One afternoon in the Spring of 1993 in a conference room in San Jose, California I learned that product versions for software are meaningless.Well, not exactly meaningless, but mathematically illogical, as in 1 + 1 = 4.
The product manager for Lotus 1-2-3 and I were briefing an influential Dataquest analyst on the forthcoming enhancements to the Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows spreadsheet. It was a major overhaul of the less-than-successful version 1.0 and 1.1 releases of the product.
Favorably impressed with nifty new features like instant charting and "Scenario Manager," the analyst suggested we abandon plans to label the new product "release 1.5" or even "2.0."
If we really wanted to make an impact, to heck with arithmetic. Skip a few steps entirely and call it "Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4."
And the tagline that adorned the tee-shirt read: "It's Not Just a New Version. It's a New Vision."
Version numbers are irrelevant for SaaS solutions
Which brings me to the naming conventions for software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions.
When it comes to sticking version numbers on SaaS solutions, don't bother with labels like 1.1, 2.0, or anything-dot-anything.
Also drop any notions about using "Winter" release or a "Spring" release. These seasonal monikers work for beer; not for SaaS solutions. (I also suspect they're confusing to customers in the southern hemisphere.)In the old world of desktop applications and on-premise software, we made a big deal about new versions. It helped us sell more software. Our version 4.0 must be better than the competitor's version 3.0. And it must be way better than our old version, 1.1.
It worked really well for awhile and companies made a lot of money on this upgrade cycle. Every couple years we convinced people to rip out the old stuff and buy some new stuff.
An old naming convention doesn't fit a new model
But the logic of the upgrade cycle, and the version labels that went along with it, don't fit with SaaS solutions.
In the SaaS model, solutions are upgraded regularly and the upgrades are delivered as part of the subscription. The user doesn't have an installed version that's outdated, because the user doesn't have an installed version at all.
And if the prospective customer is asking "Which version release will I be buying," you need to do a better job of educating them on the basics of SaaS.
The only people who should know or care about version numbers are in your customer
support group. In order to diagnose problems, they may need to know precisely which version the customer has access to at any particular time.But that doesn't require a big, bold label a la "Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4," "Oracle 8i" or "Windows 95." Version numbers on SaaS solutions are sooooo 1990s.
This work by Peter Cohen, SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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I agree, but sometimes when people evaluate a product, they need to get the feeling that it's stable enough and it had been out there for a while. So version 4.2 is probably the best one: 4 - means probably all the cool features I need, .2 -> means it's stable enough.
ReplyDeleteHigher versions numbers are not as good IMO (for example 11.2) since then the product may sound as an old legacy one, that may not keep up with modern technologies ("oh, would I need to install this ActiveX??").
Having said that, we don't have these version numbers at all, because like you said, we don't believe it reflects SaaS products. But some of our SaaS competitors are doing so, and from time to time one of the people here say: "Maybe we should add a version number!"
Yaniv,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful comment. You're absolutely right that prospective customers care a good deal about stability.
To address those issues, I've recommended that SaaS companies openly disclose their track record. Show their up-time performance and their history of delivering enhancements to the solution. In fact, I think it's appropriate in many instances to actually show the solution's future direction.
In most cases, these tactics are more effective and more appropriate to SaaS than prominently labeling each new enhancement with a version number.
For more on this issue of the roadmap and winning customers' trust, see http://bit.ly/9uSA3b
Peter