You pay the monthly bill for the walls, the heat, the guy who cuts the grass and patches the roof. In turn, you don't have to fuss with the plumbing or pay the property taxes. You get to put in your own furniture, hang pictures on the walls, and if you're lucky you get to bring your kitty along for company. You can have guests, too, but not for more than 3 consecutive nights, without adding them to the lease.
According to SAAS experts from Compendium, Eloqua, WebTrends and Microsoft, Dynamic CRM, this is how we can understand the new offering of today's software for marketers. Representatives from these organizations presented various perspectives at last week's direct marketing dinner event.
According to those on the presenter's panel, it is all good, and software as a service will save not only Fortune 500 firms looking for a way to streamline costs and get an effective marketing program into place without hiring more humans, but the smaller companies should be able to take just as much advantage in this new market. Some claim the smaller organizations will benefit even more because the barriers to entry are lower. We no longer need an entire IT staff of 20 to support a CRM program for a sales staff of 7. Email campaigns can be sent out with an expert eye, even when that is not your primary business. Your blog can be monitored day and night, while you're sipping wine with other internet marketing experts.
A few words to the wise. If the product you are evaluating promises to cook dinner and do the dishes too, here are a few things to look out for when evaluating SAAS for your marketing organization:
-Get references! Some providers are off shore start-ups, and if the service goes soft, they can disappear in the middle of the night with your data.
-Pick the right person for the job. If you don't have someone on staff who is qualified to implement a new software project for your organization, and a process to follow, you may need to hire a consultant to help you through the process.
-This is competitive. Make sure the vendor is providing more value to your organization, not just a product. Doesn't matter how good the icons look on your iMac if you'll never use the program.
-Can't we all just get along? Make sure that when combining platforms, they all work together. Put it into your contract that you can ditch the service if it doesn't work with other systems you already operate.
In addition to being an apartment, I also learned that SAAS is shampoo. We don't know what's in it, but we use it everyday and it makes our hair shiny and fair smelling. And, I also learned that in the future, we will all participate in some way with SAAS while conducting our marketing business. I guess I'll keep my eye out for a sunny little rental to invest in.
