2 page Case Study - Posted 7/24/2009
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SaaS Support Helps ISV Target New Markets and Launch Service-Based Products in Weeks
Determined to enter the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market with its mobile business solutions, independent software vendor (ISV) Mobile Tracing Services engaged the help of Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner YouSAAS. As part of the Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program, YouSAAS gave Mobile Tracing Services the guidance necessary to redefine its marketing strategy and bring its software-based applications to market quickly.
Business Needs
Mobile Tracing Services solutions give mobile users the tools to capture and send information using their mobile phones. The ISV offers two key business products. LiveTask helps companies organize field operations and gives mobile users access to information. Users can also capture and transmit data from any location. The second application, LiveTransport, focuses on shipment and transport operations, linking drivers to office-based operations for real-time monitoring.
Mobile Tracing Services products are designed to put organizations in touch with their mobile teams, share information, and offer real-time tracking to enhance their relationships with customers. The company aims to make its applications as accessible as possible and deliver them in a cost-effective way.
From the start, Mobile Tracing Services, founded in 2007, has intended to venture into the relatively new territory of SaaS—where the provider licenses the application to customers for use as an on-demand service. Bruno Haize, Field Team Manager, Mobile Tracing Services, explains that to expand to new markets, the organization needed to move to an online model: “Our LiveTransport product, for example, was initially developed as an in-house application for smaller companies. But when we wanted to target larger businesses, it became complicated when our customers had to sell on the license ID to their shipment companies, the sub-contractors, and other parties. With the SaaS model, we don’t have these complications.”
The difficultly for Mobile Tracing Services was in marketing its applications as services at a time when many businesses were still unfamiliar with the deployment model. Haize says: “It’s difficult for ISVs to enter the SaaS business without specific marketing, strategy, and commercial knowhow. We needed help to redefine our business towards a SaaS model and pass the benefits on to our customers.”
Solution
Strategy consultancy YouSAAS advises ISVs on how to bring their SaaS solutions to market. As well as providing a fully hosted environment for ISV applications and their supporting Microsoft infrastructure, YouSAAS offers the experience and understanding necessary to help ISVs make their ambitions a reality.
The organization is among other Microsoft Gold Certified Partners forming part of the Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program. The partners are chosen for their understanding of the business needs of ISVs and can offer consulting, advice, and technical support in bringing their SaaS applications to market quickly.
Mobile Tracing Services engaged YouSAAS through the Incubation Centre Program. YouSAAS guided the organization through a series of structured business and architectural consulting sessions to prepare its applications for service-based delivery. Philippe Limantour, General Manager, YouSAAS, says: “We showed Mobile Tracing Services ways to differentiate itself from other companies and bring its products to market effectively, and delivered an action plan laying out the steps needed to go live with the first solution.”
The consulting session involved a three-step process: a business design session, an architectural design session, and, finally, a catalogue design session—a dedicated go-to-market strategy. “YouSAAS helped us to understand the environment, how to tune our Web site into a SaaS-focused site, and how to market our applications,” says Haize. In just two months, Mobile Tracing Services redesigned its first product LiveTask as an online application, hosted by YouSAAS, along with a supporting Microsoft infrastructure, including Microsoft SQL Server® 2008 data management software. Both services are now available to users of Internet-connected mobile phones or computers. Mobile Tracing Services offers basic versions of the software as a free trial. This way, it can attract paying customers through its marketing of the full-featured solutions.
Mobile Tracing Services can take advantage of the hosted environment to add value to its services. Haize explains: “We can link our software to other applications hosted by YouSAAS. For example, as our customer base grows through our Web site, we’ll need an online payment application. We’ll be able to link to one that is already hosted by YouSAAS, which will help us deliver this service much faster than would otherwise be possible.”
Benefits
By working with an experienced Microsoft Partner, Mobile Tracing Services has successfully realigned its business strategy and re-branded its applications, bringing them to market as SaaS solutions quickly and easily. Haize says: “YouSAAS taught us how to promote our services effectively and we have since discovered additional benefits to be gained from our relationship with YouSAAS, including its experience as a software host.”
- Makes fast time to market possible. The YouSAAS experience, combined with the guidance of the Microsoft Software + Services Incubation Center Program, helped Mobile Tracing Services enter the cutting-edge, service-based industry with confidence. “The SaaS environment is specific. YouSAAS knows the culture and the key elements to success—knowledge that is crucial for any startup ISV developing applications for this market,” says Haize.
- Helps ISVs develop valuable relationships. Mobile Tracing Services can bundle in additional software that’s available in the YouSAAS hosted environment as customers demand, without the need for further development, increasing monthly revenues. Haize says: “Our customers may ask for tools to be added to our application and we can potentially provide these quickly and easily.”
- Gives ISVs tools to expand their businesses. Mobile Tracing Services can use its new online marketing strategy to cross-sell its applications to larger businesses. Other ISVs can integrate its robust mobility functions into their own business offerings, with a pay-per-use business model. “Another ISV may be targeting its solution to 20,000 tradesmen, for example. We can cross-sell our application to those prospects,” says Haize.
- Provides accessible and cost-effective service. Customers of Mobile Tracing Services benefit from easy connection without the need to install applications in-house. They simply pay a monthly fee, with no maintenance costs, making their outgoings predictable and easy to manage.
- Enhances support. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, YouSAAS accesses the most up-to-date technologies to provide ISVs with optimized hosting environments to support their applications.
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