What is the SaaS Support Model? is a question that brings visitors from around the world to The HotLine Magazine every day. There are several variations seen in the search strings:
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A complete answer to the question must address several…
What's the difference between a short-term policy and a long-term strategy? All too often, it's the difference between some limited revenues and sustainable profitability. Folklore has a very apt phrase for it: “Penny-wise, pound foolish.” In more corporate terminology, “The exclusive focus on immediate gains may put long range profits at risk.” In an era where companies constantly talk of the need for 360-degree views of the customer, Customer Relationship Management and of the importance of customer retention, why is it so easy to find myriads of examples wherein valuable customer relationships are mismanaged and lost?
Success in the SaaS/Cloud ecosystem requires a new approach to every aspect of software manufacturing. There is no excess margin in the SaaS model to cover organizational inefficiencies. Support can no longer be seen as a separate function; it necessarily must be a core aspect of the relationship product.
In the traditional perpetual-license model of selling software, the manufacturer takes the majority of their profit up front from the sale of the licenses. In the Software As A Service subscription model, that large up-front influx of revenue and profit goes away, replaced by a more predictable monthly membership arrangement. SaaS profit is realized incrementally instead of all at once.…