Материал: Transformation of business: shift to the subscription economy

)        Security and privacy;

)        Data backup;

)        Team support: communication channels;

)        Social accounts;

)        Help Desk;

)        Partnership programs;

)        Online payment;

)        Mobile app;

)        Integration with popular cloud services and applications;

)        User interface;

)        Installation and customization;

)        Crossplatform solution;

)        Trial access;

)        Free access with limited options;

)        Gamification;

)        Additional extensions (applications);

)        English language;

)        Company ideology.

All companies’ profiles are available at Application 4

Second Stage. Trends analysis

The main aim of the second stage of our research was to analyze gathered data and pick out the most significant trends. To assist this process, we introduced measurement scales for each feature and counted quantitative data where it was possible. All the information was examined from three dimensions: they are “Russian cases”, “Foreign cases” and “Total”.

First, we examined the clients’ feedback from the leading business software review platforms (G2Growd, GetApp, StartPack). As a result, the following trends were differentiated:

1) Clients put high expectation on the Customer Support service of the SaaS applications: the most appreciated characteristics are quick expert help, efficiency of responds and client oriented individual approach;

2)      Clients value the service security;

)        Clients want applications being easy to understand, to install and customize;

)        Correct ideology earns big attention;

)        Convenience of an application should go along with simplicity and wide set of features;

)        Design of application matters as well as intuitive operation interface;

)        Mobile version is a strongly desirable option;

)        Regular updates should happen regularly but without disturbing clients from business workflow;

)        An application is expected to be flexible to fit any needs;

)        Clients read corporate blogs and Knowledge Base of SaaS providers looking for educational tips how to operate the system;

)        The product is expected to be cost-effective;

)        Clients value most of all that applications make their life easier and more professional, and help bring a team together.

)        Clients want their applications being integrated with many other useful cloud solutions;

)        The idea of paying a monthly cost and always having the most up-to-date software as opposed to paying a large up seems attractive to most of users.

As we can see, the trends above prove the theoretical aspects of SaaS subscription model covered in our research in the Chapter 2., we studied the data from companies’ worksheets designed at the first stage of our research and pulled out the next tendencies which companies demonstrate:

)   Foreign companies typically stop employing On-Premise model for selling their solutions, using the subscription model as the only way to deliver their SaaS solutions; in contrast, one third of the Russian software companies are still using On-Premise strategy together with the subscription model (Application 6, table 1);

2)      Among Russian companies it is typical to use monthly subscription model whereas foreign companies offer their clients both monthly and annual subscription plans (Application 6, table 2);

)        Foreign SaaS providers put more attention on making their sites both simple and useful for their clients: all the indicators - usability, simplicity, utility - gained more scores comparing to the same parameters of the sites of the Russian providers, yet not much more (Application 6, table 3);

)        Among top-5 most useable means of communication of the Customer Support service with clients can me listed such options (from the most popular to the less one) as email support, blog, online consultancy, phone support, and user community help (Application 6, table 4);

)        All the companies - both Russian and foreign - have Help Desk service in their platforms to educate their clients and share knowledge. They most common educational formats (from the most popular to the less one) are videos / demo tours, FAQ-tutorial, webinars, knowledge base and user’s guideline. Foreign companies include into their Help Desk more often knowledge base and video, comparing to Russian companies whereas Russian SaaS providers more frequently offer training courses, workshops and webinars (Application 6, table 5);

)        Analyzing social activity of the companies, it can be noticed that all the companies are active enough in social media; Russian companies usually use 3-4 social accounts, foreign companies - 5-6 accounts. Absolutely popular social net among companies is Facebook. Foreign providers also use much LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube, the Russian - Vkontakte, Twitter and Youtube (Application 6, tables 6, 7);

)        Most of the SaaS companies have partnership programs (Application 6, table 8);

)        Several features tend to absolute expression: all the companies are integrated with online payment systems, are compliant with law, have privacy policy and use HTTPS protocol, multifactor authentication and automatic backup at several servers to secure and protect data (Application 6, tables 9,10);

)        All the foreign providers offer mobile version of their solutions while more than half of Russian companies still do not have such option (Application 6, table 11);

)        The majority of the SaaS providers have user-friendly interface (Application 6, table 12);

)        It is more typical for Russian SaaS companies to offer promotions to stimulate clients to subscribe than for foreign providers (Application 6, table 13);

)        The majority of the SaaS providers have simple installation and customization (Application 6, table 14);

)        SaaS providers more commonly offer 30-day trial access with (Application 6, table 15);

)        Free access with limited options is more typical for Russian companies rather than for foreign providers (Application 6, table 16);

)        The majority of the SaaS providers do not use gamification inside their applications (Application 6, table 17);

)        The majority of the SaaS providers have additional extensions and applications compatible to integrate with their solutions (Application 6, table 18);

)        Only half of Russian SaaS solutions have English version of their platform (Application 6, table 19);

)        All the examined foreign companies have strong corporate ideology comparing with less than a half of Russian companies which have it (Application 6, table 20).

