The Business of IT Blog

Benefits of Expanding SaaS Adoption with Subscription Services

Five TRees In Pots
3 minute read
Engel Martin, Rachel Bonistalli

Companies are compelled by the speed of innovation that’s possible with moving services and operations to the cloud. At the same time according to the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA), the growth in product features often outpaces the ability of IT teams to consume them. This creates what’s called a consumption gap – and without the right services to help, it’s increasingly difficult for companies to continually expand adoption of their SaaS product features and opportunities. Even further, it’s hard to predict when and what type of service is necessary from the time of solution purchase and when the need for assistance arises.

This situation means that services organizations need to evolve their offerings to help customers increase adoption. That evolution needs to not only anticipate what customers should do next based on their goals, but also provide the flexibility to go at the pace that makes sense for their team and/or enterprise. This blog will to give you insights into key ways you can benefit from expanding SaaS adoption affordably through subscription services.

Future-Proof Your Program

At the time of solution purchase, IT teams often know immediate specifications and goals. However, demands often change and priorities may shift after initial go-live. As a result, organizations may need assistance to guide their next steps on the adoption path once they have achieved their original objectives. This is where having invested in a service subscription can help. By investing in a subscription for services to go along with your solution, you will have access to a Customer Success Manager (CSM) who will work with you to confirm your direction and provide guidance on what services and training you need to navigate any current or future changes. For example, at the beginning of every fiscal year, different strategic priorities may come to the forefront that couldn’t be predicted at the time of solution purchase or go-live. If your budget remains flat, the investment in a service subscription means you have some coverage for service to help you through the new goals and a CSM to make recommendations for the path ahead.

Access a Diverse Range of Services

Services subscriptions are trending toward offering some form of points or credits to use for acquiring different types of service. At BMC, our Success Plans come with a designated bank of “Success Credits” that can be redeemed for a range of service types including Strategy & Planning, Deployment, Education and Technical Assistance. Investing in a subscription service helps ensure you have access to a variety of service types to assist with diverse needs, such as planning, deployment and technical assistance. By having a services subscription, you have the flexibility to select the right service at the right time thereby prioritizing what activities your IT team will focus on and what your vendor will deliver. This allows you to align tasks based on internal capabilities and gain insight from your vendor for those things that require deeper understanding or reach to specialized expertise.

Subscribe and Save

Many organizations are regularly buying services as individually tailored statements of work (SOWs) for a specific fee and delivery period. This approach requires a fair amount of effort to determine contract specifics before the SOW can be executed. With a subscription, the level of effort to acquire a service is substantially reduced by using credits to quickly purchase the type of assistance you need. The services available are often pre-determined engagements with clear terms and do not need to be negotiated for you to have clarity around the outcome that will be achieved. Even further, the more credits you acquire, the more value you get across your projects, especially time savings from eliminating the often-protracted negotiations that surround SOW-based projects.

As you can see, services subscriptions deliver key benefits and help you to expand adoption more affordably around your SaaS application investments. From future-proofing your solution adoption with the assistance of a CSM to having a diverse range of services to choose from and gaining savings and efficiencies from buying service “credits” in advance preventing lengthy negotiations per outcome—services subscriptions are helping make solution adoption more effective and affordable. With a services subscription, you will have the right services at the right time to close your consumption gap more rapidly.

Please get in touch to learn how we can help you with a services subscription with BMC Helix.

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About the author

Engel Martin

Engel Martin is Sr. Director of Service Portfolio Management with Customer Success at BMC Software. In this role, he leads the strategy and definition of BMC’s Services Offering Portfolio as well as collaborates on all go-to-market efforts and supports sales outreach to customers. Currently, Engel is evolving BMC’s premium and subscription service offerings by transforming the customer experience engaging services as well as delivering greater value from BMC solutions and accelerating their digital transformation goals.

Since joining BMC in 2005, Engel has held diverse leadership roles in R&D and Customer Success. Consistently throughout his BMC tenure, he has worked with many large organizations across various industries to drive greater adoption and value realization with BMC solutions.

Engel holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and an MBA from The Open University, UK.

About the author

Rachel Bonistalli

Rachel Bonistalli is Lead Senior Marketing Manager for Customer Success at BMC Software. In this role, she leads the strategy and development of solutions marketing for the Services & Consulting portfolio of offerings. Rachel collaborates across portfolio development, services delivery, sales, and partner programs to develop strategies for increasing visibility, awareness, and revenue for the practice. Even further, she is the advocate for infusing Customer Success services content into corporate marketing channels and customer-facing activities. Rachel also partners with senior leaders to develop tailored programs that cultivate customer connection from driving case study priorities and customer advisory councils to collaborating with Corporate Social Responsibility on charitable effort endeavors.

Prior to joining BMC, Rachel was a Senior Manager of Strategic Marketing for Booz Allen Hamilton. For the global consulting firm she led development of integrated marketing campaigns for various practices starting with cybersecurity early in her 6.5 year tenure and moving into oil & gas and utilities later in her tenure. For the firm and partnered with a DC area radio station, she produced a thought leadership panel series titled “Expert Voices” that brought together industry, academia and government on key topics. Rachel also led execution of key partnerships with such notable organizations as Bloomberg, The Partnership for Public Service, and The Atlantic driving thought leadership speaking, content, and senior executive connection with target organizations.

Rachel currently volunteers with the Triangle Chapter of the American Marketing Association as the Director of Webinars and as a mentor in the chapter’s Connect & Inspire mentoring program. She holds a B.A. in Speech Communication from the Pennsylvania State University at University Park and an MBA from George Mason University.