The pace of change on the Web can often be measured in seconds, and there are so many new and unfamiliar technologies and business models, that is easy to forget that people have been talking, influencing, exchanging, buying, selling and investing for thousands of years. I continually marvel at the vast amount of business and technology-related content on the Web that adds up to little more than zero in terms of useful decision-making information. While there is plenty of market watching, people watching and general news coverage of the personal lives of Web celebrities, machinations of market leaders, and the feast-or-famine experiences of struggling startups, there is precious little guidance that technology business executives can readily apply to the critical strategic and tactical decisions that they face daily. The hype is good. The hype is necessary. It is entertaining. It creates buzz. It draws funding, and sometimes even customers. But, it is easy to get lost in the frenzy when what you really need is some good solid, no BS, analysis that cuts through the fluff and helps you win customers, generate revenue, and make your business a success.
The goal of this blog is to share knowledge and opinions that (I hope) will help executives at on demand software companies that create and deliver SaaS, PaaS and IaaS applications to critically analyze real-world, go-to-market strategies and tactics by applying sound business principles to the disruptive technologies that are reshaping our lives. So, if you see something you like, please say so. If you see something you don’t, say that too. And, most importantly, if you have something real to share, share it!
Hi Joel,
I’ve been researching today about customer self service and came across your article “Customer self service| The Holy Grail of SaaS”, and thought i’d shoot you over my two cents.
I’m part of a titchy team who are building a platform to beat bad presentations forever with good design, productivity and professionalism in mind.
One of our biggest problems is that the majority of our client base is in North America, whilst we’re across the pond. This leads to waits of up to 12 hours sometimes of questions being answered, and has definitely lost us a lot of customers in the past.
I’ve been trying to counter that over the last few months by using intercom and their ‘article’ function. It allows me to write explainer posts which automatically are suggested when someone enters a keyword like ‘invoice’.
Although we have a long way to go, that has been super helpful to us, and thought maybe some of your other readers might like to look into similar software which achieves the same goal.
All the best, and keep up the good work!
Annabelle Joynson
SlideCamp.io