Saas chops up the B2B complex sale in smaller buying decisions
The change of decision makers
In the era before Cloud computing and Saas (Software-as-a-Service) for on premise software solutions, one of the important decision makers in the B2B complex sale was the CIO, IT Executive or EDP manager.
Currently the key decision maker or buyer for web services is the business process owner or the executive managing the line of business. The involvement of the IT department has diminished. There are no specific IT requirements needed in order to use a web service: any browser will do just fine.
The manager and the users are getting more involved in the decision process as it is a service for their use. Usually it’s also possible to get a free trial period: just sign op and start using. Goodbye to the day-long installation procedures where database and client/server installations are required.
The change from monolithic to best of breed solutions
Instead of buying one monolithic solution suite that needed to solve and cover all problems of the entire enterprise the Saas trend has enabled to embrace best of breed solutions. Thus several separate solutions that excel in their area will be selected, driving down the costs at the same time.
The change to shorter sales processes
This shift has changed the B2B complex sale for software solutions for ever.
Instead of having one long sales cycle, the different main functionalities are segregated leading to smaller separate buying decisions. Each of them has a shorter sales process with the goal optimizing the cost benefit for each separate function.
Due to this a new problem is created as all these individual processes need to collaborate and exchange data: driving up the total cost of ownership again.
The Marketing shift
These changes in decision makers and buying process implies also change of focus in marketing as the CIO, IT Executive or EDP Manager are no longer involved and concerned directly.
The marketing message can even put more focus on the benefits, advantages of the solution addressing the business process owners or the executive line manager. It is no longer about great technology, but usability and usefulness. A large part of the decision making process has often shifted to the actual end users, as they have been able to try the solution in advance.
For the entire software business this is a tremendous marketing shift as information technology started out to be marketed very technically and has now become a non-technical product.
Just like cars the function is known: cars drive fine – web services operate neatly.
Features and usability can make the difference.
Passion is lurking around the corner.
Has your marketing evolved from technical to practical?
