4 ms·

I disagree. I think vendor lock-in is actually much worse with SaaS because you rarely control your own data or infrastructure. Quality can slowly erode over ti

by davb 8y ago

I disagree. I think vendor lock-in is actually much worse with SaaS because you rarely control your own data or infrastructure. Quality can slowly erode over time and migrating from one SaaS provider to another is often more technically and contractually onerous than migrating between on-premises software products. SaaS apps are often data silos, where interoperability is no longer a necessity (or selling point).

robocat 8y ago
We are a B2B SaaS, generally used by all employees of our client organisations, and there is truth to both sides. We do continually improve the product which benefits all our clients: sometimes features for new sales, sometimes better responsiveness or error management, sometimes in response to competitors. But our customers are quite locked in by momentum - it would cost them a lot to change and they wouldn't see much benefit, and certainly any costs in our area are pure overhead for their business (i.e. our product doesn't directly produce their product or service). However there is a low bar below which our competitors would eat us. We do strive to improve the product, and we actually really care about end user usability, partially because we believe happy users do influence sales to other organisations.
- davb 8y ago
  I applaud your user-centric philosophy, I really do. And I don't mean to insinuate that all SaaS providers are out to take advantage of users (I've worked at a few and feel that we've always looked out for our users). That said, my concern is that users have little protection against a change of philosophy or business model at their supplier. If one of my SaaS vendors decides to double their price, impose restrictions on use or neglect their product to the point of it becoming unusable, I may have little choice but to conduct a costly migration. If a traditional, product-model software supplier suddenly doubles upgrade prices or turns evil, generally I am able to stay on the last version I've purchased and simply not upgrade. I really appreciate Jetbrains' licensing model where you pay a subscription for continual upgrades but get a perpetual license for the last version (released at the start of your last 12-month term) should you decide to quit.
dhimes 8y ago
A timely comment, as i was notified today that my G-Suite subscription will be increasing in cost by 20%.

by davb 8y ago

robocat 8y ago

We are a B2B SaaS, generally used by all employees of our client organisations, and there is truth to both sides. We do continually improve the product which benefits all our clients: sometimes features for new sales, sometimes better responsiveness or error management, sometimes in response to competitors. But our customers are quite locked in by momentum - it would cost them a lot to change and they wouldn't see much benefit, and certainly any costs in our area are pure overhead for their business (i.e. our product doesn't directly produce their product or service). However there is a low bar below which our competitors would eat us. We do strive to improve the product, and we actually really care about end user usability, partially because we believe happy users do influence sales to other organisations.

davb 8y ago
I applaud your user-centric philosophy, I really do. And I don't mean to insinuate that all SaaS providers are out to take advantage of users (I've worked at a few and feel that we've always looked out for our users). That said, my concern is that users have little protection against a change of philosophy or business model at their supplier. If one of my SaaS vendors decides to double their price, impose restrictions on use or neglect their product to the point of it becoming unusable, I may have little choice but to conduct a costly migration. If a traditional, product-model software supplier suddenly doubles upgrade prices or turns evil, generally I am able to stay on the last version I've purchased and simply not upgrade. I really appreciate Jetbrains' licensing model where you pay a subscription for continual upgrades but get a perpetual license for the last version (released at the start of your last 12-month term) should you decide to quit.

dhimes 8y ago

A timely comment, as i was notified today that my G-Suite subscription will be increasing in cost by 20%.