Monday, May 2, 2011

SaaS vs. Traditional Software Demos

What are the challenges of presenting SaaS offerings vs. “traditional” software products?  I’ve been looking into this and note the following three major challenges (at least):

-          Vendors are trying to differentiate SaaS from “traditional” offerings, in spite of messaging that says that the SaaS offerings provide the same functionality as the traditional behind-the-firewall products.  Many of my (vendor) customers note that changing the way they demo has strongly helped SaaS positioning and uptake.

-          Customers are concerned about performance when operating SaaS products over the web.  Demos need to take this rather strongly into account to minimize clicks and other performance-related challenges.

-          Customers more and more expect to see a broad range of devices supported by SaaS product vendors, including “traditional” PC’s and Macs, iPads and smart phones.  New practices are needed to adjust and reframe demos to address this.

Other thoughts?

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