by Christina Yue, Customer Learning Manager |

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a business model. In order for the business to succeed, the vendor must succeed. Forrester’s report outlines a life-cycle approach for customers to achieve success with SaaS vendors.

While customers love SaaS, they do encounter challenges as they adopt SaaS. SaaS requires frequent and automatic upgrades, as opposed to on-premises software where updates are months apart. By following a matching cycle of continuous business improvement, SaaS customers can get the most value out of the upgrades. SaaS customers also struggle with the support included in the base subscription as it may not be enough for some customers, which means they must spend more for better support. Another common challenge SaaS customers face is with the technical aspect with process and data integration. The IT department that manages the internal systems must learn how to effectively integrate SaaS applications with other SaaS applications.

Forrester defines customer success programs as, “the services and role provided by a SaaS vendor to help customers get fast business value out of the SaaS solution and continuously improve to achieve long-term ROI.” But they have found that customers and vendors have different perspectives on customer success. For customers, a success drives adoption and utilization, rationalizes the administrative burden, eases the adoption of frequent upgrades and fosters business innovation.

Forrester provides a six-phase customer life cycle that SaaS customers should follow and the SaaS vendors should enable. This lifecycle helps manage long-term relationship with SaaS vendors. The six phases of the Customer Success Life Cycle are discover, activate, implement, use, ask and engage.

Forrester recommends using try-and-buy to discover SaaS solutions and add-ons. By using this method, business users are empowered to find potentially valuable SaaS products. Business users know what the business needs are and whether an application meets their needs. A great tip for trying new products is taking advantage of free trials, freemium offers and app store add-ons.

The activate phase consists of activating your SaaS tenant and vendor relationship. To do this, you should set up the technical environment to your specifications, leverage vendor configuration and startup services by using rapid activation services that may be offered by vendors and get your project team up to speed through online learning and classroom training resources.

Forrester says, “the time it takes to go from activation to live production – is one of the most important determinants of customer success in SaaS.” In order for the customer to receive a return on investment, they need to get the product up and running as soon as possible. Buyers should take advantage of innovation programs to set the implementation strategy, create a win/win with financial incentives and take an agile approach to implementation.

Buyers should take full advantage of the frequent and automatic upgrades. This will give you access to new features that will help improve your business. Buyers need to leverage preview and test instances. SaaS vendors occasionally release software enhancements in preview modes, so buyers can review and decide if they want to implement them. There’s seldom been a bad outcome when it comes to automatic upgrades. Typically these upgrades are small and do not disrupt business.

The main difference in support between on-premises vendors and SaaS vendors is that on-premises vendors focus on technical support and compliance updates, but SaaS vendors have more focus on running the software. SaaS vendors rely on the customer’s successful adoption of the software. By using SaaS products, the vendor takes care of keeping the software and underlying technical environment up to date. Customers should take advantage of the customer success manager. They know about your system and is dedicated to your business to help with deployment.

Forrester’s tip on comparing SaaS customer success programs related to customer engagement include setting up a governance model for your SaaS solution, share ideas and best practices in communities and use regular relationship meetings to review and benchmark current state vs. goals.

The goal of any business is maximizing profit with minimal cost. This is no different. Customers want to ensure the best level of service and support is received at the lowest cost. Keep in mind that the relationship you have with SaaS vendors is important and helps determine the customer experience. Be sure to ask questions when you are searching for a product. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what you are paying for and negotiate for premium level at the standard level price.

The key takeaway is to use clear metrics to compare customer success programs when choosing a vendor and to evaluate your SaaS relationship across the life cycle for customer success.

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