Tasos Christidis

One of the many advantages that web applications (SaaS is my favorite kind!) bring is this of mobility. Before web business applications you had to login to some server using several cumbersome technologies like Remote Desktop etc. to gain access to those apps. Then the web came and new robust (and secure I might add) applications came into light. Tapping in your enterprise network and executing several activities was made much easier. Also, you could now utilize a powerful laptop or even work with a device (PC or laptop) that wasn’t yours. Now, this is the 2010’s, where smart phones (and other devices) gain ground but also users are becoming more and more demanding when it comes to their desk-independence and mobility. They need mobile applications that (like the web before) offer more and more functionality, without serious (or any) compromises in security. Also, a large number of people are becoming more dependent on their favorite devices, so BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) ...

In the previous post , I started the discussion of how SaaS vendors can increase their conversion ratios, defined as: [Customers that adopted the product] / [Total Prospects] In this post I shall continue with some more techniques that I have spotted in several products of the global market: Demo account with preloaded data: No matter how good your web site presentation is and how explanatory the product videos are, there is nothing better than giving prospects the opportunity to use the software before they actually buy it. That way, they can see hands-on not what the vendor selected to show them (which are obviously the best parts of their product) but what they are supposed to be doing in their day to day operations. They will have the opportunity to make transactions like they would in real life and actually decide for themselves if this product is better than what they already have or the rest of the competition. Of course, it is crucial that your demo account has access to a...

There is quite a big discussion around how SaaS vendors can increase conversions into their offerings. It goes without saying that any SaaS product must have a strong presence on the internet (temporarily, setting aside other ways of promotion) and so a number of visitors is expected to land on the product page. They will read about the product, go through the brochure etc. But how will they be “intrigued” to take one step forward and actually use the product/service? In this post, I deal with the increase of the conversion rate and not the increase in actual number of hits or visits in the web site. The latter falls in the jurisdiction of marketing experts and SEO’s. The conversion rate , however, is another story: it is about increasing the fraction: [Customers that adopted the product] / [Total Prospects] (Preferably, by increasing the numerator of the fraction instead of decreasing the denominator!) So, what are the specific measures or techniques that a SaaS vend...

The Software as a Service concept (SaaS) has been around for quite some time now. Therefore, we have gathered enough “historical” data to help us discuss short-term future trends. It is possible that some of them are not finally confirmed, since the business is so rapidly changing, but seeing buyers habits and trends, technology advancement and large players strategy, we can support our views with some degree of certainty. SaaS will gain momentum against Infrastructure as a Service or Platform as a Service: A large percentage of buyers of “aaS” are SMB’s which do not wish, afford or intend to commence internal development cycles. Therefore, they are – by definition – out of the IaaS/PaaS targeting. Of course, there are the big players which understand that buying “just” SaaS is not enough because of their complexity, special requirements, customization needs etc. and they turn to IaaS and PaaS. This market segment is not to be ignored. We just think that even if we see IaaS...

In an older post, I explored the impact of SaaS in the Outsourcing business (see here:   SaaS and the outsourcing function ) and the benefits that any outsourcing company and its customers would   enjoy from the adoption of SaaS. In this post I shall explore the benefits that the Cloud computing/SaaS can have in another area: that of the Franchise business. In a Franchising model there is the part of the Franchisor (the company that offers the franchise product) and the franchisee (the companies that reside “below the umbrella” of the franchisor and reach out to the final customer). In any franchise “package” a number of products and services is offered to the franchisee in order to start and maintain a viable business; typically, this includes stock replenishment for the franchisor’s products, training, sales support etc. In some cases, the franchisor also offers the necessary software to run the franchisee business. And this is the issue that we are interested in, tod...