10 ways saas commerce platforms improve tco · 2019-08-01 · technologies eliminate the need for...
TRANSCRIPT
10 WAYS SAAS COMMERCE
PLATFORMS IMPROVE TCO
REVISIT OPPORTUNITIES TO
MOVE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
TO THE CLOUD: SOFTWARE-AS-
A-SERVICE (SAAS) APPLICATIONS
ARE HERE TO STAY—AND ARE
GROWING IN NUMBER. WHY? SAAS-
BASED BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
USUALLY DELIVER FAST TIME-TO-
DEPLOY AND AN AGILE, ITERATIVE
APPROACH TO IMPROVING
BUSINESS RESULTS. RETAILERS
WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SAAS
SOLUTIONS IN THE PAST SHOULD
LOOK AGAIN.1
Forrester Research Inc.
1.Brief: Key Tech Trends That Serve Up Next-Gen Commerce, Forrester Research Inc., April 8, 2016.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
3
Total cost of ownership (TCO) provides businesses a cost basis for determining
the total economic value of an investment. And because commerce platforms
are a significant investment for any enterprise, many are finding numerous
advantages to switching to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions—leaving the
limitations and high cost of legacy on-premise platforms behind.
Below are 10 ways SaaS Commerce platforms improve TCO within your
business, increase efficiencies, and build the bottom line in ways you might
not have imagined.
A WARNING: SOME PROVIDERS OFFER
UPGRADES FOR A HEFTY PRICE.
FORTUNATELY, SAAS PLATFORMS
GENERALLY OFFER BUILT-IN, SAFE,
FREE ROLLOUTS OF RELEASES
AND UPGRADES, THUS ENSURING
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS ALWAYS
REMAIN CURRENT WITHOUT
INTRUDING ON BUSINESS CYCLES,
KEEPING USERS EFFORTLESSLY UP-
TO-DATE WITH BOTH MARKET AND
CONSUMER DEMANDS.
#1 SAAS COMMERCE
PLATFORMS DELIVER
PREDICTABLE RELEASES AND
UPGRADES
SaaS software possesses a predictable cycle of future releases and
upgrades. When software upgrades are not automatic and seamless,
the software user runs the high risk of slowly falling behind in the
upgrade schedule. This failure to upgrade means lost efficiency and
potentially lost sales as the business is not operating with the most
state-of-the-art features and functionality to combat consumer’s
demands.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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#2 SAAS PLATFORMS
EMPOWER BUSINESS END
USERS
IT departments are often tasked with balancing between
time spent on maintenance and time spent on strategy
and innovation. SaaS platforms give time and internal
resources back to IT departments. SaaS takes care of
all maintenance, which improves efficiency within IT
departments by freeing in-house IT resources from the
burden of platform maintenance, allowing them to focus
on building the future of the enterprise.
#3 MULTI-TENANT
SAAS PLATFORMS ARE
INHERENTLY DEMOCRATIC
The “develop once, deploy many” model of multi-tenant
SaaS streamlines platform upgrades for all users.
Because a single instance of the software runs for all
customers—with updates released simultaneously—
lengthy, expensive integrations that waste revenue and
time are no longer an issue. The way to determine if a
Cloud platform is truly SaaS is if all users run the same
version at the same time. If not, it’s pseudo SaaS, and not
the platform that delivers all the great benefits of true
multi-tenant SaaS.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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#4 KEEP YOUR EYES
OPEN FOR CENTRALIZED
FEATURES SUCH AS
INTEGRATED PRODUCT
CATALOGS
Choose a SaaS solution that liberates developers from
the time-consuming tasks of updating multiple catalogs
for multiple sales channels. Instead, marketing and
merchandising teams can manage product updates and
launch sites directly, increasing efficiencies within the
enterprise overall. SaaS eliminates painful redundant
work and decreases the chance of human error.
#5 SAAS PLATFORMS
ALLOW LIMITLESS
EXTENSIBILITY AND
CUSTOMIZATION
Traditional on-premise platforms often prevent
businesses from realizing revenue due to their lack of
extensibility and customization. Some only allow for
templates with no customization whatsoever. But not all
businesses are created the same. Retailers and branded
manufacturers should look for a platform that has open,
extensible API and SDKs in multiple languages that allow
them to utilize existing in-house development resources
and decrease time-to-market for product and site
launches.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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#6 LOOK FOR FAIR, USAGE-BASED
PRICING THAT DELIVERS ECONOMIES OF
SCALE
Usage-based pricing models are highly predictable, allowing enterprises to accurately
manage IT budgets and achieve economies of scale as the business grows, supporting
a shared success without unfair penalties. Platform users only pay for what they use, a
refreshing change to the on-premise pricing model. With most SaaS pricing, businesses
can start playing the game at a lower entry fee and can start realizing ROI faster.
