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• CEO Tom Berquist joined Corel in 2009 and immediately began moving the 25-year old company’s infrastructure to the cloud

• He will have deployed 10 new SaaS applications over 600+ workers by the end of 2014

• Today, Corel boasts a savings

of at least $2 million per year as a direct result of its SaaS implementations

LEADING COREL TO THE CLOUD

DO: GARNER ACTIVE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT

• CEOs need to push for the change at all levels• SaaS should be discussed at senior management meetings• Don’t leave everything to your CIO

DON’T: TRY TO SIDESTEP YOUR IT TEAM

• Consult with and engage IT from the initial stages

• Focus your IT team on being project managers• IT will become your primary integration team as

you roll out each new SaaS app

DO: GO WITH EVOLVED SAAS COMPANIES

• Bigger companies tend to consolidate updates• The larger the company, the more expertise is

available as a resource to you• Mainstream apps have more integrations with

other programs

DON’T: START WITH EVERYONE

• The broader the app’s touch, the longer it will take to rollout

• Focus on a particular business team first (e.g. legal), and then build on your success

• Look for apps that change the backend infrastructure of a system without altering the front end too much

DO: LAY OUT A REASONABLE TIMELINE

• Create a rollout roadmap with key milestones• No rollout for a large company will take less 2 quarters• Aim for full adoption within a year at most

DON’T: DEFAULT TO ENDLESS TRAINING

• Try to pick apps that require minimal training (e.g. Google)

• Know when to say “Enough training, it’s time to adopt.”

• Be supportive and understanding - but still firm - with your slow adopters

DO: THE MATH

• Chart your tech costs before and after the deployment

• Consider the value of having converted a fixed IT cost into a variable one

• Include the decrease in hardware and support staff costs in your ROI calculations

DON’T: LOCK YOURSELF IN

• The greatest benefits of SaaS lies in its inherent flexibility

• Start with in-depth analysis of each business unit’s tech needs and usage; BUT

• Don’t be afraid to decommission or move a product into a different use case after testing

Want to learn more? Read about Tom’s experience introducing and

deploying SaaS apps at Corel on Prialto Post

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