The Hotline Magazine
The Redefinition of Customer Support
The SaaS & Success Project

Thursday September 9, 2010




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The SaaS & Support Project Research

As the Software As A Service business model continues its rapid advance, the inherent changes for both vendor and customer are both substantial and significant.  But once again, Customer Support is in danger of getting shoved to a back burner.  I’m sure you’ve heard the usual statements of “strategies:”  “SaaS doesn’t need Support, it’s included in the subscription.” “We’re going to do it all via web self-service.”  “The social networking community will take care of it for us.”  And, of course,

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SaaS, Success and Counting

“How many SaaS companies are there?”  At the recent On Demand conference in San Jose, I asked several key members of the SaaS community this seemingly simple question.  “Around 2,500,” one said. “Most of whom you’ve never heard of because they’re too small to attract much notice.”  Other estimates I’ve heard  in the past few weeks give the current number of SaaS players at 1,600  to 2,000.  More companies are entering the SaaS ecosystem every day, as existing software manufacturers create on dem

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SaaS & the Contact Center Technology Market

The accelerating shift to the Software As A Service/Cloud distribution model inevitably brings the end of large dedicated Sales teams for software vendors.  The new profits-realization methodology, being based on incremental gains from many income streams rather than from bulk up-front events, does not allow for the costs of large direct sales forces.  It also doesn’t allow paying for large customer support staffing levels either -- a fact which has vital significance to two different groups.  T

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The Contact Center Management Technology Research Project

It's time for a change, for something new. Currently, there are at least 70 manufacturers of what might be called Case Management Systems for customer contact centers. The function of a CMS product is to capture and track the details of a customer interaction with the company, to record the specifics of a request or problem and to help the support or service rep find a satisfactory resolution. Obviously, a good CMS resource is key part of the standard contact center technology suite, a requireme

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The SaaS & Support Project in 2010

Almost five years ago, Bill Gates warned Microsoft about the significant challenge to the company and industry posed by the advent of SaaS.  While the new business model has yet to fully reach the gains predicted for it back then, the momentum is building.  An ever-accelerating number of traditional perpetual-license software companies are readying SaaS products or have already quietly released them.  In the process, a lot has been learned about the magnitude of the change that is SaaS.  As comp

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By Mikael Blaisdell

SW redLogo 300px SaaS & Professional ChangeAwareness of the fundamental changes driven by the shift to SaaS to the profession and practice of Customer Support, both to external Support and internal IT Help Desks, is growing.  The Help Desk Institute has asked me to write a two-part series on the subject for their SupportWorld magazine, drawing on the continuing research of The SaaS & Support Project ™.  The first article, on “SaaS, Cloud Computing and The Redefinition of Customer Support,” explores the changes to Support when a company transitions its business application products from the traditional model to SaaS.  The second, on “Moving to The Cloud: Transitioning Your Support Technology Suite” will also talk to both external and internal Support professionals, and will cover the process of transitioning a case-management system or other element of a standard support technology suite from an on-premised product to a SaaS solution.  Additional input for both these articles is welcome, from managers, individual professionals and support technology manufacturers.

The Accelerating Process of Change

TSSP print 300x150 SaaS & Professional ChangeI’ve been writing about the effects of SaaS on Support for several years now, examining both the driving forces and specific pressure points in articles here on The HotLine Magazine and elsewhere.  The SaaS & Support Project, which formally began last year with an in-depth online survey and focused follow-up research, has revealed a number of serious issues that ought to be of concern to senior management teams and support professionals alike.  (Information about the results of that 2009 research may be found here.)  The first TSSP 2010 online survey is now ready for response.  The focus of this survey is to identify the most important challenges now confronting both Support teams and their companies as well.  (Click here for more information about the new survey.)  The process of the change to our profession is far from over — and it’s not limited to just those who work the customer contact centers for software manufacturers.

TRCS print V2 SM 300x134 SaaS & Professional ChangeWhat are the specific effects on the IT Help Desk when the business applications used by the company employees every day are moved to the cloud?  Do the number of calls go up or down?  How about the categories of those calls?  Are the issues more or less complex?  With what effects on the average handle time per call?  Has the maker of the application offered to extend their definition of Support to include the kinds of on-demand training that often is the province of the customer’s own help desk?  If you’re working or managing an internal IT help desk where the company’s applications have been moved to a SaaS solution, I’d like to hear from you on this either by e-mail or in The SaaS & Support Forum on LinkedIn.

Published: April 6, 2010

Revised: August 19, 2010

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