1. Strong Executive Commitment
2. Measurable Project Goals (ROI)
3. Clear Customer Focus
4. Incremental Approach
5. Business Process, Not Technology, Focused
6. Build the Right Team
7. Incentives Match Customer Goals
8. Treat Different Customers Differently
9. Build In and Monitor Success Metrics
10. Do Not Under-Staff the Rollout
Whether your goal is to keep closer tabs on sales representatives or better cater to high-maintenance customers, there’s no discounting the perks presented by an SFA solution. Here are just a handful of benefits companies can expect:
Improved Collaboration: Say goodbye to communication gaps; with SFA, sales teams, managers and other departments can easily swap up-to-the-minute sales data, from price lists to product specifications.
Bolstered Field Sales: By ensuring anywhere, anytime access to data, including client account information, inventory availability and delivery schedules, road warriors are better equipped to respond to customers’ questions, concerns and special requests.
Enhanced Sales Productivity: Improve efficiency and drive revenue by better managing and targeting leads. What’s more, identify leads that may have otherwise fallen through the cracks.
Detailed Reports: Collecting and integrating data is only the first step to improving the sales pipeline. Analyze revenue, forecast opportunities, rate sales-campaign effectiveness and track each sales rep’s success using an SFA solution’s reporting capabilities.
Empowered Sales Managers: Allow sales managers to carefully track their sales force’s activities; identifying areas of weakness, lost opportunities and underserved territories, managers can better coach and bolster individual sales performance.
More Opportunities: Get a leg up on your archrival. With SFA, you can track the competition on pending deals and strategically highlight competitive trends, as well as looming threats.
Educated Partners: Don’t leave your channel partners to fend for them. Instead, automate your partner recruitment, training and planning processes to build more mutually beneficial relationships.
Better Managed Territories: Having your Dubai-based reps manage Qatar based clients is an exercise in geographic mismanagement. An effective SFA solution, however, can automatically route leads to the right sales reps based on territory.
A mid-sized or large-sized firm considering SaaS to replace or supplement on-premise vendor software should take caution to ensure that the SaaS solution under consideration is the most appropriate one. And, in order to ensure getting the same quality you expect from on premise software, firms should evaluate SaaS solutions. This article discusses the key criteria’s for evaluation of SaaS Solutions, along with guidance regarding what makes a “good” SaaS solution:
SaaS Solution Functionality
The convenience of having the SaaS business solution accessible “in the cloud,” by using a browser, does not eliminate, or substitute, for the need to define functional requirements in advance and compare them to the various SaaS offerings in the domain. If the SaaS solution will be a niche function, such as Travel Expense, is sure to include the functionality required by adjacent functions that may need to share the data or ensure it complies with corporate or regulatory standards. The finance department, human resources, marketing and sales departments may all have particular, related, functional requirements that should be considered.
Conversely, if the SaaS solution should be an Integrated Business Suite that serves all or many parts of the business, be sure to consider requirements from all departments that may be touched, however indirectly, by the SaaS solution. Should the best available SaaS solution lack some critical function, and no alternative presents itself, you may want to look closely at customization and enhancement capabilities or consider engaging a SaaS system integrator to augment or develop the required functionality.
SaaS Solution Pricing Terms and Conditions
Executives evaluating any SaaS solution should look beyond the typical, vendor provided business cost and value metrics (for example, “per user, per month”). Consider the storage charges and service and support levels that you may need to select in the context of your current and future business operations. Will your SaaS solution pricing sustain its value as you execute your plans for business growth or change? Or will moving to another pricing tier undermine the financial value of the proposed SaaS solution?
While SaaS pricing is usually far simpler than vendor software pricing, there is often a dizzying array of options and pricing tiers, sometimes with functional differences, that should be considered. Sometimes, too, multi-year commitments will be heavily discounted. Consider annual costs for the appropriate SaaS solution, and also the bundling choices, upgrade paths, and SaaS solution roadmaps. You want to make a commitment that will grow along with your business, not inhibit that growth.
