🎵 Calling all Association Professionals! Get ready to jazz up your networking game at the most anticipated Happy Hour of the year!
Join us at Dreamforce on Sept 12 from 6:30pm — 8 pm for a unique and unforgettable Happy Hour experience that will leave you feeling inspired and connected. 🌟
📅 Date: September 12, 2023 ⏰ Time: 6:30 pm — 8:00 pm 📍 Venue: Dawn Club (7-minute walk from Moscone Center) 💻 Register here:https://bit.ly/3QTnUhV
Immerse yourself in the soulful melodies of live jazz music while mingling with fellow association professionals. 🎶✨ This is your chance to unwind, socialize, and create meaningful connections that can elevate your career.
Register Now- Free for Association Professionals https://bit.ly/3QTnUhV
Get ready to embark on a night of jazz, networking, and unforgettable moments. Mark your calendars, spread the word, and let’s make this the most memorable Happy Hour at Dreamforce! 🎉🤝
See you on Sept 12! Let’s jazz up your networking game together! 🎷✨
#Dreamforce #NetworkingEvent #AssociationProfessionals #JazzyHappyHour
Vinnu Deshetty, Gil Gonzalez, Indu Tyagi, Matt Peterson, CMP, LES, Damnish Kumar, Jeffrey Golembiewski
Thank you sponsors! Aplusify — Salesforce® Consulting & Managed Services Nimble AMS by Community Brands MapleLMS
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In the new year, where will SaaS go?
This article explores how SaaS companies are addressing the challenges of digital transformation and proposes innovative HE Tuber solutions. At the same time, the article also focuses on changes in internal management of SaaS companies, especially the importance of cost control and customer success teams. In the future, SaaS companies will need to conduct more refined operations and improve financial and customer ROI to achieve sustainable development.
As 2023 comes to an end, not many companies in the SaaS circle have achieved the expected performance at the beginning of the year. The international political and economic situation, the situation of domestic customer industries, and the retreat of the capital market have all made us who were so happy when the ban was lifted at the beginning of the year feel like a slap in the face.
In Buddhism, stick drink is associated with enlightenment. What epiphanies have we had this year? What measures should be taken in 2024? Let’s take a year-end inventory together.
1. Where will China’s digitalization go?
In 2023, we are still talking about "digitization". SaaS companies stick to the digital battlefield, of course, because SaaS must be the basic component of industry digitization and industrial Internet transformation.
We can’t imagine a scenario in an industry where thousands of companies each use their own OP (private deployment) software, and only rely on API interfaces to allow data to flow smoothly - the data cannot be fully used, and the next (AI) ) era will not come.
In my many previous articles, you can see that SaaS companies in various industries have already taken one or two steps to intervene in the digital transformation of various industries: some are involved in the supply chain, some are involved in finance and transactions, and some are involved in the digital transformation of various industries. Provide data or content, and some provide design services...
As for general-purpose tool SaaS, since the industry scenario is not so specific, it requires one more step: to move towards industryization first. Therefore, the path will be longer, the financial closure will take more time, and of course the market space will be broader.
In 2023, many SaaS companies will place their hopes on AI. After all, the popularity of chatGPT at the end of 2022 has given people a glimpse of the dawn of the next era.
Ren Xianghui, the founder of Mingdaoyun, recently wrote an article about AI applications. I agree with it very much and replied to the official article: When chatGPT came, humans felt amazing, but it was only because they had raised a child for 12 months. He hadn't spoken before, but suddenly he spoke, and the parents liked him very much. But in fact, it is still early for this child to go out alone to make soy sauce!
After attending Salesforce's Dreamforce conference in September, this is what I saw - AIGC is so amazing, but it still lacks the ability and scenarios to independently make decisions.
Today, 12 months later, Copilot is still just a Copilot (a co-pilot that assists people in making decisions).
Generally speaking, most people, including most investors, know that digitalization is the only way to the next modernization, and SaaS is the necessary tool for digitalization.
But the end point is clear, but the path is not yet clear - will the digitalization of various domestic industries be led by state-owned enterprises or even the government? Or is it driven by the chain owner of the supply chain? As a more competitive force and the owner of key data, is it possible for SaaS companies to become leaders or occupy a place?
In my eyes, among the thousands of industries and sub-industries in China, the above three paths are all possible.
For our SaaS entrepreneurial team, the most important thing is to "help Chinese companies solve problems innovatively." This is also the core point of my new book "SaaS Entrepreneurship Roadmap 2.0".
Last month I visited an MES SaaS company. During the epidemic, they found that those companies whose manufacturing management level was only 30 points (of course they could not use the MES system from Siemens) were the fastest in the market and could quickly switch from producing clothing to To produce masks.
Haven't we always said - " It's not the strongest species that can survive, but the species that can best adapt to the environment ?"
Then why do our SaaS companies require "customers" to learn "advanced management" before they can be "worthy" of the SaaS tools we provide?
Again, SaaS products should help Chinese companies solve problems, and it is best to "solve problems innovatively" - this is the only value of our existence.
2. Changes in SaaS companies: right direction, excessive measures
Let’s talk about specific measures.
After the blood transfusion stops, the SaaS company must make its own blood.