Additionally, most Cloud-based systems with a SaaS payment structure allow business
users to utilize more instances and scale up and down as traffic increases and decreases
during peak seasons. On-premise solutions require purchasing the total estimated highest
instances up front (so as to have enough infrastructure to cover all spikes) which also
means businesses will be paying for the highest instances even during their slow months.
But with on-premise, it’s a necessity, otherwise when businesses have high traffic to their
eCommerce sites but limited infrastructure to support it, the sites could go black.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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#7 ON-PREMISE COSTS
CAN BUILD UP OVER TIME
WITHOUT BUILDING YOUR
BOTTOM LINE
Before a business user signs the dotted line, they should
look at the additional costs associated with on-premise
versus the Cloud. Which of those additional costs help
grow the bottom line? Or are those additional costs more
akin to throwing money at a solution that can barely
maintain needs, instead of one that not only maintains
but anticipates needs as well? On-premise platforms
frequently come with numerous hidden costs, including
additional new site licenses, annual hardware leases,
and data center hosting and facility costs. These costs
can really add up and undermine TCO as they constrain
growth and result in unrealized revenue.
#8 SAAS PLATFORMS
REDUCE DOWNTIME
DRAMATICALLY WITH 99.9%
AVAILABILITY
Because SaaS solutions are Cloud-based technologies,
uptime is not dependent upon on-premise hardware.
And down eCommerce platforms mean no online sales.
But it’s not just revenue to be concerned about—internal
resources such as time and money are also spent while
the platform is down, leading to an even greater overall
loss.
As SaaS platform providers are evaluated, look for
multiple redundant data centers in dispersed locations,
professional 24x7x365 monitoring, automatic daily
backups, disaster recovery, and business continuity
services to ensure that assets are available, secure, and
performing optimally.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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ACCORDING TO ONE SPECIALTY
RETAILER WE SPOKE WITH, ‘WE
WENT WITH A SAAS SOLUTION TO
GIVE US FLEXIBILITY, BUT THE COST
STRUCTURE—PUTTING LESS INTO
INFRASTRUCTURE UPFRONT—WAS
ALSO MORE ATTRACTIVE.2
Forrester Research, Inc.
2. Building The Business Case For Omnichannel In Retail, Forrester Research, Inc., July 11, 2016.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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#9 SAAS
TECHNOLOGIES
ELIMINATE
THE NEED FOR
HARDWARE
INFRASTRUCTURES
Because SaaS technology is housed in the Cloud, the on-
premise hardware technologies—and the IT resources
required to maintain them—are no longer necessary,
and can be rechanneled to more efficiently support
other aspects of the business. This includes the space to
house the hardware, along with any fees that may incur
(See number 10). Many businesses leveraging SaaS
technology don’t even use an IT team, instead they rely
completely on SaaS for all their business needs.
#10 CHOOSE SAAS
AND SAY GOOD-
BYE TO RELATED
HARDWARE
SUPPORTING COSTS
Using on-premise eCommerce platforms and the
required supportive hardware demands significant
amounts of energy to keep these systems running.
ZDNet discovered that average energy costs for both
direct IT power and related cooling for just a single
server can use up about $731.94 per year in electricity.
Estimating that enterprises average one server per 20
PCs, even businesses with fewer than 500 employees
can rack up energy costs well over $18,000 each year for
server rooms alone.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO © 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
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START THINKING SAAS
FOR FUTURE SUCCESS
Considering a SaaS solution when calculating
TCO for commerce platforms brings numerous
advantages. SaaS is a fundamentally different
software development model, and Kibo provides
the simplicity of multi-tenant SaaS without
hardware headaches and with the regular,
predictable releases of new features. With Kibo’s
open and extensible API, business users don’t
need to wait for IT to launch new features or
microsites, or test new markets or products. When
looking to ensure future stability and success,
consider implementing SaaS technology.
10 Ways SaaS eCommerce Platforms Improve TCO
© 2017 Kibo Software, Inc.
Kibo empowers retailers and branded manufacturers to achieve optimal performance
of B2C and B2B commerce through unified consumer experiences. With more than
40 years of innovations, Kibo provides a complete omnichannel commerce platform
delivered with the lowest total cost of ownership and the fastest time to market.
By leveraging cloud technologies, individualized buying experiences, and true
enterprise scale, Kibo enables you to reach higher peaks of sales and consumer
loyalty. No matter the challenge, Kibo powers your success.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT KIBO CALL 877-350-3866
OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.KIBOCOMMERCE.COM
ABOUT KIBO
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Lowering the Cost of Ownership with Cloud-Based Technology