SaaS or Packaged Product - Product Management

SaaS is the new wave, but are all solutions SaaS compatible. Most technology people want to go with the wave and build SaaS applications where traditional applications are needed. There can only be one result – “no sales”. On the other hand, a good Packaged Product may just not be the right delivery mode anymore. Think of Microsoft Office Vs. Google Docs.

The first thing is to talk to customers to see if the SaaS model is conducive to their environments. Are there real savings for the customer? Do they access the application while traveling? If so, how and from where? Would they allow access from within their firewalls? How secure do they expect their data to be? Does the billing model suit their budgeting and accounting practices? Etc.

These and more questions will help clarify if you should go the SaaS route or the Packaged Product route

More on technology angle next time.

Ram.