SaaS Software BasicsWhat does your business need?

Presented byGreg Robin

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The Appeal of Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Categories of SaaS AppsSaaS can mean many things to many people. For purposes of this presentation, we look at three different SaaS models.

1. Single purpose SaaS

• In areas like file collaboration, projects, HR, CRM, ERP - apps tend to be singularly focused around a function

• App customization tends to be limited, except for other SaaS vendors who may have built specific integrated solutions

2. App building SaaS platforms

• Force.com, QuickBase and Zoho Creator impose no pre-configured schema that you need to build-to or work with

• These platforms provide the greatest customization capabilities but also require app development skills

3. Hybrid SaaS app/platforms

• Salesforce.com and Zoho CRM are good hybrid examples due to their extensive CRM capabilities that can be both adapted and extended, in complex ways

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Evolution of SaaS AppsP

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App Universe We Work In

App Building

CRM

eCommerce

ERP/Financial

HR

Teamwork

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4 Critical Questions You Should be Asking

•Given your business requirements, are you looking for a category app, an app platform or a hybrid?

•What are your “absolutes” vs. the nice-to-haves with regard to selecting a vendor (given requirements)?

•What do you need to integrate? Are there existing vendors who have existing solutions?

•Make sure that internal resource cost and team training are part of your cost of ownership analysis.

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What are your Business Requirements?

Does your organization suffer from?

Inconsistencies in data (multiple versions of the truth)

Mismanaged projects & costs

Inefficient customer care and support

Lack of team alignment

Accurate time tracking and billing

Would you like to enable?

Shortened and better coordinated sales cycles

Better understanding of expenditures

Easy viewing of your organization’s key performance indicators (KPIs)

Improved data and version collaboration –e.g., getting teams “on the same page”

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Vendor Selection “Best Practices”

•Criteria to consider (re: Vendor)

• Breadth & quality of features, at each license level

• Cost vs. Value

• Configure vs Customize, what is possible?

• Platform integration capabilities

• Viability of vendor business

•Criteria to consider (re: your Organization)

Budget (are you willing to pay more to get more?)

Will your Org conform to fit a solution or do you need more flexibility?

Are you transitioning from an existing system or is this a new system?

Be honest -- how technical adept is your team to own the solution?

Develop an ongoing feature roadmap for adopting the solution

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Vendor Selection Thoughts (cont.)

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Org Adoption “Best Practices”

•Rolling it out

• Identify roles

• Use cases

• Systems to integrate with

• Training

• Software System

• Business Systems

• Support

• Documentation (Embedded Help (in App), FAQs, videos, etc…)

•Ownership across Org

Assign an exec sponsor, a domain expert and a system owner

Incentivize ($$$/Culture) & Measure Usage

Elicit user feedback & recommendations

Utilize an ongoing feature roadmap

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About Us

Productivity Advisors is a software consultancy

that advises both small and large companies on

how to select, design and deploy web-based

apps for their businesses.

Our Goal: Collaborative Productivity. Fostering a

greater level of effectiveness in our Client’s firms

through the adoption of web-based apps.

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Discover

• Understand your business story and processes

• Review business requirements

• Understand data currently being used (systems, reports, forms)

• Is there legacy data, systems or processes to consider?

Design

• Can an existing solution be configured or customized?

• Data: fields, field types, relationships, data entry/loading and reports

• Business layer: calculations, use cases, workflows and alerts

• User base: profiles, roles and security

Develop

• Prototype

• Review with Stakeholders

• Get Feedback from User Community

• Iterate & Repeat…

• Test throughout

• Migrate legacy data

Deliver

• Stakeholder acceptance

• Train team (or trainers)

• Document

• Understand maintenance and support needs

• Drive organization adoption

Our Methodology for Delivering Solutions

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Reference Links

Greg Robin, Founder & Principal

Productivity Advisors

email: greg@productivityadvisors.com

phone: 415.935.1776

web: http://prodadv.com

blog: http://gregrobin.com

linkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/gnrobin

youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/productivityadvisors

twitter: 4productivity