I have a good friend that makes me laugh a lot. When we talk about someone that seems to only take and gives little value, he says, “Yeah, they name streets after that guy — one way.”

If you were to make a list of the top 10 SaaS providers in the market today and in turn list what makes them so successful, having business partnerships would certainly be a common trait among them.

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." - Archimedes

Software as a Service providers (SaaS) have many options when it comes to addressing payment-processing needs. Stripe is a fairly new player in the payments space, but one that has quickly established itself as a  preferred platform for developers.

Software as a Service (SaaS) applications payment needs typically need a shopping cart / payment checkout or the ability to manage recurring or subscription payments. Both present challenges and opportunities for the SaaS platform but our focus will be on the recurring payment functionality.

Helping Businesses Scale Is The Catalyst of Cloud Service Provider Growth

Approaching an SaaS (Software as a Service) solution for your business is a daunting task. To help clarify the somewhat murky waters of SaaS sales pitches, blogger Fayez Mohamood offers some practical advice to help prevent a contracting disaster.

Chad Burmeister takes a sledge hammer to the nail with information that reminds us that up to 70 percent or more of a company’s inbound leads are lost because sales reps aren’t able to pick up the phone and respond to leads. On average, it takes a rep 46 hours to call back. The rep who does call back will only make 1.3 attempts to reach the lead.

K.V. Rao is spot on about his concern that enterprises have been left out in the cold with respect to historical data reporting that doesn’t answer the question of how the company is performing. Companies like Salesforce have introduced “Salesforce Wave” and the Analytics Cloud. Hopefully, these tools will give marketers a better means of understanding where their company is headed. As it stands, Rao feels that most top analytics vendors are too focused on making reports easier to read, as opposed to offering real information that allows companies to make better marketing decisions.

Ken Beam provides an excellent overview of problems that may surface when marketing SaaS products through resellers or referral partners. There’s a difference between the two entities. Here’s the breakdown:

Curt Raffi offers up interesting insights about what he would do if he could turn back the hands of time. Whether you’re 22 and just starting out, or a seasoned pro looking to upgrade or change directions, there are some common sense approaches that apply to everyone in life. Understanding your business technology is at the very top of the list. Technology is the one thing that may be able to make the biggest impact on your paycheck.

Jay Quiles offers some quaint insights about the advantages and benefits of getting your superiors to learn more about you and what you do on the job. Of course, accomplishing this task can be a challenge, depending on the size of your company and your CEO ’s disposition. So, there are a number of things you can do to get his or her attention, regardless of your company’s size, that includes staying committed, being enthusiastic, showing personal initiative, taking responsibility and being able to adapt.

Ramakrishnan M brings his knowledge and experience to bare as he reminds us of the importance of firms being able to focus on conversion. No doubt, getting conversions is becoming more of a challenge. Here are a few of his suggestions.

Wendy Kelly speaks to the fact that if you can teach one person you can teach many. Why not package your knowledge in 2015 and provide an online course for people in your network? There are notable pioneers, like Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki who pioneered the concept of permission marketing. They understand the nuances associated with sharing brands in ways that people are willing to become brand evangelists.

Anubhav Saxena reminds us of the The Outsourcing Institute's annual Wall Street Tech conference on June 2, 2015. Conference highlights will include cloud computing, automation, mobility, and cyber security/compliance. These are all areas that interest and can benefit Wall Street. The conference’s presenters plan to explain how changing and evolving technologies will spur future innovation, reduce the risks of doing business and lower business costs.

Mike Roberts offers timely information on the merits of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). At present, there’s a lot of controversy surrounding their use. Recruiters feel they’re necessary, while a growing number of job applicants are displeased with the results. The big challenge for many recruiting companies is that they haven’t prepared for the onslaught of users who hunt and apply for jobs using their mobile device.

Katherine Noyes reports that IBM has launched a new security intelligence to help businesses and organizations surmise whether a threat is real or if it’s a simple anomaly. The intelligence system can draw data from more than 500 supported and separate data points that include devices, applications and systems. It will also generate more than 1500 predefined reports that are available on demand.

Jeremey Boudinet likely touches on a subject that not every business professional is aware of: gaming software. Gaming software turns the tough job of inside sales into a game that tracks and rewards their performance on a dashboard that displays real-time metrics. These metrics include calls made, leads generated and emails opened. The industry is always looking for something to motivate inside sales people. Gaming software looks to be a winner.

Derik Vanvleet has something important to share! There’s an important difference between Proof of Concept and Proof of Compatibility. Knowing the difference can be the reason your company succeeds or fails. A Proof of Concept is basically a demonstration that shows certain concepts have the potential to be applied to a real-world situation. Proof of Compatibility uses certain test criteria to determine if the platform will actually meet the customer needs. That makes all the difference in the world.

Harriette Halepis reminds us that a managed service provider, MSP, and your business are just like any relationship. Sometimes relationships stop working, and the only sensible solution is to find a way to end it. Your biggest concern will be knowing how to read the signs that signal the relationship is at an end.

Fear and ignorance are a dangerous combination. Dave Lewis recalls his days working for companies in the IT industry, along with his exploits of being a vendor. During the entire period, he kept a journal of projects he worked on and IT challenges he overcame. One particular project came to mind, in which he shared that a company’s inability to implement a particular security solution was traced back to a single individual’s fear that it would fail.

Adam Greenberg provides an excellent overview of Exploit Kits. If your computer is running windows, visiting an infected forum could result in a redirect to the Fiesta Exploit Kit. A redirect is a key to creating harmful magic exploitation tricks. Its job is simple. The redirect sends the hapless user to site filled with malicious language code. The landing page is the culprit the launches the harmful exploits. Without a redirect, there would be no traffic going to the page.