The Hotline Magazine

Wednesday June 19, 2013


Through the Lens

SaaS/Cloud Success and the Customerium

While their Marketing and Support professionals continue to explore the usage and management of social media, there is a much larger challenge to be faced by SaaS/Cloud firms — and all other technology players as well.  The implications of the changes in our general culture over the last 25 years are not limited to those two disciplines in the technology industry.  All around us, corporate logos are proudly blazoned across t-shirts, jackets, bags, bumper stickers and everything else across the full range of visible possessions in daily life. We’ve become a society which increasingly is about personal definition through membership in groups and other affiliations.   In the face of that reality, it’s time to fundamentally revise how companies think about the marketplace and their own organizational structure.  The old Marketing & Sales  paradigm and focus on the procession from Suspect to Prospect to Customer is too narrow.  Today’s companies require a wider view as they seek to increase market share.   To succeed over time, Management must consider the entire scope of its customerium, the community of its customers, influencers, fans, affiliates, mavens, promoters, detractors, ambivalents — and understand how each role affects and impacts the future of the corporation.

Mavens and the Knowledge Inventory

Support professionals have been focused on building and extending community support resources for many years as a means of reducing skyrocketing contact center costs.  A key aspect of this effort has been encouraging the role of “mavens,” non-employees who are very knowledgeable about how the company’s products work and who are willing, even insistent to share their expertise with other customers for free.  The contribution of a small number of mavens can easily reach strategically significant levels for a technology maker.  Not only do mavens answer technical questions about how something works, they are also often at the forefront of innovation in how to better use a product to enhance productivity and profitability.  As such, they represent a substantial value to the company.

The encouragement of mavens also carries a risk, however, for affiliation with a company or product can be positive or negative.  At the senior end of the scale, mavens tend to have their own extensive set of relationships within the customerium and beyond.  Their contributions build their own reputation and identity within the community over time, and savvy companies need to keep this fact in mind, for mavens also tend to be serious influencers.  If offended, what was once an enthusiastic supporter, promoter and influencer can easily turn into an equally dedicated and active detractor and enemy — and the resulting damage can be every bit as substantial as the former gain.

We’ve become a society which increasingly is about personal definition through membership in groups and other affiliations. In the face of that reality, it’s time to fundamentally revise how companies think about the marketplace and their own organizational structure.

Mavens are only one expression of the knowledge inventory that grows up around a technology.  Each customer company will have employees that learn how to use the application to increase their productivity and their company’s profitability.  There is no reason why that knowledge and value must be lost if/when they are laid off or move to a different employer.  Recognizing the value of such individuals, some SaaS firms have begun to maintain a registry of skilled users, and rent them to other customers when additional staff is needed on a temporary basis.

The Architecture of Enduring Relationships

The maintenance of a sustainable and profitable customerium begins with strategy, with the design and architecture of the role of the various elements and of the whole.  Does your company have a map of its community?   Are the key players and their standing along the knowledge and influence spectrums known?  The power of those roles and individuals are far too important to be left to chance.  For optimum results, there needs to be a strategy in place for the full range of conversations that take place between your company and all of the roles/players, but also for the interactions that take place amongst those people on the outside.  We’ll be discussing this in The SaaS Support Forum on LinkedIn, and I’m also available for complimentary Office Hours sessions by appointment.

[This article was originally published on January 3rd, 2009.  It has been extensively revised using insights developed from The SaaS & Support Project research.]

MBAI logo-MedFinding and acquiring customers is very expensive for software vendors, especially when the typically hidden costs of striving to forestall departures and to re-acquire lost relationships are factored into the real accounting equation.  Unfortunately, in the competitive pressure of the necessary race to build market share, it is all too easy for a technology company to lose awareness of what comes after the contract has been signed.  The result is churn, turnover in the customer community, which can silently drain profitability and cripple the long-term viability of the enterprise.

To help technology companies to regain effective control over post-sale realities and thereby significantly enhance overall profitability and customer retention, Mikael Blaisdell & Associates Inc. offers a range of research and service resources.

Research

The only constant about the high technology industry is rapid change.  What technologies are available to companies seeking to more effectively manage their ongoing relationships with their customers?  How is the architecture of those relationships changing as the SaaS tsunami continues its progress? What are companies doing about adapting organizational structures to maximize utilization of their people?  The first Report of The SaaS & Support Project provided several unique insights into several key aspects of emerging Cloud / SaaS companies, enabling forward-looking management teams to adjust their strategies and structures appropriately.

Services

Several types of Advisory relationships can be adapted to suit a variety of client scenarios.  On a more specific level, companies frequently develop needs for senior executive input before reaching a point where hiring a full-time employee is practical or even possible.  To assist, we offer tailored “virtual executive” programs that deliver the right level of input for the right price. Specific service projects include:

 

More Information

For more information on specific services offered by MB&A, please send email or call to join us for a complimentary Office Hours discussion.

“It’s what you don’t know about your customer relationships that can cause you to lose them.”

–The SaaS Customer Retention QuickStat

Published: January 10, 2008

Revised: November 3, 2011