transitioning from legacy to saas

Working with a net… or an anchor

@timoliver47 #LegacytoSaaS #DENStartupWeek

Launching a SaaS application out of a legacy enterprise

product

Tim OliverChief Product Officer


Pros Cons

Culture & Talent

Methodology & Systems

Multiple product lines

Experience & infrastructure

Product market fit

Cash flow

A Whole-Company Transformation


Product

Engineering

Marketing &

SalesServices

& Support

Finance

Features to support in each


Customizations& one-offs?

SaaSLegacy

High-appeal features powered by new technology?

Imagine you have a blank slate


Start with the new customer visionnot with a legacy customer laundry list

What can be addedwithout sacrificing usability

What can be made configurable?Minimize outright customizability

Architecture Transition Options


LegacyThin-ClientOn-Prem Combined Hosted

Additional Architecture Considerations


• Integration changes• Reporting options• Single sign-on• Security• Certification requirements• End-to-end performance testing• Cloud vs. Managed Services vs. Colocation


ResourceAllocation?

Optional RequiredEncouraged

Migration Strategy?

SaaS

Roadmap PlanningRelease Cycle?

Legacy

Packaging & Pricing


• Price to value, not to artificial conversion factors

• Choose your volume driver carefully• Consider tax-table discount schedule• Bundling? Aim for the middle• Freemium? Measure opportunity plus support

costs• Prioritize recurring over one-time costs• Term length? Monthly, annual, or multi-year?• Simplify and standardize contracts

Marketing


Education

OnboardingSales

No longer just about lead generation

• Nurture throughout• Expose more• Measure everything

Support

Blurring lines with

Sales Methodology


from“Elephant hunting

to“Land and Expand”

Investment in sales cycle

Investment in growth

Pipeline Transition


SaaS only

ProvideOptions

Legacy OnlyMatureDeals

NewLeads

DevelopingOpportunities

Compensation


What do you pay on?• Connect to LTV• Long-term contacts aren’t much more valuable• Use easy-to-grasp proxy metrics

Pay up in the first year!• Yes, the percentages will go up• This isn’t insurance – resist the “book of business”

approach• Over-communicate

Implementation


• Strive for fast, standard deployments• Push configuration into the customer’s hands• Effective onboarding over extensive training• Learn to say “no” to customizations – maintain

upgradability

No Camping! Forget about PS as a profit center

Customer Support to Customer Success


Product works

Customer satisfied

What customer wants

Upsell opportunities

Reactive

Project successful

Business benefits

Best practices

Growth & renewal

Proactive

The Impact of Churn


Speaking of Financial Metrics


• MRR vs ARR?• Modeling infrastructure & support costs• Determining customer acquisition costs• Predicting churn• Estimating LTV – don’t forget obsolescence• Prepare for cash flow dip

Overall Culture


• Everything is part of the product• Consider user experience with every touch• Embrace agility throughout – get it out and iterate• Accelerate time to value• Customer success mentality• Collect data at every opportunity• Ingrain metrics in decision-making

Questions


Contact me:

Tim [email protected]@writepositioning.comwww.linkedin.com/in/timoliver47https://twitter.com/timoliver47

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.linkedin.com/in/timoliver47

https://twitter.com/timoliver47

transitioning from legacy to saas

Software