Posts Tagged ‘Product Management’

For the past few days I’ve been watching a discussion over what SaaS (Software as a Service) is. The interactions seem to have broken down into two main camps.

On one side, there are those who feel SaaS is defined by it’s technology platform, particularly whether it is single or multi-tenancy*. If you’re not using a multitenancy* platform, you can’t be profitable and you’ll fail. Period.

Just because a service provider does not have MT does not doom them to failure. If you have a very large scale customer, particularly in relation to the rest of your customer base, it may make sense to stand up a separate environment just for them.

The discussions have reminded me, a lot, of the old UNIX versus Windows diatribes 15 years ago. They were something along the lines of: Only UNIX for ‘real’ work; Windows for the ‘little people.’

If another major customer came along that might represent a 30% revenue bump, it just might make sense standing up yet another MT as ST instance for them as well. Is my business doomed? No. Very happy actually. Whichever path chosen, it would be economically driven.

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We are still early in SaaS’ (Software as a Service) life cycle.  It is not uncommon to come across open discussions as to the value of SaaS verses desktop offerings.  Recently I happened across one such discussion from the perspective of a developer.  Should they build new product/service offerings in SaaS and abandon desktop, client-side installations?

There are a number of myths that often come up in these discussions.  Many are simply the result of people ‘wanting’ SaaS, the next new thing, to be more than it really is…too soon.

Consider:

Myth:  “There are no up-front costs.”

Unless yours is a new business with no existing processes in place, you -will- have noticeable (direct and/or indirect) upfront costs when adopting new solutions, whether conventional or SaaS. At the most basic, there are real costs in converting your business (data migration, customization, staff training, …) from a legacy process to a new one. The larger your enterprise, the more integral your offering will be to the customer, the more likely there -will- be upfront costs.

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Odds are, if you are a small to medium business (SMB), you have considered using a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider.  A SaaS provider can let you do things like offload the burden of non-core (but essential) functions like email, workflows, and CRM.

When evaluating SaaS vendors, it is important to look beyond their solution offerings, beyond ‘features and benefits,’ and at the vendor itself.

Building on an earlier article (Selecting a Vendor—Things to Consider), there are some additional things to consider:

Financial

Regardless of a firm’s size, employing a SaaS provider is not without up-front costs. It can range from customization (e.g. workflows) to simple opportunity-costs involving staff retooling. You want to be sure you’ve not just spent a large % of your budget only to have the vendor abruptly close their doors (giving you a glorious opportunity to explain why you were caught off-guard).

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Two thumbtacks and a piece of string are all you need to do basic planning.

On a regular basis, I have the opportunity to speak with new entrepreneurs thinking of starting their own businesses.  One of my key topics is how to successfully evolve an ‘idea’ into an actual deliverable, regardless of whether it is a tangible product or a service.

A basic product plan needs to clearly define your offering:

• What must it do?
• How must it do it?
• Where is it done?
• When is it done?
• Why?

Just as important, arguably more so, is what it is not:

• What must it not do (if only for now)?
• How should it not be done?
• Why not?

How you will get there:

• What resources are needed?
• How long will it take?

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Ann Arbor SPARK hosts a monthly series, Starting Your Own New Business. The day-long seminar includes presenters on finance, accounting, marketing, product development, and other topics related to launching one’s own business. Below, is the high-level presentation for Friday, March 19, 2010.

This high-level presentation discusses:

• Do you have what it takes…to be an entrepreneur
• Key topics important for successfully moving the Idea for a product, through development, and ensuring it survives to reach fruition.

Monday night I had the opportunity to attend an Agile Groupies meeting.  It’s a semi-regular gathering of folks (developers, business analysts, product managers, etc.) interested in a specific approach, Agile, toward software development.

For those of you not familiar, Agile development focuses on smaller development teams, working on smaller deliverables, in highly iterative, somewhat less structured approach.  Part of the thinking is that if you are delivering in smaller, more discrete ‘chunks’ of working product, that the overall process will be more ‘agile,’ more adaptive to ongoing change during a product’s overall life cycle. The idea is to move away from ‘heavy’ less flexible disciplines, and back toward lighter, freer, approaches. Read the rest of this entry »

Came across an interesting HBR post by Anthony Tjan today, “The Pros and Cons of Bundled Pricing.” If you don’t have time to read it, Tjan discusses the respective benefits for customers and vendors, depending on which side of the fence the reader is on.

Personally, I enjoyed reading the post having sat on both sides of the fence as purchaser and provider of services, sometimes at the same time. It is a difficult dichotomy to balance especially if you are trying to negotiate for win-win relationships.

One thing I learned early on in my career is (when providing a ‘solution’) to

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Ann Arbor SPARK hosts a monthly series, Starting Your Own New Business. The day-long seminar includes presenters on finance, accounting, marketing, product development, and other topics related to launching one’s own business. Below, is the high-level presentation delivered Friday, February 19, 2010.

This high-level presentation discusses what are perhaps the most key topics important for successfully moving the Idea for a product, through development, and ensuring it survives to reach fruition.  The target audience is new entrepreneurs considering business for themselves.

This paraphrases the situation a friend of mine, selling a sophisticated yet simple product, frequently encounters.  The fact the company he’s selling for can’t get past the objection reflects an indifference to customer sensitivity.  A lack of customer-centricity.

The question today is how to compete moving forward.  If you’re in a market like the U.S., Western Europe, or Japan, you face a mature slower-growing economic environment—current economic challenges notwithstanding.  Using the automotive industry as an example, growth of 20, 30% annually is considered good.  In North America, 2-3% is considered good.

So if your market is mature and you can’t count on a rising tide to float all boats, how do you prosper?

The days of competing primarily on product and price, particularly for commodity-oriented offerings, are dwindling.  If you’re selling a car, there are numerous ‘family sedans’ with almost identical feature sets, for nearly identical prices.

This suggests a new way of competing must become prevalent.

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Ann Arbor SPARK hosts a monthly series,  Starting Your Own New Business.  The day-long seminar includes presenters on finance, accounting, marketing, product development, and other topics related to launching one’s own business.

Below, is the high-level presentation I’m giving today.  The focus is on moving the Idea for a product, through development, and ensuring it survives to reach fruition.