Mini-Update on the Channels Post
If you haven’t read it, I wrote a post the other day regarding traditional sales channels and SaaS end users, highlighting the potential need to reach these end users with creative partnerships. I used the NetSuite/CompUSA partnership as an example. I bumped into a post over on Phil Wainewrights blog this morning about NetSuite’s recent parternship with eBay. Personally, I like the proposition and really is a unique way to approach the reach problem through partnerships. This particular instance is a technical and business partnership. Phil discusses eBay’s business user base as a potential customer route for NetSuite, and I definitely agree. Furthermore, I think it exposes people to B2B on-demand software, which is always a plus.
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Sinclair,
I wholly agree that the channel aspects of SaaS is one of those major things to be addressed. Intuitively the SME market is the best place for SaaS to grow out from. I don’t know about your market, but in ours the local IT shop commands a lot of respect and achieves the near mythic tusted advisor status. One of the things i think SaaS providers need to address is the cascading sell thru models or whitelabelling, targetting these local It shops
Paul,
I would say that IT shops generally carry the same sort of weight and favor among local business; they are the “voodoo doctors” of tech. I think you’re right, and thats a great avenue for SaaS. I’d imagine reaching that group is substantially easier than the broader SME market.
One of the issues that need to be addressed when dealing with a cascading model is how compensation is handled; are IT shops provided “finders fees” or is the cost subsidized some other way (partnerships with hardware companies, for example)? I like your approach, definitely worth digging into deeper.