SaaS Applications

The adoption of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model is changing the relationship between producer and consumer, and evolving into a new norm. The relationship between the customer and producer (ISV or internal provider) in the SaaS world is different. Producers must shift their focus to software quality assurance and customer experience because:

• With SaaS, customers pay each month (most SaaS are monthly subscriptions). If they aren’t happy they can and will switch quickly as they have many options, all a Google Search away.
• In today’s connected word (internet forums, social media, etc.), bad news spreads fast. One dissatisfied and vocal customer can do significant damage.
• Saas providers may not have as strong a personal relationship with their subscribers. Sometimes, subscribers are able to simply register over the internet to establish service, with much less personal interaction with an account team. Once they are unhappy, the producer may not have that strong personal relationship on which to fall back fall to save them.
• All customers use the same centrally deployed application (i.e. cloud). One small quality issue will impact all of them, and could result in customer flight and impact to market perception.