Try Before You Buy

There are many people who have referenced Gartner's report that 2008 is going to be a big year for SaaS. I think we can safely say that on-demand software is proving to work for many organizations and we will continually see adoption rise year after year. However, there's always going to be the skeptics that point out the hurdles of implementing hosted software.

In reality there are hurdles whenever you implement any kind of software system, hosted or not. This is nothing new. And in my experience, projects often fail because the organization did not test drive the product before buying.

For almost all SaaS products out there, you can easily go online and sign up for a demo account in seconds. Ok fine, maybe you'll have to talk to an annoying Sales Rep first, but no company is going to stop you from trying out their product. The beauty is that you don't need to install anything. If you try it and don't like it, then you just walk away there's no need to uninstall or format any gear.

So go ahead. Take it for a spin. Slam on the brakes a couple of times and initate a turn at 60 km/h. Isn't that what we do with all demos? I mean, everyone test drives the car they're about to buy so why not try the software you're about to drop $10,000 on?

Don't blame the dealer if you found out you got a Dodge Dynasty when you thought you were buying a Ferrari.

Thanks SaaS-sy year ahead