The availability (uptime) maintained by the SaaS provider
Carefully evaluate the data center competencies of SaaS solution providers, including services and platform partners. Some SaaS providers offer online access to their uptime records. An increasing number of SaaS providers are promising 99.5% availability, but some very well-known SaaS vendors don’t offer any kind of service guarantees. Ask the SaaS provider for data that demonstrates the consistency of uptime over the past several years. If there were outages, listen carefully to the explanations. You need to know what you can expect from the SaaS provider, especially if your business requires consistent availability and your customers will expect it.
The system response times maintained by the SaaS provider
In addition to uptime, mid and large-sized enterprises considering SaaS should carefully evaluate system response time to ensure that the service levels match their needs and expectations. A system may be highly available, but not sufficiently responsive. Most SaaS solutions do provide consistent sub-second response time. You should feel free to ask the SaaS provider to demonstrate a history of consistent sub-second response time, if your business depends upon it. You are outsourcing not only the application functionality, but also a piece of your data center. You need to ensure the SaaS provider will equal or excel your own data center’s production quality.
The SaaS provider’s accountability for quality of serviceThe Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) has published recommendations on how SLAs should be crafted to unmistakably enforce quality of service. The SIAA urged that any SLA should establish base monitoring performance levels, credits for non-performance and define how, and how soon, chronic problems will be resolved. More specifically, the SIAA held that the SLA should identify what is being measured and how it is being measured, as well as the number of times an incident may occur before being considered as chronic. Ultimately, quality of service is nothing more than the user’s experience. And SLAs are nothing more than insurance policies. Metrics are descriptive and a way to approximate the user’s experience. They are also useful for correcting problems. Is there a guaranteed service level agreement (SLA) that the SaaS provider stands behind? There may be credit policy that offers pricing relief should system performance not match its promised service levels. The best practice for quality of service among leading SaaS providers includes website posting of live data on system performance, current information on planned maintenance activities that may impact performance, and historical data on transaction volumes and response time. When evaluating any SaaS solution, executives should carefully consider any quality-of-service guarantees proposed or issued by the relevant SaaS providers.
The SaaS solution’s security and privacy
Security and privacy concerns weigh heavily on the minds of most executives of smaller and mid-sized firms when it comes to considering and implementing SaaS solutions, and in fact have prevented many smaller firms from using SaaS at all. Yet today most SaaS providers have ISO27001 audit certification, ensuring that the provider has demonstrated controls are in place and acceptable adherence to those controls has been attained. Moreover, the technical safeguards of SaaS providers are state-of-the-art, and will exceed the requirements of subscribing firms, regardless of their size. Of course, anyone considering SaaS solutions must look closely at providers’ security and privacy services, and ask specifically about ISO27001 audit certification, which should be documented in the SLA.
The SaaS solution’s backup and recovery capability
Backup and recovery is one capability that is essential to mid to large-sized enterprises. If it is to trust its data to a SaaS solution “in the cloud,” what happens when something goes wrong? Does the SaaS provider, or its hosting partner, manage a hot backup site -- and mirror every transaction with a few seconds delay? Backup and recovery is something that doesn’t matter at all until it matters entirely too much. No evaluation of a SaaS solution should be complete without a careful examination of the SaaS provider’s backup and recovery capability.
The SaaS solution’s customization and personalization capabilities
While the first wave of SaaS solutions lacked the capability to customize and personalize, the current generation of SaaS allows customized user interface “look and feel,” additions or changes to the business logic, and custom data structures, as well. Today, even the smallest firms can ensure their SaaS solutions appear and behave appropriately. Many, but not all, of the current wave of SaaS providers also support Web 2.0- style personalization capabilities. The tools to support customization and personalization range from technical programmer tools to point-and-click tools that are easy to use. If customization or personalization will be important to your firm, be sure to determine whether a SaaS system integrator or other technical expert will be required.