Summing up all the discovered trends, we can make the resulting conclusions:

3.2 Success strategies to attract and retain subscribers

is customer success? Many sellers stop after completing customer acquisition, but this is just the beginning of the whole process. Our strong belief based on the results of the conducted research is that attracting customers and turning them into subscribers is a complex strategy involving many fundamental insights. Finding and applying these insights into business can improve business efficiency and bring more value to customer experience.to our new combined database and defined trends, as well as using theoretical background of this paper, we can suggest our own strategies for SaaS subscription based companies which are intended to help attract and retain customers, turning them into subscribers., the following 5 strategies will be the beginning of creating long-term relations with customers in the SaaS subscription based business. These strategies reflect the main philosophy of the SaaS subscription industry that we can also formulate now after conducting the research:

“Subscription is about giving, not about taking. To make people subscribe, SaaS solution should give clients a feeling that they will pay less and earn.To make people stay for a long time, SaaS solution should become a source of endless value which could not be measured by money.”, here are the strategies:

1. Found your business on correct ideology

All foreign cases studied in this paper demonstrated a high level of corporate ideology which also gained a big appreciation among their clients. Customers are more interested in communicating with a company which does not insist on purchase but offer to give its service a try to see how it can change your life. With this aim a trial option and free access with limited options should be offered to clients so that they could decide before subscribing weather you are really a solution of their problems. Correct ideology also includes educational aspect which was coverd above.

2. Support your customers

One of the most urge problems faced while examening Russian SaaS providers was a lack of customer support. The most negative feedback gathered from Russian users concerns inefficient and slow responds. We suggest that each SaaS company needs to have its own Customer Support service with at least 5 channels of communication so that users could easily approach a support team. This can be email support, blog, online consultancy, phone support, and user community help. Besides, staying in touch with customers in social media is highly demanded: this is the shortest way to share your professional help and experience. A huge attention should be put on educating consultants to make their service professional and reliable. Support should go beyond data and empathizing with the situation your customers are in. This also includes keeping an eye on feedback and responding to complaints to show customers that you listen to them and are eager to help.

3. Become an expert and educate your customers

New practical knowledge is a kind of universal value that people appreciate a lot, especially, if it helps improve their life. SaaS providers who offer vast libraries of useful information attract attention of their potential clients which can become subscribers if they value this particular SaaS company as a source of reliable information. For this aim, the most popular educational formats - such as video, knowledge base, webinars, workshops - can be employed.

4. Constantly widen your business proposal

Customers are looking for simple solutions of their complicated problems. SaaS applications which can combine both being simple and have wide set of useful features are on their way to success. It means not only upgrading an application with various features, but be able to offer new extensions and solutions within interest of your target audience. Once clients used and liked your application, they will be more loyal to try new solution.

5. Do not be afraid to work with big clients though you are a small SaaS provider

In our case study companies of different size participated and as we found out, their efficiency and attractiveness for clients was not defined by their status, reputation and size. People put attention on more specific features when evaluating their experience which help them improve their life. Moreover, big companies appreciate flexibility of small providers, their more individual approach to solve particular problems and smaller price. If your company can bring value to their business and, with that, cut their costs, then big clients will be more than willing to stay your subscriber.are plenty of other insights on managing customer success, but these five strategies are fundamental to build long-term relations with clients.

software subscription service business market

Conclusion

subscription model is a perspective field for Russian business landscape. It offers a lot of opportunities for both customers and SaaS providers as we saw in our research. We proved that subscription model is a phenomenon of increasing demand in Russia connected with a specific economic situation in our country. We picked out multitude advantages of this model, and in a conclusion, we can say that our hypothesis was proved. The subscription model, applied in a software company, really suits better clients’ needs, especially, in conditions of limited resources.preparing our research, we achieved all the tasks which were formulated in the beginning. The main result of our paper became derived 5 particular strategies of attracting and retaining subscribers of SaaS platforms with the subscription business model. These 5 strategies are based on the deep analysis of 16 Russian and foreign cases of implementing SaaS subscription model into business., coming back to our research question “Will shifting from the traditional licensed model to the subscription model in the software business help attract new customers and turn old clients into subscribers?” we can definitely give a positive answer.

References

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. Hamari, J., Sjoklint, M., & Ukkonen, A. (2015). The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. Retrieved April 20, 2016

. Harvey, K. (2016, January 6). Subscription Business Trend Predictions for 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2016

. Hutzler, K. (August, January 10). The Rise of the Subscription Economy. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from Huffington Post

. Jadhav, M. (2016, March 25). Top 5 Features To Look While Selecting SaaS Help Desk Software. Retrieved May 9, 2016

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. Kaplan Andreas M. and Michael Haenlein. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 1(53), 59-69. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from #"904843.files/image001.jpg">

: Bible of Cloud Computing

Application 2

CNews Analytics: The largest SaaS providers in Russia in 2015

News Analytics, 2015

Application 3

: Global and Russian SaaS-Solutions Markets in B2B Segment research by J’son&Partners Consulting, 2015

Application 4