One of the biggest benefits of cloud software is that customers can avoid the effort and cost associated with upgrades, security, hosting etc.  The tradeoff is that unlike (most) owned or "on-premises" solutions, customers don't have the ability to customize the software to meet their very specific business requirements.  As most cloud software solutions operate under a "shared" model (multiple customers using the same version of the software simultaneously), it means that any changes could likely impact just about every other customer that uses the solution as well.  Generally, everyone (vendor and customer) benefits by providing a solution that is relatively uniform across the board, thus making upgrades, security etc easier to manage.   What this means to customers in these cases is that features that they may need, which are specific to their use case, are unlikely to get implemented unless numerous similar requests for the same feature are submitted by othe

Technology is integral to how your organization functions.  It shouldn’t be an after-thought, and it shouldn’t be left to the few folks on the team that “know I.T. stuff”.  Don’t believe me?  You will if your website goes down, you can’t send out that holiday email campaign, or you can’t generate a report you need before the next board meeting.    Here’s the thing;  most people know this already, however in the scramble to get the important stuff done, most of which, on the surface, don’t seem to be technology related (i.e. securing repeat donors, on-boarding staff, building meaningful programs and events, training volunteers etc.) there’s often a rush to purchase whatever software will address our need the fastest, without consideration toward the broader context surrounding said purchase. This has been an ongoing struggle.  I.T. folks wanting/needing to sit in, and sometimes help facilitate, the technology strategy sessions vs. end users that prefer to go at it on their own and buy/u

Big News!  The company that developed the cloud software you're using recently acquired (or merged with) another cloud software company.   Typically, this promises to be something that will bolster the platform and provide substantially more useful functionality over/above what you initially bought.  But before getting too excited, consider some key things as it relates to your existing subscription and the relationship with your current cloud tech partner.   Will the acquisition truly help increase the value you get from the solution?   Will there be an additional cost to use the acquired companies functionality? If so, how will this impact your existing relationship (account ownership , services, support, training, renewal etc.)?   How will you measure the success of your usage of the acquired technology?  In many cases, depending on how important the acquisition is to your core operations, the conversations you will find yourself in may be very similar to those you had regarding

Newer models of cloud software pricing are emerging that do a better job at associating the cost of the software with the customer's value/KPI's.  A good example of this is usage-based pricing (aka UBP).   This trumps the typical user-based pricing options that still dominate the market, in which the focus is on the number of users in your organization that can log in to the software with a username and password.  To some degree, it makes a lot of sense.  The more people using the platform, the more demands put on the cloud platform itself such as storage, integrations, throughput, security etc. etc.  (*Note that while it is an important factor, I’m conveniently leaving out the benefits associated with economies of scale for the cloud vendor as they increase the number of users using their software).  So the traditional model of user-based pricing made sense initially when cloud software was somewhat new and vendors were trying to figure out a way to grow their business in a pr

Cloud customers; don’t let yourself get surprised by that upcoming contract renewal.  Especially if the software you are renewing is of great value/importance to your organization.  Cloud software vendors take into account some key considerations before they kick start a renewal discussion.  At a high-level they are typically based on either 1) When THEY need the subscription renewed/contract signed, or 2) When it's clear you will have little time to make a fully-thought out decision.   This is evident in the models you see out there, some of which include an automated notification regarding your upcoming renewal.  This more hands off approach works for less complex solutions and treats the renewal like a “Keep the Lights On” activity.  It assumes that you, the customer, are satisfied with the solution and the renewal isn’t in question. In situations like this, you’ll often see these automated notifications sent out with less lead time for your to weigh your options thoroughly.   T

It seems sometimes that organizations are very quick to forget about the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in those lengthy RFP’s.  This is somewhat understandable given they’ve selected a solution and are now busy implementing it, getting trained, and making it work for their business needs.  These are all good and very necessary things.  But keep in mind, there’s value in understanding what the other RFP respondents are up to.  The solution you selected today may end up falling behind tomorrow.  Conditions such as account management, corporate ownership, price, features, internal leadership, and a host of others may change, resulting in your needing to pivot from your current provider.  This is simply the nature of business.   The reason this is so important, is because by keeping abreast of your solution providers competitors; when it comes to negotiating the renewal, you’ll be in a better position to talk about if/how they hold up against others and what they are doing to stay on top.  S

