Software-As-A-Service Demand Generation : choose a single customer (1/7)

In deploying a Software-As-A-Service business model you first focus on optimizing the demand generation. You thus want to capitalize on the web marketing benefits to maximize the number of potential customers landing on your micro website and to convert them to buyers through a learn-try-adopt cycle.

The efficient web demand generation can be seen as a seven steps process.The first step is to choose a single customer.

As mentionned in previous posts, once you understand the successful saas offering, and are familiar with the SaaS user behaviors, you need to have a focused approach. You do not want to attract every web crawler to your web site, you want to attract those web-centric people who are looking for a solution which your SaaS offering would be the best one to select to solve their critical issue.

Choosing a single customer means that you must first profile that user, the one you want to consider your SaaS solution and say 'whaoo that's exactly the best solution I am looking for!'.

You first need to define its profile: characteristics, demographics, vocabulary, purchaser or influencer capability.

Choosing a single customer then means that you must list the top ten critical questions that customer is asking himself, using the words he would use, and he would like to be solved efficiently.

Create several personna profiles and a positionning canevas for each of them.
Design and publish a micro-website for each personna, the corresponding potential customer will then see your solution as its answer to its daily top needs.

We will explore the second step in an other post :
Software-As-A-Service Demand Generation : find each single customer online (2/7)...

Apple patent : a step to cloud computing for the IPhone: Sync with AnyThing, from AnyWhere

Apple is investing billions in cloud platforms and this week's "Grab & Go" application filing with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office suggests a scenario where a user is sitting at their desk working on a document, when they are called into an unexpected meeting. While the user may have a number of personal applications running, they would only want to bring their work-related content with them. The preferences would allow the user to "grab" only files and data related to work from the computer.

The "simplified data transfer" method is also said to dynamically adapt to the fastest available connection, and provide security methods. The software would decide whether to connect using the Internet, or to use encryption schemes, or to require a specific proximity to the hardware when syncing. It would also keep a list of "trusted" devices with which to share.

Apple has worked on a software syncing system that would give users great flexibility in deciding which files to share between devices, all while aiming to simplify the process of syncing. The described method would not only take personal files, but content within specific applications, allowing users to continue their current activities no matter where they are and what device they are using.

Add the recurring rumors about a new Apple internet tablet device and you might figure out a path to a great subscription based business flow, the next step of the appstore?

Microsoft opens a cloud computing center in Taiwan

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer praised Taiwan and said the cloud computing center is aimed at continuing the strong relationship between Microsoft and Taiwanese companies built over the past 20 years.

"We wouldn't have low-cost, high-availability computing today if it wasn't for companies here," he said. The center will be a first for Microsoft in Asia. It aims to give Taiwanese computer makers a place to test out new hardware and software made to work with Microsoft products, including new cloud computing applications and services, a joint statement said.

Companies in Taiwan like Quant Computer have already started developing new hardware for the cloud. The company has been working with the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop new cloud computing and mobile technologies, a partnership called Project T-Party.

Taiwanese telecommunications company Chunghwa Telecom also signed on with Microsoft on Wednesday to adopt the Windows Azure cloud services operating system, and to offer cloud services such as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online.

Biggest verticalized SaaS portal launched in Paris at BATIMAT

I recently talked about the SaaS appstore deployed by the US government as being a major shift.

But what could be described as the first biggest vertical SaaS portal has been launched this week in Paris during the BATIMAT fair - the world's leading construction exhibition.

e-bat is a portal dedicated to the building industry and aims at providing software and services subscriptions to 60 000 small and medium French construction companies, that is more than 500 000 end users!

The portal has been initiated by the French Building Federation and is dedicated to helping face the dematerialization challenges by providing its users a comprehensive set of dedicated services ranging from Microsoft Exchange collaborative emails, Microsoft Office Suite applications, secure documents management, up to human ressources, financial mangement or payment solutions.

The users can customize their portal, subscribe, manage their online software services, and use those software solutions from anywhere, at any time, through a secured internet connection.

The portal is built upon Microsoft technologies - IIS, SharePoint, Exchange, Office, Remote Desktop Protocol, virtualization, and is hosted, and managed by YouSAAS, also being linked to this pure SaaS player's white labelled appstore information system. The portal embeds the OpenPortal meta directory component and its customization was developed by Decade.

The project not only offers a fully operational SaaS portal and ISVs connectors easying the integration of new solutions, but is also providing local support teams and assistance to conduct the needed change management and help the end users to catch this opportunity of being more profitable and performant.

Strategic investments in Cloud solutions should not be a technologically driven approach

By reading that Gartner is citing Cloud Computing as the Number 1 technology area that should drive strategic investments I both agree and rise a warning flag.

I agree that this is where a company should aim at driving its strategy, Cloud Computing Adoption Jumps 320% This Year Alone, also relayed in Top 5 things about this years gartner symposium.

I disagree that this should be foreseen as a 'technological area'. Of course there are architecture design, security assessments, delivery capabilities that relies on technological bricks. But a company willing to successfully drive its business on using cloud based and Software-As-A-Service solutions should first think about it as a strategic and business area.

Technology is mature enough to let you build the solution you need.
The first step is thus to be sure about what your 'needs' are.

You start seeing communications about private versus off-the-shelf cloud architectures. This communication is driven by technology-focused providers.

Read back my first blog entries about the key success factors you have to focus on.

• You should see this as a challenge on finding what is the set of services that will differenciate your company from your competitors and allow you to generate growing recurring marging revenues;
• You should focus on micro-marketing this set of services;
• You should think about industrializing the provisioning of these services;
• You should aim at satisfying the SLA which you defined on each service;
• You should behave as a 'services operator', looking at Average Margin Per User and Churn rates;
  
• You should enventually rethink your channel management strategy.

Then and only then you may and should start thinking about technology. And if you are really business oriented and want to shorten your go-to-market with efficient margins you will enventually find that off-the-shelf SaaS pure players will offer you both the set of solutions you need and the capability of assembling these cloud services in the way you designed it !