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 benefi...

With the crunch to close new business and increase the number of customers using their Cloud/SaaS solution, sales reps at technology companies can often feel a bit of pressure to sign up new customers as soon as possible . This is understandable as nobody (on either side of the transaction) really wants the creation of a new, contractual partnership to take an exorbitant amount of time. Long sales cycles can muddy the waters as teams change, market conditions change and motivations change.  However, be cautious about moving too quickly to sign up for a new yearly subscription agreement with a technology provider. While you may have your own internal pressures to get the shiny new system/process in place (i.e. utilize the budget before it disappears, new leadership, compliance rules etc.), keep in mind that when these important, mission critical solutions are purchased too quickly, you could inadvertently find that the total cost of ownership goes up ove...