FlexNet Connect Datasheet

1. FlexNet Connect
D ATA S H E E T
Increase customer satisfaction, gain insight and stay connected to your customers
through electronic software updates, in-product messaging and detailed reporting
As a software vendor or intelligent device delivering updates only to those users entitled to
“FlexNet Connect manufacturer, you know there is tremendous value receive them.
makes it easy for us in connecting directly with your customers and
to deliver software products in the field. Being connected makes it easy Improve Customer Communication with Targeted
and data updates for you to electronically deliver your latest software In-Product Messaging
to all our users, updates, and patches to your customers’ systems— FlexNet Connect is also an effective promotional
increasing their satisfaction and reducing your tool. You can use FlexNet Connect’s messaging
thereby increasing
support costs. ability to increase product revenue by delivering
customer satisfaction marketing messages directly to specific users’
and eliminating Being connected also lets you keep customers desktops at their most receptive moment—when they
costly support calls. informed by sending important messages directly are actively using or evaluating your products. It lets
It also enables us to their desktops. Plus, it enables you to gather you target users based on different criteria, including
to increase revenue valuable data on how customers are using your product version, operating system, geographic
by understanding products—data you can use to improve your location, maintenance plan status, and much more.
our customers’ software and give customers the features and tools
they really want. Improve Marketing and Development with
needs better and by
Product Usage Data
enhancing customer The importance of connecting with customers isn’t FlexNet Connect provides you with real-time
communication.” in question. What is in question; however, is how anonymous data about your customer base,
to do it. including the number of users on different versions
– Steven Huey and which features are most popular. Data
Director of Software FlexNet Connect Keeps You Connected to provided by FlexNet Connect helps your marketing
Products Your End-Users and development teams create more effective
EarthLink The answer is Flexera Software’s FlexNet Connect®. promotional campaigns and more competitive
FlexNet Connect gives you the power to stay products. And if your relationship with your users
connected with your customers and the machines explicitly permits, you can also collect more detailed
running your software. It lets you electronically data on specific users’ usage patterns and profile.
deliver software updates, patches and messages
directly to your end-users’ systems—keeping your Benefits to Software Vendors and
software up to date, your support costs down, Intelligent Device Manufacturers
and your customers happy. FlexNet Connect also • Reduce operational costs associated with
provides real-time data about how users interact product fulfillment, upgrades, and renewals
with your products, enabling you to leverage critical • Reduce customer support costs by keeping users
usage trends to improve your software. current and providing their IT administrators with
an easy way to manage updates
Reduce Operational and Support Costs with • Increase product revenue by delivering marketing
Electronic Software Updates messages directly to customers and eval users
Whether you want to deliver applications, updates as they use your software
and patches directly to home consumers, channel • Ensure a consistently high-quality customer
partners, or machines in businesses managed by IT experience by controlling the delivery and
administrators, FlexNet Connect is the only solution installation of your updates
you need. FlexNet Connect keeps all your customers • Make more intelligent development and
on your most current product version, which reduces marketing decisions based on real-time data
support costs and improves customer satisfaction. about your user base
It also simplifies maintenance plan fulfillment by

2. Reduce Operational and Support Costs FlexNet Connect is the only solution enabling
with Electronic Software Updates software vendors and intelligent device
“FlexNet Connect In the software industry, an average of 25 percent manufacturers to electronically deliver software
of all support calls would be unnecessary if the updates and patches to every customer’s system—
offered a simple, cost-
customer had the most current software version. regardless of operating environment or platform. It
effective solution that Being able to deliver software updates and patches has a sophisticated targeting system that enables
greatly reduced our directly to your customers’ systems helps optimize you to deliver applications and updates based on
incoming support requests performance and stability, which in turn reduces a wide range of criteria—including the user’s OS,
your support costs. It also increases customer product version, and geographic location. You
and provided us with
satisfaction and loyalty. can also send applications and updates based on
detailed reports regarding the user’s maintenance or support plan status—
update success.” Unfortunately for software vendors and intelligent simplifying product fulfillment and ensuring that
device manufacturers, keeping customers up to date paying users always get the right updates.
– John Gray can be a constant headache:
• Reduce operational costs associated with product
President
• Distributing physical media—such as update fulfillment, upgrades, and renewals
PsPortals CDs—is slow and expensive, often costing more • Reduce customer support costs by keeping users
than $5 per CD shipped on the current product version
• Forcing users to find, download, and then install • Increase customer satisfaction by ensuring
updates from your Web site is a time-consuming customers have your most current product release,
and error-prone process for customers with the newest features and bug fixes
• Your products might be running in a secure
“FlexNet Connect has environment guarded by IT administrators who
completely streamlined block your connection to end users
our updating process,
and the built-in reporting
features allow us to ensure Software vendors and intelligent device FlexNet Connect connects you
all of our end users receive manufacturers struggle to connect with users with your users
critical updates.”
– Jim Ekstrand
Product Manager
FutureSource v3.0 v3.0
Your latest version
v1.3 v2.1 v3.0 v3.0
v1.5 v3.0
Frustrated users on outdated software Users stay current, which reduces support costs