The SaaS solution’s integration capabilities
The key to integrating SaaS solutions with on-premise software applications is a Web Services API. SaaS providers have for the most part developed their software in compliance with service orientation and utilizing Web Services standards. This makes integration relatively straightforward, although executives must always plan for conditions and needs specific to their firm. Ask any SaaS solution provider specifically about whether its offerings include a Web Services API to enable integration with on-premise software. The likely answer is, “Yes.” But it definitely is a question that needs to be asked.
The SaaS solution’s workflow capabilities
Workflow capabilities of SaaS providers are still evolving. Executives in smaller and mid-sized firms vendor would be well advised to ask whether workflow can be customized and how flexible it is, whether additional workflow can be integrated, and what the longer-term plans for workflow in the SaaS solution are. It is always possible to redefine a business process in terms of how the business solution supports it, but there is good reason for requiring it be able to adapt to changing business needs. Flexibility in workflow is essential to being able to redesign a business process for greater efficiency or value. As SaaS workflow capabilities continue to evolve, we expect to see far greater flexibility, customization, personalization and integration than exists today. However, it is essential to understand what the limitations and capabilities of the SaaS solution’s workflow are at present and how the SaaS provider plans it to evolve.
The capability to access and analyze SaaS data for business purposes
Any executive of any business of any size considering a SaaS solution cannot overlook the importance of ad hoc data analysis. SaaS solutions may be designed for limited inquiry and a few canned reports, for openness SQL-based queries or a flexible report writer, or with an open interface to permit SaaS business intelligence tools to interrogate the data. What matters most are the requirements of your business? If extensive inquiry is required and especially data “slicing-and dicing,” then (in addition to any built-in capabilities) the more flexible and open the SaaS solution is the better. The most advanced SaaS solutions encourage and support drop-in, third-party, data analysis capability enabled by a Web Services API.
The SaaS provider’s responsiveness to support requests
Because smaller firms tend to depend so greatly on IT providers, executives evaluating SaaS solutions and providers should make it an important priority to evaluate very provider’s responsiveness to support requests. Learn as much as possible about how support requests are submitted, evaluated, and acted upon, and in what time frame. Transparency in the support process is a feature to be prized. Is there a hotline, call center, or contact center with an open-for-business mentality? Or an SLA for support requests? Remember, SaaS providers need to create “stickiness” - they need to have effective means of maintaining customer relationships beyond what traditional vendors often use. Support responsiveness is an important factor in creating and maintaining their relationships with customers.
The SaaS provider’s responsiveness to requested enhancements and changes
Similarly, another major difference between SaaS and on-premise software vendors is their responsiveness to requests for functional enhancements. While an on-premise software vendor may manage a user group that prioritizes and promotes enhancements, leading SaaS providers openly solicit suggested improvements from their customers on-line, in the SaaS solution itself via a suggestion box. These suggestions then drive the new release process. Executives evaluating solutions and providers should ask how enhancement requests are handled, from submission to making their way through the approval and implementation process. And also ask just how much influence smaller-sized firms have on the provider’s solution development and enhancement processes.
The ability to network or participate in a community of SaaS solution users
Unlike the software user group, the community of SaaS solution users meets and exchanges viewpoints and experiences in a multiple continuous threads: exchanging best practices, posting questions and receiving responses, submitting ideas that become part of the product roadmap. That is the goal, although many SaaS providers do attain it. Executives within small and mid-sized firms are advised to weigh any community requirement heavily, as it is another hallmark of the intimacy that characterizes the SaaS solution. Community voices are heard when SaaS providers value customer retention and subscription renewal.
Conclusion: SaaS Works for Firms of All Sizes
SaaS delivers solutions for businesses of all sizes and types. The business value of SaaS varies from solution to solution, and from provider to provider. How to determine where, when, and from whom the best value can be delivered is up to the business owners and managers. The “trick” is in knowing what questions to ask—and what the answers are telling you. And over time, these questions and criteria, adapted to your situations, and leavened by your experience, will enable you to develop and manage an effective and repeatable SaaS management strategy and plan.
