Migrating to the Cloud

How to Move Off QuickBooks Successfully – Webinar

Posted by Kevin Lalor in Migrating to the Cloud, SaaS for Financial Management on October 15th, 2010

Attend this live webinar on October 27, Making the Move Off QuickBooks Succesfully, to hear how two companies successfully jumped from QuickBooks to a cloud-computing solution that helped liberate their businesses’ growth and profitability.

Webinar Details
Topic: How to Move Off QuickBooks Successfully
Date: Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. PDT (2:00 p.m. EDT)
Register now.

During this one-hour webinar, you’ll:

• Learn the latest industry trends in business management systems and how cloud computing (SaaS) has changed the options available to high-growth and mid-sized businesses
• Hear from two business leaders who moved from QuickBooks successfully, how they did it, and what it has meant to their businesses
• See a live demo of NetSuite, the leading cloud business management software.

articipating in the panel will be Shaun Linderbaum, CTO and Co-Owner, Clickstop, and Jay Clark, Manager, Software Support, Digital Check.

This webinar will be hosted by Paul Turner, Senior Director, NetSuite.

Can’t make it? View the recorded session later by registering here.

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The Numbers Behind A Successful SaaS Business

Posted by Kevin Lalor in Migrating to the Cloud on April 6th, 2010

Kudos to David Skoks at For Entrepreneurs, who has created a really great blog site that’s full of good info. In particular, his post on SaaS Metrics is worth sharing because it goes into great detail on the economics of building a successful SaaS business – that is, selling software as a service.

Warning: Skoks’ article is not a typical (i.e. short) blog post. It’s practically a whitepaper (complete with charts and graphs), so give yourself ample time to read it. I think he’s really onto something with his breakdown of SaaS business goals: Profitability, Cash, Growth, and market share.

I commend the software companies who have made the transition to selling SaaS instead of installed software. It can be a tricky move, particularly in the areas of sales and marketing. SaaS businesses need to look at customers differently than when they sold installed licenses. The focus expands from just generating new leads / new customers all day long. They begin to also work the sales cycle of renewals to increase Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). Sustained success means a shift in how they market, as well. Think “retention programs” in addition to “demand gen.”

It’s interesting to watch the progression, as so many software providers switch to selling only SaaS. Many of our application partners (Quickbooks, NetSuite, WebEx, and many others) who once sold installed software have made the transition to SaaS. It’s not just the wave of the future. It’s the wave of right now.

So, even if you don’t sell software, you can still get “in the cloud” from an internal perspective and optimize your infrastructure by making it SaaS-based. It’s cheaper, more secure, and more reliable than the old way.

There are many different ways to approach it. At Bi101, we transition lots of different businesses to SaaS-based infrastructure and I can say for certain that long-term success and ROI requires each organization to examine their unique business and look for the biggest software / hardware capital expenses, whether it’s a pricey financial management application, CRM package, etc. Our consultants are here to help, if you want to continue the conversation.

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The Value of Cloud Computing

Posted by Kevin Lalor in Migrating to the Cloud on January 22nd, 2010

Diagram showing three main types of cloud comp...
Image via Wikipedia

SaaS and cloud computing have changed the landscape for businesses worldwide, from SMBs to the enterprise.

No longer do you need to purchase expensive hardware and software for many business functions. If you have an Internet connection, you can move much of your business computing to the cloud.

What’s the cloud? “Cloud” is a metaphor for the Internet. It’s an abstraction of how networks of computers are connected, in the old days by LAN and WAN, now by the Internet.

Over the last 5 to 10 years more and more companies have been delivering software that’s accessible from the Internet. They “own” the software and deliver it as a “service,” instead of having customers own and maintain it. Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, is an application that businesses access and use via the Internet. The actual software applications reside on servers all over the web, in the cloud.

Why is there so much buzz about cloud computing?

  • Reduced Cost — You typically pay as you go instead of making an upfront investment
  • Security – SaaS  is often more secure than your existing network
  • Reliability — Redundancy in the cloud ensures it’s always on and accessible from anywhere

One of the main drivers of the move to the cloud is cost; for many businesses, it’s cheaper to use software-as-a-service in the cloud than purchasing and maintaining software in-house.

Cost savings should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but analysts are starting to make the research available to the public.

For a fun overview of the cloud, check out this video created by Salesforce. They have been pioneering the “No Software” model for a decade.

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