Helping ISVs embrace the new SaaS world

Software as a Service (SaaS) is fast becoming the principal way we consume software. According to IDC (1): “SaaS and cloud-based modular and intelligent applications are no longer ‘nice to have,’ but are instead essential for business.”

Because of its on-demand subscription-based model, SaaS products are a lot more accessible, easier to maintain and help avoid complex licensing agreements. For ISVs, the SaaS model offers huge potential. Not only does SaaS help ISVs grow revenue and benefit from more predictable and stable recurring revenue, but it also helps software vendors to make better use of valuable internal resources.

Agility and innovation

With SaaS, the ISV is freed from the restrictions of on-premises setups, and can achieve greater agility in the cloud and can more rapidly react to market trends and customer needs. Innovation is accelerated as well, enabling much faster product development and shorter product release cycles. Plus, the scalability and global reach of the cloud means it’s much easier to accommodate new customers, open up new market segments and broaden geographical reach.

SaaS modernisation can be a major endeavour with a range of new disciplines to master. Areas that may need to change include business strategy, internal processes, and sales and marketing. There are also all the technical considerations of choosing the right cloud technology to match the ISV’s specific needs. Because of the multiple factors involved in becoming a cloud-native business, careful planning is required. That’s why we created our Envision and Discovery advisory, to help ISVs at all levels of their journey to SaaS—from those just starting out to those that need to optimise their existing products. This helps any ISV to ensure that transformation equals success.

These focused advisory sessions are all tailored to each ISV’s business and level of readiness. The process begins with the three-hour Envision session, the first phase. This gives all business stakeholders a common understanding of what a SaaS transformation means, covers all questions and concerns and considers any transformation drivers and blockers. Envision also looks at the concept of continuous innovation, new sales models, cost optimisation opportunities, how data can be used to drive decision making and all technical considerations.

Outlining a vision for SaaS

The first four phases of the Discovery advisory take a deeper dive into these areas and involve key stakeholders from across the ISV organisation in focussed interactive sessions. These help with the development of new business strategies to accommodate the new SaaS product. Then we work with the ISV client to identify the SaaS product vision that reflects customer needs to inform the development of new functionalities and features. We also look at the required changes to internal processes to support release cycles and customer touchpoints. SoftwareOne’s cloud experts use all this information to prepare a proposed technical architecture for modernisation and optimisation, guided by cloud best-practice. We also examine the best ways to achieve go-to-market success, once modernisation is complete.

During these advisory sessions, we gather as much data as possible about the ISV client from all its stakeholders—from business to finance to marketing and technical teams—so that we can identify any gaps and create a detailed SaaS roadmap. Everything is documented to ensure that the modernisation process supports the business.