1. Set Expectations: Define the Project
2. Get Organized: Create the Project Plan
3. Start at the Top: Gain Executive Support
4. The Best Teams Deliver Best Results: Project Team Management
5. Prepare for the Inevitable: Risk Management
6. Stick to the Plan: Scope Management
7. Deliver on the Plan: Quality Assurance
8. Spread the News: Communicate Early and Often
9. Gain User Acceptance: Change Management
10. Quantify Results: Measure Project Success
LiveRoute's ERP and CRM will reside in the cloud, removing complexity from installation, deployment and maintenance.
By MOLOUK Y. BA-ISA I ARAB NEWS
Published: May 19, 2010 20:29 Updated: May 19, 2010 20:29
LiveRoute, based in Dubai, is the Middle East’s first local company dedicated to providing Software as a Service (SaaS) to businesses in the region.
Gartner, Inc. predicts global SaaS spending will hit $14 billion by 2013, but as of yet most businesses in the Middle East have yet to take advantage of the SaaS model. With SaaS, software is licensed to a business to be used on demand over the Internet. Under the SaaS model, vendors develop, host and operate software for customer use. In many parts of the world, SaaS is used for tasks such as billing, human resource management and sales force automation. LiveRoute (www.liveroute.net) has launched its SaaS portfolio in partnership with Aplicor Inc. in order to offer Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to Middle East businesses.
Jawwad Rehman, MD and partner at LiveRoute, advised that the economic uncertainties of the past two years have spurred Middle East companies to consider technology, such as ERP and CRM, to help create efficiencies and identify opportunities for growth.
“Unfortunately,” he explained, “ERP and CRM remain relatively complex, high cost and very high in maintenance for mid and large size organizations. LiveRoute was established to address those needs as its core competency in order to make things simple, straightforward and affordable for companies to utilize ERP and CRM through the Software as a Service model.”
According to existing market data, LiveRoute expects that the average enterprise can save up to 70 percent of initial costs if it opts for Aplicor’s SaaS EPR & CRM applications instead of the traditional on-site model. Over a five year period, business will still save up to 46 percent in costs by going with Aplicor’s Applications.
“The people who are behind LiveRoute and running LiveRoute at the executive level are extremely aware of the technology shortcomings of this region, as well as the opportunities,” said Rehman. “LiveRoute’s executives have had strong careers with some of the very large names in the IT industry and the region. We know our customers and we definitely have good insight about what’s going on locally. We also obviously are aware of the major trends. Software as a Service is not something that just popped up last week or last year, but since the economic crisis began people are actively looking for business solutions that bring cost benefits.”
LiveRoute is targeting three types of companies as adopters of CRM and ERP under the SaaS model. There are many companies in the region which have never used CRM or ERP because it was far too expensive for them to consider, when implemented in the traditional manner. There are also a good number of companies who couldn’t afford the international big names in ERP and CRM, so they developed solutions in-house, but these are generally inadequate. Finally there are the companies who spent a fortune on ERP and CRM, and continue, with regret, to spend a fortune in licenses, maintenance, upgrades, hardware and training.
“Our ERP and CRM SaaS solutions are international enterprise quality offerings, but our solutions come with very low capital expenditure requirements. There’s no data center required so hardware costs are low. Because they’re accessed over the Internet, the solutions are globally accessible – not just within a company’s four walls. Last but not least, we take away the burdens of maintenance, availability, scalability and configuration in regards to these solutions so that companies can focus on the business requirements, not the technology.
LiveRoute’s business plan for operating in the Kingdom includes building channel partnerships with multiple existing companies who are already providing system integration to Saudi organizations. Plus, Reham expects to continue to be personally engaged with Saudi companies, creating awareness for the benefits of SaaS.
“There is tremendous interest in our offering and over the last two months we have been in talks with more than 50 organizations in Saudi Arabia,” he commented. “They are very excited because traditional ERP and CRM solutions can take six to eight months to deploy. With our SaaS model, the time to have the solutions up and utilized effectively is just six to eight weeks. Our offering could be a game changer for many Saudi companies.”
Arab News Article of LiveRoute.bmp (1.92 mb)
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