Helping investors and customers understand and appreciate the value of rapidly evolving best practices is a critical step for the SaaS solutions provider. Traditional software development and delivery processes are proven and accepted, and customers accustomed to the on-premise software licensing paradigm encounter new operational imperatives when considering an on-demand solution for the first time. Understanding the implications of a rapid development and release model is a common impediment to SaaS adoption. Annual release cycles conform to the norm and confer a sense of low risk and stability, while the concept of quarterly or monthly release cycles represents a foundational change. Today we’ll discuss the operational implications of the rapid release cycle and the advantages and challenges for customers and providers.
The Long Cut to the Long Tail
The SaaS model neither infers nor permits an erosion of the basic software development planning and management principles or practices that have evolved to assure quality. The best SaaS companies develop software and manage release using the same basic guidelines employed by models that are more traditional. In practice, the software development model is irrelevant, as long as the principles of requirements analysis, specification, software architecture, implementation, test, and documentation are managed to a quality result. Building software is not an artistic endeavor; it is an exercise in process, measurement, delivery, and execution. Each iterative software release must deliver value to secure customer confidence and acceptance of the rapid release model, and the time-honored axiom of “Do the right things right” is foundational to the quality of any SaaS product.
Better for Who?
A frequent release environment presents challenges for the SaaS provider. Traditional lines of responsibility and demarcation are blurred inside a SaaS company, where software and its supporting infrastructure are inseparable, and where customer adoption is immediate and ubiquitous. These conditions require unprecedented alignment between Engineering and Operations teams and compel an absolute commitment to balancing quality, usability, and time to market objectives. A true multi-tenant SaaS solution provider has the ability to deliver universal functionality to every user at next log-in, a powerful position. Once you pull the release lever, no customer action is required to take advantage of your new functionality. Since late adoption is not an option for the SaaS customer, it is the responsibility of the provider to understand and address implications for the user community before delivery. When considering the value of a conceptual feature or usability change, ask “What does the customer do with what she has today, will she still be able to do it tomorrow, and does she need what I plan to give her next?” Changes delivered to customers must be additive; SaaS providers who constantly release improvements which are perceived as remediative by users risk the introduction of legitimate concerns about the maturity of their product and its associated product releases processes.
Collaborative Agility
The rapid release schedule compresses the training and information dissemination cycle for customers and users, so it is important that front-end functionality be presented in an intuitive and understandable fashion. One common objection to releasing “too often” is the challenge of addressing user confusion arising from changes to existing product functions and capabilities, which have been integrated into core customer business processes. This objection should be taken seriously, as it often points to ineffective product management, where the customer position is inadequately represented in the analysis and planning process, or to insufficient and ineffective marketing communication programs. Both of these problems are easily solved through awareness, acceptance, and process improvements. At Klir, we carefully evaluate the implications of any considered functional change by assessing the historical usage of our community, and integrate this process into our formal requirements process. For example, we recently eliminated a subset of KPI report templates and ongoing support for Internet Explorer 5.0 only after we validated their usage within our community over the preceding 12 months and were satisfied that we would not impact a single user. In a multi-tenant environment, complete satisfaction is not always possible, but as a goal, it represents an appropriate starting point.
Always Open
Back-end releases are governed by the same considerations, and must be carefully planned and managed within defined service windows and within established SLA parameters. Frequent data center upgrades, which are visible to the user community, introduce a sense of insufficient planning, sub-optimal system architecture, or a reactive provider culture. Each back-end update introduces the risk of a deleterious impact on uptime and reliability, and unintended customer awareness of otherwise routine system administration has beleaguered many early stage SaaS companies. Top providers set themselves apart through a focus on operational excellence, a strategy that pays dividends in the mid- and long term.
Over the past few years, the maturation of open source software, the emergence of on-demand and self-service solutions, and the value shift to information access and analysis has created unprecedented demand for solutions delivered using the SaaS model. To take advantage of these efficiencies and turn them into opportunities, a degree of market evolution is required. Market concerns related to a rapid release cycle are best assuaged through performance. A SaaS release strategy that provides consistent improvements to the product without negatively impacting customer business processes or end user familiarity is the key to long term success. By doing the right things right, a top SaaS provider will enable customers to achieve continuous business process improvement from a rapid release cycle, creating evangelical users and real value.
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