ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOG
for vendors happening in a monthly
subscription period, SaaS vendors are
inclined to transfer channel commission
at the same periodicity. With all these
facts, about 50 per cent of SaaS revenue is
generated via VARs and SIs. This trend is
going to stay or even grow, mainly because
of the opportunities for VARs, who are
ready to learn and implement.”
Challenges in SaaS adoption
However, there are challenges to be
overcome in the SaaS world, including
the perception that data may not be safe
because it’s stored by the software hosting
company. “In terms of the consequences,
the hesitation from businesses largely
comes from the fear of losing control of
the system in terms of breakdown on the
part of the third-party service provider,”
says Vijay Jaswal at Software AG. “This
insecurity extends to data protection over
business processes, including multiple
access to the SaaS subscription model that
could fall into the wrong hands. Guaranteed
accessibility is also a concern, which means
a SaaS provider has to possess a certain
uptime reputation to gain customer trust.
Another issue with data protection under
SaaS is that the responsibility to fulfil
regulations on privacy of information
rests solely on the business, which
means SaaS providers may not be legally
held responsible when any breach of
information is committed. In addition,
subscribers may also get tied up to the SaaS
provider as the service may not offer the
option of data mobility, where it can easily
be transferred to another SaaS system
if required. At present, most problems
businesses face is how to better integrate
multiple SaaS solutions smoothly.”
Ambarish Gupta at Knowlarity,
observes: “Retention is one of the biggest
disadvantages of SaaS. Unlike software of
the past where the licences were lifetime,
five years or for a year at least, SaaS
products give granularity of monthly
[payments] and some take it a step further
and charge purely for what you use. This,
being one of the biggest promises of SaaS,
also makes it the most challenging from
the perspective of retention. For highly
competitive segments like CRM, ticketing
systems and marketing automation,
there are a lot more competitors offering
seemingly similar products or services
with easy to migrate options. Low entry
costs, which help users onboard quickly
to SaaS, coupled with low switching costs,
can put a lot of pressure on retaining them.
This is where SaaS products try and build
product differentiation, customer centric
UX and high-quality support and, above
I am a strong
believer of ‘think
big, build small
and scale fast’.
Ambarish Gupta, Founder
& CEO of Knowlarity.
all, solve the customer’s problem. One key
trend evolving is customer success teams
within B2B SaaS companies, who believe in
helping a customer’s business grow which
will, in turn, result in the success of their
product. This involves much more than
help and guidance; they go to the extent of
recommending and configuring compatible
and complementing products, apart from
their core offering. Some products offer
value-added solution services either via
in-house or via partners. In a way, this is
actually creating more opportunities.”
Opportunity knocks
Vijay Jaswal, CTO – Middle East & Turkey at Software AG.
Vijay Jaswal at Software AG says: “The
complexity of SaaS applications should
be seen by channel partners as a huge
opportunity to provide a whole new service
offering for providers as most of those who
adopt additional SaaS applications often
require re-engineering an entire system.
This challenge can be overcome by the fact
that most SaaS applications were designed
to be easy and simple. Other revenue
opportunities that can benefit the channel
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