On June 28th we joined the team at the Ontario Nonprofit Network (aka ONN) to lead a best practices webinar for their membership on a technology related topic. When thinking about what to cover in the lead up to this session, we considered what we’ve heard from various nonprofits and consultants with respect to investing in technology. While it is widely agreed to that technology is a must for nonprofit organizations, there often remains a need to educate others inside your organization about the importance, benefits, and urgency of purchasing it. Unfortunately, there are situations where others simply do not see the immediate need for these purchases, which in turn, negatively impacts savings, productivity, efficiency etc. Thus, the focus of the webinar was on just that; how to create a compelling internal business case (or reasoning) for an investment in technology. Attendees walked away with guidance, best practices, and examples about how to internally “sell” the need for a pa

At the end of June we were again delighted to be asked to present on the important topic of Digital Transformation. Our friends at TechSoup Canada (the Ontario Chapter) wanted to bring this message to the Eastern part of Canada for this go-round. The slides are still  live on Slideshare  for those interested in getting a copy.    While the presentation is mostly the same as what was delivered back in May to the TechSoup Canada Western Chapter, there were a couple of small changes and additional anecdotes that helped underpin the importance of building trustworthy, transparent relationships with cloud technology providers. Have a listen below and be sure to check out other great  TechSoup sessions !    

This month we were featured on the Member Guest Blog page for the Association of Consultants for Nonprofits (aka ACN). The focus of the piece was on something we discuss frequently on this blog; namely, how to go about effectively creating a new contractual partnership with a technology solution/service provider, which will result in the mutual success of your organization and said software company.    It is a privilege for us to be featured on ACN as their membership includes over 150 nonprofit consultants that provide their insights and expertise into a wealth of important areas affecting nonprofit organizations.    Check out our full blog post and be sure to take a look at all the other great information that the ACN community has shared. If you’re ever looking for a nonprofit consultant, peruse the Member Directory to find and get in touch with a knowledgeable, skilled resource.    

Most cloud technology providers include a clause in their contract that calls for CPI (Consumer Price Index) or X% price increase/uplift at the time of renewal (in some cases, these price increases are uncapped! ). Typically this increase is justified based on inflationary impacts, which can be argued one way or another (i.e. natural inflation due to economic conditions vs. how efficiently technology can be delivered; an example is the reduced cost of data storage over the past couple of decades). The other reason for these uplift costs is due to increasing innovation. The premise is that through the course of your subscription, the cloud technology provider is continuing to make investments in the solution that will yield a benefit to you. These innovations need to be developed and supported, so the increase across the customer base helps to fund the associated efforts. This makes sense. You get what you pay for. The expectation we put on cloud providers is that they will not

Last week, I presented to non-profit leaders and consultants about the importance of establishing meaningful relationships with their SaaS/Cloud technology partners. This roughly 40 minute session was also live streamed on LinkedIn, as well as recorded and posted to YouTube (shared below) for future viewing by those that weren’t able to attend. A copy of the slides was also posted to SlideShare . Many thanks to the team at TechSoup Canada (Western chapter) for the opportunity to share my background and experiences on this topic.  The session served as a chance for those embarking on a digital transformation journey, to think deeply about how to view and work with technology partners. These partners underpin an organization’s ability to be successful over the span of a multi-year subscription contract. I spent time focusing on things that strain these partnerships, signs that the relationship may be in jeopardy, and finally how to go about addressing these challenges.  With SaaS/C

You’ve built the business case, secured funding and have kicked off the implementation.  Weeks/Months later, and well beyond the planned go-live date, you still haven’t launched.  This can happen unfortunately; especially with more complex solutions (HR, Finance etc).  Reasons can include, but aren’t limited to, 1) Misunderstanding the implementation effort required, 2) Project management challenges, 3) Change management challenges, 4) Unexpected surprises during testing, and many more. The problem is that you (business owner) are now left with a “solution” that has cost a lot of implementation time/dollars and has yet to start solving the problem you defined in the business case.  Additionally, it calls into question other often overlooked factors such as when to train your staff (with the hope that they won’t need to be retrained in the future as you approach the new go-live date) When signing up for subscription-based software, it’s important to be abundantly clear on the implementa

Let’s face it, one of the primary reasons cloud application adoption has taken off in recent years is due to the fact that these solutions are often sold directly to the line-of-business (aka LOB) users. We’re seeing a few trends. First, these business users are actively seeking out solutions on their own, sometimes with little to no input from their I.T., procurement or legal teams until after they’ve made a decision regarding which solution they’d like to adopt. Sometimes these other groups aren’t even aware that a purchase has already taken place. Secondly, cloud providers logically tend to target line-of-business users because it lends itself to both speaking directly to those feeling the pain the solution is meant to resolve, as well as faster deal cycle times (typically line-of-business users are less likely to question legal clauses, SLA’s and integration approaches). No real big surprises here.   It should be noted though that there is a benefit to the cloud provider to no