http://blogs.gartner.com/debbie_wilson/2009/11/03/a-downside-of-saas-at-least-for-the-vendor-community/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:38:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 http://blogs.gartner.com/debbie_wilson/2009/11/03/a-downside-of-saas-at-least-for-the-vendor-community/comment-page-1/#comment-287 Debbie Wilson Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:43:22 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/debbie_wilson/?p=172#comment-287 Thanks for your email Jason, and I've received comments directly from several others stating the ability to "pull the plug" mid-subscription is a good thing for the buyer - because it means the vendor has an ongoing obligation to deliver value. While I agree with this, the situation I described in the initial blog posting is much more ominous. The procurement department said it was getting plenty of value, and the team was very upset about the SaaS plug getting pulled. Their senior management was refuting the ROI metrics and cutting the budget anyway . . . . . something that CAN happen with SaaS that could not with a license deal. The worst case budget cust scenario in the latter case is that you stop paying maintenance . . .. The fact that this is happening this week also indicates that the economic downturn isn't over for everyone. Thanks for your email Jason, and I’ve received comments directly from several others stating the ability to “pull the plug” mid-subscription is a good thing for the buyer – because it means the vendor has an ongoing obligation to deliver value. While I agree with this, the situation I described in the initial blog posting is much more ominous. The procurement department said it was getting plenty of value, and the team was very upset about the SaaS plug getting pulled. Their senior management was refuting the ROI metrics and cutting the budget anyway . . . . . something that CAN happen with SaaS that could not with a license deal. The worst case budget cust scenario in the latter case is that you stop paying maintenance . . .. The fact that this is happening this week also indicates that the economic downturn isn’t over for everyone.

]]> http://blogs.gartner.com/debbie_wilson/2009/11/03/a-downside-of-saas-at-least-for-the-vendor-community/comment-page-1/#comment-283 Jason M. Lemkin Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:52:06 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/debbie_wilson/?p=172#comment-283 We certainly saw a lot of this \benefit\ to SaaS for buyers during the height of the credit crunch, but that cycle seems to be mostly over ... the weak have perished, and the strong are more confident of their plans (if not of the rate of improvement in the economy itself) We certainly saw a lot of this \benefit\ to SaaS for buyers during the height of the credit crunch, but that cycle seems to be mostly over … the weak have perished, and the strong are more confident of their plans (if not of the rate of improvement in the economy itself)

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