digital transformation Archives

Rethinking SaaS …to SatS.

September 16, 2020 by Wim GE De Vos Leave a Comment

Imagine rethinking software around the user and not the money.

Imagine Software at the Service (SatS).

Looking back we see that the transition from Software as a Product (SaaP) to Software as a Service (SaaS) was primarily about the business model. As a result it became all about the money. This new model to monetise then drove product design. Sometimes drove it off a cliff…

The result of this software optimised for a business model resulted in:

super aggressive sales practices (ever had someone from Salesforce on the phone?)
“Salesforce Fridays” (your best sales talent actually hating every single Friday afternoon after a super successful week because they have to “populate the system”)
hidden lock-in strategies of all sorts making you doubt deeply before adopting any product

But the times they are a-changin´… (and pretty fast recently)

The future transformation of software is all about the User.
This will re-focus software product design fundamentally.
Think Software at the Service (SatS).

Imagine software optimised for:

Autonomy of every user in your company
Employee engagement by allowing for a high degree of personalisation
full transparency and pay-as-you-use

Imagine software you trust deeply. Software you can mold and shape to be what you want it to be. Personalised for you.

Imagine taking deep dives into user types and habits instead of optimising for the high-touch or low-touch sales strategies. We will come to appreciate the power of personalisation by users instead.

Imagine software that is built to create value for the user not just the investor. Software designed with a focus on how it will serve the user best.

Imagine…and now build it. Your focus determines where you end up.

Small decisions that make a BIG impact 💥.

Growing vs leveraging your sales force

January 3, 2020 by Wim GE De Vos Leave a Comment

Genesis is a pure-play B2B company selling solutions. In our quest for growth we asked ourselves the following question:

add sales people ?
OR
leverage the best sales talent we already possess ?

Our sales talent needs to do 3 things basically. More or less 1/3 of their time is spent on the following.

1. Admin of some sort (system design, expenses, email replies,…)
2. Prospecting for new opportunities (projects, clients, applications, relationships,…)
3. Magic moments. Spend time building relationships and developing opportunities with existing customers (when the magic happens)

At Genesis we have chosen to leverage the best sales talent we have.
Statistics really…
Multiply guaranteed success vs multiplying the number of gambles…

Using dedicated software has helped us leverage the success of our best sales talent as follows:

A. Reduce admin time and effort.
So more valuable time is freed up for prospecting and magic moments.

find information faster
easy system design and accumulative learning (templates and sharing of best practices)
clients can self-serve (getting information, initial system design/spec,…;

B. Optimise prospecting for new opportunities (data leads us to insights…):

premium homes = the opportunity
visionary architects = the creator
best-in-class installers of technology = the craftsman

C. More magic moments…

tailored system designs – The difference between style and fashion is quality. (Giorgio Armani)
perfect timing – A wizard is never early. He is never late. He is always perfectly on time. (Lord of the Rings)
Gamification of our work-life – badges, leaderboards and fun trips for our loyal partners.

Leveraging your best sales people is always a good idea (small a-teams run circles around large abc-organizations…) but has proven to work especially well in the following scenarios:

Selective distribution: grow via a select group of partners (relationships and insights are key)
Moving from product to system sales (systems are sum of products + knowledge + services and tailored to specific opportunities)
When good and experienced are in short supply
When it takes a long time to train new salespeople

Small decision that get us to where we want to be.

The choice is (y)ours. as always.

Note: more on where to start your digital transformation journey in this post.

Digital transformation – where to start

November 9, 2019 by Wim GE De Vos 1 Comment

A recent survey of directors, CEOs, and senior executives found that digital transformation (DT) risk is their #1 concern in 2019. Yet 70% of all DT initiatives do not reach their goals. (source Harvard Business Review)

Digital transformation is a matter of survival for any business. But especially tricky for SME´s.

Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Salesforce, IBM, SAP, but also thousands of specialised players like Xero, Slack, Bootcamp, Mailchimp,… are all promising you the world.

So where do you start? How do you decide?

Look for the perfect “total solution provider”?
Build upon whatever software you already use?
Cloud or local packages?
Departmental approach (accounting, sales, production, shipping, IT, finance,…)

The decision making process I propose is the following:

Start with an in-depth business analysis. Where are we today?
Then lay out your strategic vision for the business. Where are we going?

And then a hybrid, personalised and phased approach will start to emerge.

Some parts will be hosted locally (eg sensitive information), some parts will be hosted in either a private cloud (own infrastructure) or public cloud solutions (external suppliers).

There is no Holy Grail of digital transformation. You are unique. So is the solution you need.

So start with analysing where you are today and plotting where you want to be tomorrow. Not by selecting softwares or vendors.

And I bet you will find that the digital transformation of your business will be hybrid, personal and phased.

Some interesting reads are:

ZDNet: Digital Transformation: making it work in the real world.
Harvard Business Review: Digital Transormation is not about technology.
Insead Knowledge: Setting the stage for Digital Transformation