyam Anant

Consumerization of IT is a recent phenomenon where enterprise IT departments are beginning to allow employees to access corporate applications from personal devices such as iPhones and iPads. In similar spirit, we are beginning to see consumer devices, in particular, smartphones like the iPhone, transform the way industrial technology is deployed and used. In this post, we will disscuss examples from medical devices and point-of-sale systems that illustrate the trend and the issues they pose for incumbents and new entrants in these markets.

In the medical equipment business, startups like Alivecor and CellScope are transforming smartphones into mobile diagnostic tools. Alivecor's heart monitor, for example, consists of a sensor, an iPhone app and a cloud-based application. The sensor snaps on to an iPhone (watch demo) and is placed on the patient. It then transmits heart signals to the iPhone app, which then transmits the data to the cloud application for associating the reading with the patient's medical record, for analysis or for printing an ECG. At this time, the device is commercially available as a veterinary heart monitor, pending FDA approval for humans.

Figure 1: Alivecor iPhone App for Heart Monitoring

CellScope uses optical attachments to turn smartphones into "diagnostic-quality imaging systems for healthcare, consumer skincare and education". One of their apps is a clip-on otoscope which helps pediatricians or parents take pictures of a child's middle ear and store or share the pictures, enabling ear infections to be diagnosed and treated remotely, all by using just a smartphone with an optical attachment and an associated app.

Square has transformed point-of-sale systems by following a similar pattern. Square allows a business to accept credit card payments using a card reader that plugs into a smartphone's headphone jack. Square's android or iPhone app then transmits the payment to the business' cash register in the cloud for reconciliation and analysis.

Alivecor, CellScope and Square are disrupting incumbents in their markets by disaggregating the value of industrial equipment (e.g. ECG monitors or point of sale systems) into sensors (e.g. card reader or heart sensor), smartphones and software. Incumbents that sell proprietary hardware devices in these markets are at a cost disadvantage (since they have to produce hardware while new entrants require only a smartphone) and will also be perceived as locking customers into proprietary hardware.

Because the new entrants make money on software and/or transactions, they now have to worry about protecting their IP against software piracy, managing the software lifecycle associated with their apps (e.g. software delivery and software updates), managing customer software entitlements (since each customer might have different rights to the software) and tracking and charging for usage, if they make money on transactions. Read these related posts for information on these topics:

Intelligent Hardware Manufacturers That Successfully Release Their Inner Software

Software Defined Data Center – Step Towards Utility-Based Business Models

The Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine are on the Horizon—Are you Ready?

Share your stories of industrial use cases being transformed by smartphones.