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The discounted innovation in Software as a Service
I work with enterprise software customers in a post-sales role. I’m often asked to justify the ongoing costs that are part of the SaaS model, i.e. subscription based. Here are my thoughts that I am going to share next time I am asked. I like to think of it as discounted innovation. To begin explaining…
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Less sales people more info – B2B buyers have spoken
The featured image in this post is based on an ironic state of affairs. Salesforce, arguably the best known CRM platform on the market, first started out life positioning itself as the “no software” company (if you’re in the SaaS business you’ll know what it means). The irony is that a recent piece of Gartner…
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Marketing sales and customer success for 360 degree effectiveness
In line with some recent work I’ve been doing working with colleagues in sales and marketing, I created a doodle and had some brief additional thoughts around this topic. These thoughts in the form of a DanelDoodle are a little heavier on the sales side. I do work very closely with sales people because I…
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Customer success operations – some answers
I was asked by Brook Perry from ’nuffsaid if I would be interested in contributing to an article she was working on with others to get feedback on a set of questions covering customer success operations. Being close to my heart I agreed. I’ll update this post with a link to the article once it…
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Slack acquisition – this feels personal
I only say that because of my experience with a similar acquisition (when Yammer was acquired by Microsoft – disclosure) and that I was there at the birth of Enterprise Social. I’ve written lots before (latest posts) and so feel with this vested interest and experience I can also have an opinion as everyone else…
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The hidden cost of complexity in enterprise software
It’s an unfortunate side effect of growth that when your enterprise software goes hyperscale in a growing market, you will need to accommodate an ever expanding set of customer demands for new functionality. Doing so fends of competition but adds complexity and friction to the user experience. It can even be counter-productive and lead to…
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Zen and the right view of cloud technologies
On the path to the cloud, just as in life (as the Buddha would have us understand), one must submit our most cherished assumptions to rigorous questioning. We would make better decisions if we were clearer about the foundations of our own thinking. Cloud technology is a vast subject and this post tackles just a few…
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The engine of the subscription economy
I read this article the other day: 4 Reasons Why Salesforce Could Acquire Zuora. I’m writing this trend report: As a Service Trend. Two of the chapters I will be covering are Subscription Economics and Technology Ecosystems. Point 2 in the first article linked above gets to the heart of and intersection between these two…
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Customer Success outcomes and their causes
I’m trying to distil the essence in this doodle, often for my own sanity, to help me focus on the right activities in the work I do with customers.
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Update on As A Service Trends
It’s been a while since my last update and there’s been lots going on so sit down, grab a ☕ and enjoy reading about a host of new announcements and articles capturing the trend.
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State of Customer Success 2018
I attended Pulse Europe (the 4th) on the 8-9th November, an event run by Gainsight, a Customer Success (CS) technology vendor. They run the larger, main event in the US and I had the pleasure of attending last year where I captured the State of Customer Success 2017. So this is a timely update with…
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SaaS beyond Software – Automakers
The auto industry needs Customer Success managers. Geoffrey Moore, famed author of Crossing the Chasm and father of Moore’s law is writing a new book on Customer Success. This slide above comes from a talk where he is quoted applying the concept of customer success to manufacturing. I applied the same thinking in this blog…
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Role of Self Service in Customer Success
Customer success teams were put in place in technology SaaS and subscription companies to ensure that customers are successful in their use of the technology they invested in. They have become a core part of ensuring the customer derives long-term value and ultimately stays with the vendor (in other words renews the subscription). But has…
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Role of Sales in Customer Success and 6 rules to guide you
How many times in your role as a customer success manager working with customers, have you struggled with the solution you are trying to implement where it has not been sold right? By solution I mean what is constituted in the solution selling process (products and services, solving problems or needs and/or delivering specific business…
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