Jeff Kaplan: Making the Cloud Mainstream.

Cloud Computing Conference - Cloud Slam 2009.
Author: Jeffrey Kaplan, Managing Director, THINKstrategies, Inc. and Founder, SaaS Showplace. THINKstrategies (www.thinkstrategies.com) is a strategic consulting firm that helps clients respond to the shift in the technology industry from a product-centric to a services-driven business model. The SaaS Showplace® (www.saas-showplace.com or www.thinksaas.com) is the largest and highest ranked, vendor-independent, online directory of SaaS solutions and industry best practices. Prior to forming THINKstrategies, Jeff was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at InterOPS Management Solutions, Director of Strategic Marketing at International Network Services (INS), and a leading industry analyst at IDC, Dataquest and META Group.

Abstract: The rapid rise of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has opened the door to a broader array of web-based, enablement capabilities via the web. While these new cloud computing services are being leveraged by start-ups and tested by enterprise software developers, and are capturing the imagination of the press and analyst community, there are still plenty of operational issues which must be overcome before cloud computing wins mainstream acceptance and widespread adoption. Although the functional capabilities of cloud computing services are evolving quickly, the long-term business model for success is yet to be defined. This session will discuss the key business challenges facing cloud computing vendors as they attempt to satisfy the needs of a broad cross-section of non-technical users and highly demanding enterprise customers in an economical and profitable fashion.

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