SaaS vs. The Enterprise
Over the last 25 years, I’ve worked in many SaaS companies, primarily focused on the B2B segment of the SaaS market. Prior to that, I worked at an IT Outsourcing company for one of the largest healthcare clients in the US. I’ve often found strong similarities between the two markets. In both industries, ease of use, training, and a strong set of features are significant considerations.
When building software for internal IT needs, it does not seem like marketing would be a factor in our success. However, marketing to internal users can be a powerful driver of adoption. I witnessed several systems with low uptake rates for a number of reasons, many of which could have been solved with a marketing plan prior to releasing the software. Energy and excitement can build amongst potential users by highlighting significant features and changes (simplifications) to current workflows.
Likewise, product adoption should be monitored and can be a powerful driver for conversations regarding gaps, bugs, and future needs. Often, a legacy system will be replaced. Rapid retirement means significant reductions in operational costs and complexity. Low daily usage statistics can be a key health indicator which can then be used to determine the sunset schedule of the legacy platform.
After the internal system is operational, new features and defects will need to be addressed. This requires a good process to identify high priority items from various work queues and stakeholders. If product quality begins to suffer, usage may drop. Performance tuning will also need to be a consistent activity if you expect users to continue using the new system.
I previously worked on a patient care management system for a very large healthcare provider. Shortly after rolling out to a few hospitals, we heard that Nurses and Case Managers refused to use the new system. Instead, they continued to chart on paper. As you probably guessed, there were numerous issues including random, data-related bugs, performance issues, and missing features. Resolving these quickly was the only way to get the implementation back on track for the remaining facilities.
While these are only a few examples, they demonstrate the need for strong Product Management discipline within the organization, even if you work on internal IT systems. If you’re an Analyst, Project Manager, or Product Owner within an Internal IT department, look outside the enterprise for inspiration by finding similarities and differences between your current environment and SaaS companies.