A Changing Paradigm or the Case for SaaS
I’ve used software package “A” (the product shall remain nameless since this is a personal opinion and not a Gartner MQ type of comment) since the first version came out on windows 3.1. Originally is was cheap enough that I didn’t mind being a loyal customer and I upgraded faithfully. Somewhere about 10 years ago the upgrade price started to get progressively more expensive but they still offered the occasional sale so they kept me in the fold. For whatever reason, I simply draw the line at more than 100 dollars to upgrade software. So at $149 they started losing me and at $179 (as I remember) I decided they were completely out of their minds. I stopped using the software and I stopped recommending it entirely. Fortunately for them — they do what they do (keep track of disparate pieces of information) better than any other software I’ve ever used. So it was with a huge amount of reluctance I went out to the web site to see what it would cost to get a version that would run under windows 7. Surprise, surprise they now offer it at $50 dollars a year. I’ve never been a fan of not owning my software but at 50 dollars a year for the most current version there is only one alternative.
The exact opposite situation exists with software package “B”. I’ve upgraded faithfully until version 7 and I’ve now decided I’m off the band wagon. (I just WON’T pay $179 especially when I get 90% of the most important feature functions in a free version from somebody else). Are the free/SaaS products as good? Nope, not in total, but the question I’ve come to ask myself is do I care? Do I get enough out of them to make them worth the price especially since it’s coming out of my own checkbook? I don’t like to change any more than the next person but I’m finding as part of the “new frugality” that this economic crises has engendered that I feel more secure saying to a vendor “I’ll pay for what I use” which is the concept that underlies SaaS.
So why do you care about any of this, if you are in charge of a PMO or managing a project? I think the answer is that the model underlying our software acquisitions is changing. What we need today may not be what we need tomorrow and the more rapid the possible change cycle the less attractive it is to invest heavily now in something that may have a very short life-cycle. I also am a big believer in starting small and then seeing what I think before I spend real money (by recommending a purchase at my company or somebody else’s). So today I’ve decided to go SaaS with too productivity tools. I’ll report back in a year and we’ll see if it’s money well spent or if I think it was a mistake and why.
I’d love to hear from other’s looking at the same issue either personally with applications you run to improve your own productivity or professionally with PPM software you’ve chosen to acquire for your organization
