ISV Survival: Put trust first to win at SaaS

When I founded ISVfocus.com Limited in 2007 I wanted to learn about social media in general, and specifically about blogging.

From my years in the international technology industry, it was clear to me in-house IT departments were on the way out. They are simply too complicated and expensive to run for most companies. End-user organizations are not in the software business.

Building on this view (it helps to write about what you know) I started a blog about Software as a Service (SaaS). I launched the (now retired) ISV Survival blog in October 2007 to deliver news, reviews and original content on SaaS and what it means to ISVs.

Software as a Service matters

As an IT insider, I share our tendency to focus on the bits and bytes of systems and applications. This interest is not shared by those that actually use the applications. It is not an interest shared by the managers that pay for them. This difference in views was obvious in reactions to Nicholas Carr’s 2004 book Does IT Matter?

Organizations must focus on what software does for them, not how ISVs built it. This is (for me, at least) the way enterprise IT must go. ISVs that serve enterprise customers will face a big problem. The fat years of living off high maintenance fees are ending; and faster than many ISVs would like to think.

ISVs addicted to maintenance

Over the years I have experienced many ISVs with a crippling dependency on maintenance revenue. It is easy money, while it lasts. When it disappears, however, it is impossible to replace quickly. While there is never any maintenance guarantee, as long as the customers pay the invoices we can postpone the issue yet again.

ISVs must react to SaaS threat (for settled enterprise ISVs it is a threat) sooner than later. The shift to SaaS will sift out the ISVs with a long-term future from those destined to become a mere footnote in the history of the IT industry.

Why ISV Survival?

Taking all this into account, ISV Survival seemed an apt name. The tagline “Put trust first to win at SaaS” sums up the key issue for ISVs moving to SaaS. Technology will not matter; only the service ISVs deliver – and that, every day starting from scratch.