Zuora Wins THINKstrategies' Best of SaaS Showplace Award

WELLESLEY, MA--(Marketwire - Sep 8, 2011) - THINKstrategies, Inc., the leading strategic consulting company focused on the business implications of the on-demand services market, announced today that Zuora has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits delivered by today's Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The BoSS Awards is an ongoing program of THINKstrategies' new Cloud Computing Showplace which recognizes SaaS companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits can include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

Zuora's subscription billing and commerce platform changes the way businesses manage and sell their services to customers. Zuora's platform allows them to bring new products to market more quickly, in a more flexible manner and less hassles. Zuora customers include Reed Business Information, InsideView, Marketo, Ricoh, Box.net, Ning, Ustream, Informatica, Xplorenet Communications, Open Range Communications, and Tata Communications.

Informatica Corporation deployed Zuora's platform to enable the market-leading independent data integration vendor to introduce the industry's first volume-based pay-as-you-go cloud integration service. Zuora's platform allowed Informatica to introduce a new self-service integration offering for salesforce.com customers starting at $99 USD/month. Informatica Cloud Express appeals to smaller organizations or those with less complex data integration needs, allowing them to subscribe on a month-to-month basis on credit card. The Zuora platform allows Informatica Cloud customers to pay only for the services they need via a PCI-compliant, fully integrated user interface from within the Express edition of the SaaS application. After deploying the Zuora platform, Informatica signed over 60 new Informatica Cloud Express subscription service customers in the first month.

It is for these reasons that Zuora has been named the latest Best of SaaS Showplace Award winner. A summary of the company's winning BoSS Award submission can be found at http://cloudshowplace.com/awardSummary.php?key=771.

"We are very pleased to receive this industry recognition from THINKstrategies' Cloud Computing Showplace," said Jeffrey Yoshimura, vice president of marketing. "In today's competitive environment, companies need to leverage the cloud to manage, sell and bill for services in a more flexible manner. Informatica's usage-based integration service is an example of how companies can innovate with cloud solutions to compete in a dynamically changing marketplace."

"One of the toughest challenges facing businesses of all sizes across nearly every industry is building a monetization engine for a new generation of on-demand services which are displacing traditional products," stated Jeffrey M. Kaplan, the founder of the SaaS Showplace which is now a part of the new Cloud Computing Showplace, and Managing Director of THINKstrategies, the strategic consulting firm which conceived and administers the Showplace. "Zuora offers a cloud-based billing platform that helps businesses successfully sell and manage subscription services."

For more information about the rules for applying for a BoSS Award or to find a list of previous winners of the BoSS Awards, go to http://www.cloudshowplace.com/awardprograms/boss.html.

Based on the success of the BoSS Awards program which focuses on SaaS solutions, THINKstrategies has launched the Cloud Computing Business Value (CCBV) Awards program to recognize companies which are delivering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions producing measurable business benefits for their customers. For more information regarding the CCBV Awards, see http://www.cloudshowplace.com/awardprograms/ccbv.php.

About the SaaS and Cloud Computing Showplace

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Showplace is a part of the newly expanded Cloud Computing Showplace, the largest, vendor-independent, online directory and best practice resource center of SaaS, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions including Managed Services, founded and administered by THINKstrategies.

This Showplace was established in 2006 to provide,

• Enterprise decision-makers a quick directory of the leading SaaS providers and a convenient source of valuable insight regarding SaaS trends.
• SaaS providers a targeted tool to increase their visibility among enterprise decision-makers, and gain access to key enabling technology suppliers.
• Enabling technology suppliers a specialized platform to increase industry awareness regarding their SaaS solutions.

For more information, go to www.cloudshowplace.com.

About THINKstrategies, Inc.

THINKstrategies, Inc. is the only strategic consulting services company focused entirely on helping its clients capitalize on the unprecedented business opportunities created by the technology industry shift from a product-centric to a services-driven orientation and an 'on-demand' delivery model.

THINKstrategies' mission is to help our clients re-THINK their corporate strategies, and refocus their limited resources to achieve their business objectives. THINKstrategies helps enterprise decision-makers with their sourcing strategies, IT solutions providers with their marketing strategies, and VCs with their investment strategies.

For more information regarding THINKstrategies' unique consulting services, visit www.thinkstrategies.com, or contact us at info@thinkstrategies.com.