3. Improve Customer Communication with Messages delivered through FlexNet Connect
Targeted In-Product Messaging historically have click-through rates that are 10
For product managers, being able to communicate times higher than email, making it an effective FlexNet Connect
effectively with their software product’s user base promotional tool to help you hit revenue targets. Supports Any Platform
is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. FlexNet Connect runs on
FlexNet Connect makes it easy by delivering your • Increase revenue by delivering marketing
Windows, Solaris, and
HTML messages directly to any user’s desktop messages directly to customers and evaluators as
they use your software Linux servers and can
at their most receptive moment—when they are
actively using or evaluating your products. It’s an • Target customer groups by delivering the right update any application
ideal way to communicate with your entire user message to the right customer, based on their running on any platform,
base—even those who purchased through resellers. software version, location, or entitlement status including Windows, Mac
• Reach all of your customers directly, even if the
OS X, Solaris, Linux, AIX,
Targeting specific user groups is easy. FlexNet software was purchased through a reseller or
Connect can send messages based on a wide enterprise license agreement HP-UX, and any other
range of user characteristics, such as product flavor of UNIX.
version, user’s operating system, user’s time zone
and area code, maintenance plan status, and much
more. It even tracks the open and response rate of
each message to measure its effectiveness.
Be Up and Running
in Minutes
FlexNet Connect is
extremely easy to
implement, with a secure
architecture that scales to
hundreds of millions of
FlexNet Connect lets you deliver messages to customers as they use your products, end users.
even if they purchased through resellers
Hosting Options
You can either run FlexNet
Connect on your own
servers or have Flexera
Software host it for you as
a service.

4. Establish more valuable customer relationships by connecting
directly with the users of your software
Improve Marketing and Product Development The data presented in FlexNet Connect’s reports is invaluable
with Detailed Usage Reports for maximizing the effectiveness and relevance of your
How well do you know your customers? Do you know what marketing campaigns and promotions. It also gives software
percentage of your installed base has upgraded to your latest development teams the data they need to create more
product version, or how many are on each of your previous compelling and lucrative products.
versions? Do you know which features different users and
evaluators prefer, and which ones they rarely—if ever—use? Do • Improve your knowledge of your user base with anonymous
you know how many pirated copies of your software exist? data on total customer size, versions in use, and upgrade
patterns
Having accurate product usage and user profiling data enables • Understand how your customers value your software by
product managers to make more intelligent marketing and seeing which features are most commonly used
product development decisions. If your relationship with your • Make products more attractive to users by basing marketing
users permits, FlexNet Connect provides you with real-time and development decisions on real-world customer metrics
data about your installed base and how they are using and and advanced business intelligence
evaluating your products.
Reports from FlexNet Connect provide invaluable business intelligence on your user base.
About Flexera Software our comprehensive solutions- from installation and licensing,
Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic solutions entitlement and compliance management to application
for Application Usage Management; solutions delivering readiness and enterprise license optimization - to strategically
continuous compliance, optimized usage and maximized value manage application usage and achieve breakthrough results
to application producers and their customers. Flexera Software realized only through the systems-level approach we provide.
is trusted by more than 80,000 customers that depend on For more information, please go to: www.flexerasoftware.com
Next Steps:
Visit www.flexerasoftware.com/fnc to view online
demos, read case studies, and start an evaluation.
Flexera Software LLC Schaumburg United Kingdom (Europe, Japan (Asia, For more office locations visit:
1000 East Woodfield Road, (Global Headquarters): Middle East Headquarters): Pacific Headquarters): www.flexerasoftware.com
Suite 400 +1 800-809-5659 +44 870-871-1111 +81 3-4360-8291
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA +44 870-873-6300
Copyright © 2011 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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