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Among the top vulnerability scanning trends is adoption of the software bill of materials (SBOM). “The move toward automated, formally structured, machine-readable SBOMs is clear,” said Alex Rybak, senior director of product management, Revenera. “More and more software companies expect SBOMs to include all third-party, including open-source and commercial, software that’s used in their applications. An SBOM that provides a single, actionable view is essential, so that when a vulnerability is detected, the supplier can quickly assess the impact to their portfolio of applications and expedite remediation plans.”

Too frequently, software suppliers play a guessing game when it comes to measuring critical numbers, such as entitlements, paid users, pirates, rates of overuse, or revenue loss. Vic DeMarines, Revenera’s vice president, software monetization product management, writes about how software suppliers can gain accurate metrics, then make business decisions accordingly. 

Today's software customers have varied requirements about how that software is deployed and how they pay for it. So how can software companies provide high-value offerings that support customer retention? As software suppliers offer a mix of monetization and deployment models, they need clarity into how their products are being used. BetaNews spoke to Vic DeMarines, vice president, software monetization product management, at Revenera for insights into current trends and best practices in software monetization.

Revenera’s Michael Goff, principal, product marketing, addresses ways in which software suppliers work to solidify customer satisfaction and retention, while helping strengthen revenue recognition. These goals require an effective strategy that considers both software monetization (how the customer pays for the software) and software deployment (how the software is delivered to customers), with clear and actionable insights about both.

Scott Niemann, director of product management at Revenera, looks at the practical ways in which software suppliers can streamline and strengthen the move to SaaS deployment for their software products. He offers best practices for product managers: understand entitlements, support the full sales cycle, and rely on a central monetization strategy. 

"Software companies are undergoing a seismic shift in how they monetize and deploy products. Nearly two-thirds (59%) expect to deploy more software-as-a-service (SaaS) models; and 54% expect to increase subscription pricing models. Concurrently, perpetual licensing and on-premises deployments are growing much more slowly. Still, the increase in all deployment models reflects the hybrid nature of contemporary approaches."

Conal Gallagher, CIO of Flexera and Revenera, sheds light on how common security misconceptions—such as about a company’s place in the software supply chain—can complicate efforts to guard against vulnerabilities. He illustrates how a software bill of materials (SBOM) can provide an aggregate view of your IT estate to protect a company, its supply chain partners, and its customers.

Sharing his perspective on “the importance of a robust security strategy, and best practices to better protect … sensitive data from cyberthreats,” Alex Rybak, senior director of product management at Revenera, notes that “we've seen a marked uptick in interest in SBOM tools, especially those that unify all SBOMs into a single, actionable view. When the next high-profile vulnerability hits, suppliers that have this unified data at their fingertips will quickly uncover exposures wherever they exist across their portfolio of applications so they can expediently fix the problems—no matter if the code was developed internally or outside of the organization.”

"For software suppliers, the build v. buy evaluation is particularly important when it comes to software monetization systems that manage and track entitlements, licenses, and usage of their products. Knowing what to evaluate can help ensure that a software supplier implements the solution that’s most likely to support its overall goals,” writes Michael Goff, principal, product marketing at Revenera.

"You wouldn’t serve food if you have reason to believe it will harm those consuming it. And you shouldn’t release software that isn’t secure. The best way to ensure safety is to maintain a current 'ingredient list' list of all components in your software—a software bill of materials (SBOM),” writes Senior Director of Product Management at Revenera, Alex Rybak.

"With the help of Revenera SBOM Insights, businesses can control their security and legal risk by keeping an up-to-date, accurate SBOM in the cloud. By combining the SBOM from various data sources and giving complete insight to security and legal teams as well as supply chain partners, this cloud inventory management solution increases the amount of transparency into enterprises’ products beyond the code that is under their control.”

David Zwick, chief financial officer at Flexera Software, evaluates software models and how they can be optimized to build recurring revenue for software vendors. He looks at the value of pairing SaaS and subscription and identifies practical steps for doing so.

Those who use your software found it, love it, and want to use it. Unfortunately, some people use your software without paying for it. Victor DeMarines, vice president of software monetization product management at Revenera, highlights how better data about software piracy, overuse, and misuse can help software suppliers shore up their revenue loss and strengthen their license compliance initiatives.

A software bill of materials (SBOM) itemizes the components of software, helping to ensure that the software is secure by design. Kendra Morton, principal, product marketing at Revenera, and Martin Callinan, founder and director of Source Code Control Limited, take a detailed look at why SBOMs are in the spotlight, what’s included in SBOMs, how they protect the software supply chain, the role of SBOMs in software composition analysis (SCA), and best practices for creating and maintaining an SBOM.

Marty Mellican, vice president and associate general counsel at Revenera, evaluates legal considerations for open source software management, providing a simple set of best practices to help manage and mitigate risks.

As reliance on open source software (OSS) grows, the risk plane expands. One of the greatest risks isn’t the code itself, but a lack of knowledge of what’s in the code. Alex Rybak, Senior Director of Product Management at Revenera, details five practical steps that can help ensure greater transparency and trust in your open source program.

Victor DeMarines, vice president of software monetization product management at Revenera, clears up confusion about the differences between two increasingly common and important concepts in software: SaaS (a deployment model) and subscription (a monetization model). Adopting these models—individually or in combination—requires clear understanding and analysis of their differences, the needs they meet, and the benefits they deliver for business initiatives and financial goals.

When used together, qualitative and quantitative approaches can provide precise, valuable insights to help optimize products—while also reducing the time and expenses related to gathering feedback. Michael Goff, principal, product marketing at Revenera, shows how software suppliers can gain the deepest possible insights into  users’ experiences by relying on these complementary methods.

When the Log4j vulnerability was revealed in December 2021, IT teams and security experts scrambled for stability. Responses don’t need to be—and shouldn’t be—so frenzied the next time. Alex Rybak, Director of Product Management at Revenera, shares four processes to protect your code—and your time.

In this interview, Alex Rybak, Director of Product Management at Revenera, highlights findings from Revenera's 2022 Report on Software Supply Chain Compliance, evaluating issues related to the rapid growth of open source software usage and identifying how to safely tap into its strategic advantages.