The New Wave

The SaaS (Software as a Service, pronounced sas) business model has grown tremendously over the last 5 years. Investors seem to fall in love with SaaS companies more everyday. Some SaaS company valuations are literally mind blowing. However, I believe the new wave of the future is not SaaS but what we at Marketing 360® are calling “SaSH” (Software and Service Hybrid, pronounced sash). SaSH is everything SaaS is but with the professional services element added on top. It really is a hybrid between cloud software/technology and full-service professional services.

What is the difference?

These comparisons make it easy to understand:

• SaaS = Software + Customer Service
• SaSH = Software + Customer Service + Professional Services + Dedicated Expert

• Accounting SaaS company = Accounting Software + Customer Service
• Accounting SaSH company = Accounting Software + Customer Service + Professional Accounting Services + Dedicated Certified Accountant

• Marketing SaaS company = Marketing Software + Customer Service
• Marketing SaSH company = Marketing Software + Customer Service + Professional Marketing Services + Dedicated Certified Marketer

Many SaaS companies offer their customers access to much needed professional services through some sort of partner program/ecosystem. This means customers need to spend more money, signup with third parties and manage many different relationships to get what they want. Not fun, not cheap, not effective.

Example:

You’re a small business owner and need better marketing so you signup to use an inbound marketing software developed by a popular, highly rated, SaaS company. The customer service is good and software seems dynamic but you’re not an expert in inbound marketing and are not sure how to leverage the power of the software. You try to gain knowledge from customer service, they help some but not a ton, and offer to sell you an expensive training program which you purchase. After the training program you feel better about using the software but are still by no means an expert and have little experience. After a few months you see minor results, nothing impressive, so you decide to study more books, do more training, etc…still, little effect on results. Along the way you need things designed and you’re not a designer so you use a recommended partner of the software company which does okay but is slow and expensive. Later you need a video created for your campaign to work (at least that’s your best guess from your self education) and again use a partner recommended by the software company. This partner did not do so hot, was even more expensive and very slow. After months of effort and no real results you cancel your software subscription and try something else.

The example above is very common in the SaaS industry. With SaSH the experience is much different. SaSH companies provide the software, service, support and experts needed to achieve success. A SaSH marketing company would not only have the powerful cloud marketing software, but also dedicated marketing experts (such as certified digital marketers, designers, developers, content writers, etc.) proactively working with you to deliver results. No need to look for recommended partners, third parties or marketing training courses. This allows you to fully leverage not only the marketing software but also professional marketing services and expert marketing talent.

Why will SaSH be the new wave?

SaSH will be the new wave because the model provides more value and “stickiness” to customers. Because of this, SaSH companies will outperform and out-compete SaaS companies in the same industry (head-to-head battle). This will further force SaaS prices down in attempt to create a competitive advantage in hopes to capture market-share. Problem is, this strategy will attract the high maintenance bottom feeder customer base, leaving the high paying “good customers” to go with the SaSH companies. This steady domination will force most software companies to move to the SaSH model and the new “hot commodity” among investors will be SaSH.

Why does Marketing 360® care about SaaS and SaSH anyways?

Madwire®, creator of Marketing 360®, was founded in 2009 as a full-service marketing and design agency. In 2013, four years later, we were recognized as the 51st fastest growing company in the country by Inc. 500 with 5,254% growth over a 3 year period. Our growth was primarily fueled by our excellent, results driven, professional marketing services to small and medium sized businesses. However, in the summer of 2013 we launched the first version of our cloud based website software called UXi™. With this launch we lightly entered the software space. We plan to roll-out a new and improved version of UXi™ to start 2014 which will set the standard for website technology. Then, later in 2014 we plan to launch the most powerful digital marketing software available for businesses today. It will set the standard for cloud marketing software and integrate with all major digital marketing channels. The software will also integrate directly with our streamlined marketing services and in-house talent including our dedicated certified digital marketers, content writers, ad specialists (optimizers) and creative team of designers, developers, video producers and web project mangers. Users will be able to leverage the power of our marketing software and services all from one interface (the cloud). With the launch of our intelligent digital marketing software we’ll officially become a SaSH company…and like we tend to do, forge a new path for others to follow.