Considerations when selecting a SaaS eCommerce vendor
Ben AdamsFounder & Directorwww.function22.co.uk
A balance between flexibility and cost
OnDemand
Out of the box
FullyCustomisable
LicensedSoftware
More Flexible
Hig
her s
et u
p co
sts
Licensed Software is “so last season”
Custom Licensed Managed SaaS
Component, CPU based pricing
Rolled-into-one usage based pricing
More retailer involvement
Less retailer involvement
‘Enterprise’ licensed software
Number of mentions of ‘enterprise’ in a sales pitchNumber of mentions of ‘enterprise’ in a sales pitch
CIO
Par
anoi
aCI
O P
aran
oia
What does ‘enterprise’ actually mean?
To the CIO To the Business
True in the world of licensed, on premise
software
SaaS removes these issues as it takes the reliability, support and security aspects away from the organisation
Enterprise means nothing in true SaaS eCommerce
“By 2013, 40 % of e-commerce deployments will use a complete SaaS e-commerce solution and 90 % of e-commerce sites will subscribe to at least one SaaS-
based service”
Gartner Inc, SaaS Impact on eCommerce, 2008
On Demand delivery model
On Demand delivery model
Automated upgradesAutomated upgrades
Merchandising ControlMerchandising Control
Access anywhereAccess anywhere
Multi-tenantMulti-tenant
Low TCOLow TCO Low RiskLow Risk Out of the boxOut of the box
It’s a confusing market…
6 Lessons Learned
…and easy to make mistakes
Lesson 1Define the platform scope
“It’s not a CMS?!”
A platform means different things to different people
PIM CMSCommerceEngine
Search Engine
DAM
Promotions engine
Personalisation engine
Reporting
MV TestingCRM engine
I.T. Commercial Marketing Web Team Finance
Benefits of a consolidated platform ecosystem
Product
Merchandising
Testing
Targeting
Reporting
CRM
Social
Promotions
Lesson 2Start with the business user
The old world of platform as a product
PromotionsProduct info
Banners
SitesNew pages
New LayoutsTransactional capabilities
SEOWidgets
MicrositesAnalyticsTagging
IntegrationHosting
Business IT
The new world of platform as a service
Initial set up
Legacy system integration
SitesNew Pages
LayoutsTransactional capabilities
SEOWidgets
MicrositesAnalyticsTagging
Business IT
Never underestimate the bits the customer can’t see
Storefronts
WebsiteWebsite FacebookFacebook MobileMobile
In storeIn store AffiliateAffiliate Call CentreCall Centre
Business & Developer tools
APIsAPIs MerchandisingMerchandising Personalisation
Personalisation
PromotionsPromotions TestingTesting ReportingReporting
It is relatively easy to create these when you have the right business and developer tools
These tools enable you to create and manage storefronts
Lesson 3Define ‘out of the box’
What’s in the box?
You will never get everything out of the box
Customizations
Reference Application
Back office Integration layer
Back endBack end
The split between these could be costly
Ask for a reference application
Businessrequirements
ReferenceApplication
Reference app functionality
you actually use
Think about the 80:20 rule…
Requirement: the platform should cater for a telco data model
‘Out of the box’
Phone
Tariff
Bolt-ons
Client interpretation
Phone
Tariff
Bolt-ons
Insurance
Bundles
Sim only
Customisation is costly and causes problems down the line with ‘out of the box’ upgrades
The best of both worlds…
Standards based server side scriptStandards based client side script supportAPIs Web services Business configurable data model extensions and business logic, True multi-site and international
Truly Unique Storefronts
Reference application
DEVELOPMENT TOOLKIT
…and don’t forget about pre-integrations
Retailer applications and web services
ATG CommerceATG Content Admin
ATG Business Control Centre (BCC)ATG Search
ATG Customer Intelligence
Middleware
Lesson 4Ask for a Roadmap
Be thorough when defining your roadmap
Strategic CustomerBusiness User
Roadmap
Vendor roadmap
Client requirements Customisations= cost
A product roadmap does not necessarily mean more capabilities
TimeTime
Capa
biliti
esCa
pabi
lities
Regular relevant product releases and consider upgrade impact of customizations
This usually varies according to the amount of customization you do
Vendor roadmapClient roadmap
TimeTime
Lesson 5Think about performance
A ‘global’ datacentre…
…and don’t forget content caching and delivery
CDN
Don’t get stung by boring compliancy issues down the line
VAT
Distance selling
Lesson 6Shape your organisation
Your organisation – is it ready for SaaS?
Agile
DevelopIn-house
FullyOutsource
Waterfall
Reduced flexibility
Long
er ti
me
to m
arke
t
Here you will struggle with time to market
Here you will struggle with constant change
This is the perfect balance between time to market and business flexibility
It is fashionable to migrate your web platform
“you generally migrate your web platform every 3 or 4 years”
Changes in leadership
New
web
pla
tfor
ms
SaaS doesn’t mean no portability
Picking a SaaS eCommerce
vendor is easy
Things to look for in a vendor pitch or RFI response
Focus on value and not just cost
No mentions of the word ‘enterprise’
Live reference application demo deployed on their cloud
Clear roadmap focused on delivery of business capability and not just gloss
Pre-integrations with other Third Party solutions
Developer tool-kit based on open standards
Robust, global infrastruture including DR, CDN
Security ‘out of the box’
Clear platform scope
An agile way of working
Ben Adams – Founder & Director
/in/benjadams
@benadams2009
Thanks for listening!
www.function22.co.uk 39