Sometimes, going back to the foundational building blocks of a concept can be pretty enlightening. We all know that ‘SaaS’ means software as a service, but lately, I’ve really been struck by just how important the ‘as a service’ part of the acronym has become, and just how critical the services your partners deliver around your software are to your SaaS company’s success. This got me thinking about the role of software transformation into new services.
The services your partners provide around your software are critical to the success of any SaaS company.
I believe that any SaaS company that takes on a truly partner-centric mindset – aligning their goals, KPIs, and daily efforts with the solutions and services offered by their partners – is actively future-proofing their company. This is because strategically embracing your wider ecosystem allows you to bring in multiple layers of skills, technology, and services to help craft complete solutions for your customers. Importantly, partner services, like those offered by MSPs, play a huge role in client success and retention.
Software transformation into new services is an essential part of a thriving ecosystem.
I’ve borrowed the below image from Jay McBain’s recent post where he talks about the five different layers of an ecosystem. This image nicely depicts how important software transformation into new partner services is, showing how your ecosystem combines your core divisions with your partners’ solutions and services to create lasting customer success and SaaS growth:
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-different-layers-i-see-ecosystem-jay-mcbain/
Here are three other reasons why supporting and aligning with your service partners is becoming so important in the software industry today.
1. MSP partners are best positioned to incorporate relevant software when solving customers’ security issues.
According to research from AvePoint, 69% of MSPs cite security and governance as two of the top three IT needs of their customers. This isn’t surprising, as data breaches and cybersecurity attacks remain a huge liability for any company today. Addressing their customers’ security concerns provides an opportunity for your MSP partners to incorporate relevant products into their service. This solves for the customer while making your product stickier.
“(MSP partners) have great visibility into their customers’ IT structure and are best suited to provide expert insight on the right security solutions to pair with other IT services or tools,” says Security Magazine’s Marco Sanchez. “In a more granular sense, partners are the best source to connect specific providers across technology sectors – with the inside knowledge of knowing which systems will ease the integration process.”
2. Partner services are the Ace up your sleeve when it comes to retention.
We recently took a look at Jared Fuller’s top partnerships predictions for 2022. One of his predictions was that CAC will continue to rise while conversion rates will continue to fall. Roketto’s Chris Onyett agrees, pointing out that SaaS-related keywords are highly sought-after, and can end up costing up to $100 for a single click.
The upshot? Your customer retention strategy will become more important than ever before, and your partners’ services are the Ace up your sleeve when it comes to helping customers get the most out of your software long term. When partners help you to provide holistic, end-to-end solutions that actually get your customers the results they need, you can kiss those sky-high churn rates goodbye.
3. Using a marketplace to make your partners’ services easy to find improves your customers’ lives.
Carrying on from the point above, improving your retention rates requires connecting your customers with the right partners. The best way to do this is via a marketplace specifically designed to sell B2B solutions and services.
When your accredited MSPs and VARs are listed in an easy-to-navigate, eCommerce-enabled marketplace, customers are able to self-serve and quickly and reliably find the services they need. This is exactly why more and more B2B buyers are looking to marketplaces for everything from solutions to services. After all, according to Forrester, 17% of the $13 trillion in B2B spend will flow through marketplaces by 2023.
Morphed’s white-labeled marketplace infrastructure is specifically designed to help you sell your partners’ B2B services online, thereby making your customers’ lives easier and improving your retention rates.
