Presentation from the ProductCamp conference in Boston, May 2. 2015. http://lanyrd.com/2015/pcampboston/sdmfxg/ Product management in a SaaS environment is very different from product management in more traditional business models. Some of the challenges are obvious - an application developed for many is deployed once and then integrated in many different business processes. The implications on priorities, skills, expectations and time management are profound and can be a difference between succeeding, or failing as a product manager. This session will discuss the topic of SaaS in B2B. It will highlight some of the unique challenges and pitfalls and provide examples, personal experiences and results of these efforts. Some examples are success stories, others are puzzles that need to be discussed. If you do not have experience of working in a fast paced, startup SaaS environment it will give you a heads-up on what to keep in mind if you embark on that path in the future. If you have SaaS experience it is an opportunity to engage and share experiences before, during, or after the session.

1. SaaS, B2B and Product
Management: Unique
Challenges and
Experiences
ProductCamp Boston, May 2015 1
Goran Begic, @gbegicw

2. About the Presenter / Audience
• How many are in SaaS business
today, including hybrid?
• How many involved in on-
premise?
• How many C-level execs?
2
About the Audience
• 15 years Product Marketing and
Product Management in Software
• Veracode
• SmartBear
• MathWorks
• IBM Rational
• Twitter: @gbegicw

3. 3
• PM in SaaS is different from On-Prem
• At a very high level the objective is the
same - stay engaged and strategic
• Forces dragging one into tactical are
very strong, often unique and certainly
persistent
• Pricing Model
• Deployment Model
• Release Cadence
• Operations
• Managed Services
• Feedback Volume
Overview

4. In Scope and Out of Scope
• One challenge, opposite views
• Disclaimer...
• In Scope
• Practical product management; real life examples and stories
• Out of Scope
• Product owner vs. product manager topics
• Importance of business intelligence and metrics
• Cost of service and cost of customer acquisition
• Glossary
• Product Managers and Product Management
• SaaS
• B2B
4

5. PM in SaaS - Is It Really Different
• Point of view
• Struggle between
strategic and tactical
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/ 5

6. http://pragmaticmarketing.com/ 6
At a Very High Level…
• Same problem
• Getting stuck in tactical

7. Let’s Play
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anas-Edible-Creations
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8. Hypothetical Situation 1
• Expansion opportunity in year 2
• Enterprise sales lead is all in
• No legal obstacles, budget is there
• Proved value in 1 BU, 15 more to go
• If there would only be this one new special
feature…
• ROI not there, not aligned with roadmap
• Issue is escalated to the executive team
8
Each quarter you
may be going
through this with a
significant portion of
your customer base

9. Pricing Model
• Annual subscriptions and
renewal frequency
• Pace of adoption and growth of
your product
• Feature creep and over-
commitment traps
9
• Review the planning process
with your team
• The product team must be
on the same page
• Review the escalation
process
• Develop rules of
engagement
Recommendation: Challenges and Opportunities:

10. Hypothetical Situation 2
• Success in the marketplace.
• Landed 15 new accounts with high potential.
• Each account has a slightly different process
and wants your product to fit.
• Buyer used to working with professional
services who made customized on-premise
solutions.
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Your customers likely
do not (want)
understand the
implications of
having one product
deployed in your
data center

11. Deployment Model
• One deployment for all
• Shiny object syndrome: “Why
don’t you just add another field
here?”
• Standardization is a powerful
source of business intelligence
• Concentration of specific
domain knowledge
11
• Develop API strategy
• Services
• Create plugins, examples of
integration
• Enable partners
• Protect product design…
Recommendation: Challenges and Opportunities:

12. Release Cadence
• Feature scope and relevance
• Each improvement is also a
change… Are your enterprise
end-users ready?
• Feature communication – who
needs to know what
• Training…
12
• Feature planning process
• Review release
communication, what to
communicate, to whom and
how?
• Training process - internal
and external
Recommendation: Challenges and Opportunities:

13. Hypothetical Situation 3
• You committed to delivering new functionality
by the end of May
• April 27: PM we need to make a decision…
13
Tactical agility – get
ready, you’ll need it

14. You Now Have OPS
• You host the product on
customer's behalf
• What do you do when
something goes wrong?
• Tactical awareness -
what are we doing, who
is doing it, when...
14
• Reserve time (drop other
projects)
• Emergency response team.
Get to know this team.
• Document and practice
what if scenarios
• Communication templates -
ensure that all customer
facing teams know what to
do and what to say
Recommendation: Challenges and Opportunities:

15. Managed Services
• Staying up to speed with
product
• Management of expectations
• Training, training, training...
15
• Review feedback process
(Enhancement requests)
• Self-help
• Technical Account
Managers
Recommendation: Challenges and Opportunities:

16. Volume of Feedback
• "Important customers"
• Subject matter experts
• All of the above
• Approach
• Community
• CAB - Customer
Advisory Board
• Idea board
16

17. Conclusion
• Not all SaaS products are $10 a month,
low touch sales, no managed service
• Time Investments
• Process definition and alignment
• Communication management - frequency,
volume, target
• Planning
• Working with a business process around a
conveyor belt
17

18. Q/A
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