[blindhippo]

Not sure I understand this sentiment. This same manager would likely be buying a 15k used car outright if he's worried about paying for software over time.

The problem that I have with SaaS is that most companies pursuing it's business model fail at the value option. Take Freshbooks for instance - I started using their service 3 years ago for 9$ per month. This got bumped to 14$ per month. I now have to pay 20$ per month for the same service I got 3 years ago (very little has been added of value to me). I could have bought a stand alone invoicing solution for $100 once and been far better off (I'm now trying to find a good one).

SaaS is often a really crummy deal for the customer and we all know it.

[ig1]

You're making the mistake of assuming everyone has the same problem as you do.

Pre-SaaS most companies would have paid upfront for a piece of software (before knowing if it works for them) and then upgraded ever few years in any case. For multi-user software they would have needed to pay for servers, ops staff, etc. on an on-going basis in any case.

When companies are evaluating a SaaS solution versus a boxed solution price is not typically a major deciding factor.

[darkarmani]

> SaaS is often a really crummy deal for the customer and we all know it.

Which is why no company will make very much money with the SaaS model...since we all know it is a crummy deal, we'd never support companies doing SaaS (or PaaS or IaaS). I remember a small startup Sales-something trying to do a CRM as SaaS a few years ago. I'm sure they are gone by now.

[jguimont]

What about the new SaaS that 37signals' Basecamp Breeze is trying to put forward? Pay one fee of X$ and have access to it forever. I guess this applies more to single purpose laser focused services that are not expected to change in the foreseeable future.

[ams6110]

"Forever" meaning "as long as 37signals exists" ?

[FollowSteph3]

Actually only as long as they are interested in selling the service. There's nothing to stop from discontinuing it at any time in the future.

[Sven7]

well...depends on how much growth your org has seen in 3 years. If your people are still using Windows XP with IE 7...sure what you say makes sense. But if your org has seen major growth, lots of new employees requiring all kinds of new platforms and form factors then its a slightly different story.

[blindhippo]

My org is just me. My revenue has remained fairly flat over that period. But the cost to access my data has risen rather steeply over that period. Had I purchased a stand alone application to start with, I would have saved 50% of the cost.

I'm not talking about large installs for big organizations - I was speaking directly to the value options for small organizations. Most SaaS are designed to funnel end customers into higher profit services for no real reason other then higher profit. Value wise it's not a good deal for the customer.

[Sven7]

Not always true is all I'm saying. From a business perspective, it makes sense to target higher margin customers .

[tmzt]

Would you rather pay a percentage of the payment you receive or a monthly fee like Freshbooks charges?