Each company in our circle realizes this problem in its own way. As early as the beginning of 2021, they realized that the direction of investors was changing, and as late as mid-2023, they may have made up their minds.
This is of course related to the arrival time of the last investment amount. Companies that still receive investment funds in 2022 are lucky, and their transformation is relatively easy. But there are also those who make bold moves, and the loss of funds is regrettable.
In one field, thousands of companies suddenly stopped burning money and began to pay attention to cost control. This is really an earth-shaking change in my eyes.
Many CEOs told me that before strict cost control, they really didn’t know that their companies had so much money that shouldn’t be spent. I said that cost control is an organizational capability that requires long-term development.
My new book talks about many measures and methods of "fine management". In previous official documents, I have also analyzed that during the tightening stage, the most appropriate internal investment priorities are: service > marketing > sales > research and development.
I know that in SaaS companies, product is the most important. But the premise is not to play the card table. If you have spare energy, you can certainly continue to increase investment in production and research, otherwise it is better to be cautious.
Here’s a common, but overdone approach: I’ve been observing a lot of companies lately switching from Customer Success to Sales Performance-driven teams.
Here we need to do more financial ROI (input-output ratio) analysis.
A. If our product requires a CSM (Customer Success Manager) to start it up, solve problems during use from time to time, and proactively provide suggestions based on customer business, then a real CSM is obviously indispensable.
B. If due to the characteristics of the product, its use has little to do with CSM's service, or it is a consumable product and the amount of customer consumption depends mainly on customer conditions, then you may consider allowing CSM to only operate at the Top moment (critical moment, for example) Focus on intervention during the first month after activation, 3 months before expiration, etc.
But in any case, the essence of SaaS is renewal. Customer success is always the most important department.
If renewals mainly rely on "renewal sales", perhaps the entire SaaS financial model will not hold true.
Regarding this, you can read my previous article on financial models. Here is a brief mention:
In the newly purchased business, since there is a large portion of CAC (customer acquisition cost, which accounts for about 40-150% of the first-year contract, and has a great relationship with the method of customer acquisition), the profit contribution is very low; the profit contribution of SaaS companies is mainly Gross profit from renewals and additional purchases.
If there is a large business fee for renewal or additional purchases, there may be problems with the entire financial model.
This has a lot to do with the uniqueness and competitiveness of the product.
I believe that product is a strategic issue and marketing is a strategic issue. The former requires more in-depth thinking from the founding team.
3. Entrepreneurial Heart
The previous article in this issue interpreted "The Philosophy of Retail: Autobiography of the Founder of 7-Eleven". Suzuki Toshifumi said: I believe that "causes that the majority of people oppose often succeed." On the contrary, if everyone agrees with a cause, it will inevitably fall into a state of comprehensive competition, which usually ends in failure or mediocrity.
If you want to "win first and then fight", you must have these three points at the same time:
Unique insights after prolonged infiltration
Think uniquely and form a self-consistent system
Persistence against all odds
Most people are mediocre, and those who can achieve the above three points are rare. And each of our founders needs this set of capabilities.
This is probably Entrepreneurship!
This reminds me of the two biggest moments that touched me the most from founders in the industry—neither when talking about business, nor when they received financing.
Once, the other person and I were talking about life and death. I asked, "If I die tomorrow, will I regret the ten years of only working?" The other person gave me the answer with his actions.
Another time, a founder suddenly said that he felt a call from God. He felt that God asked him to go all out to do the business well in this life; and he himself, through so many years of struggle and thinking, just happened to He is the most suitable person to do this, and thus gets this Calling.
They are people who really "carry" and put their career and team on their shoulders...
Bless China’s entrepreneurs!
In the new year, may we have the methods and courage to get through the cold winter!
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Slack Technologies CEO'su Lidiane Jones, 14 Eylül 2023'te San Francisco, Kaliforniya'da düzenlenen 2023 Dreamforce konferansının açılış konuşmasında konuşuyor. — AFPKısa sürede Silikon Vadisi'ndeki en öne çıkan rollerden birini kabul eden Slack'in CEO'su, suni zekanın (AI), kullanıcılarını kolaylaştırma girişiminin bir parçası olarak yaygın olarak kullanılan ofis söyleşi ağını değiştirdiğini söylemiş oldu.Kurucu ortak ve CEO Stewart Butterfield'ın ayrılmasının arkasından Ocak ayında Slack'in yeni CEO'su olarak atanan eski Microsoft yöneticisi Lidiane Jones, firmanın rakibi Microsoft'un arkasında kalmamasını sağlamış oldu. Salesforce'ta ön plana çıkan Jones, 27,7 milyar dolarlık satın almanın arkasından şirketi devraldı ve Slack'in süratli büyümesi ve platforma istikrar getirmesi için çaba gösterdi.Jones, Silikon Vadisi'nin ve dünyanın hayal enerjisini etkileyen bu suni zeka anı hakkında "Dünyanın başına gelenler inanılmaz" dedi.Brezilya doğumlu ve Boston bölgesinde yaşayan Jones, Salesforce'un her yıl düzenlemiş olduğu büyük etkinlik olan San Francisco'daki "Dreamforce"da seyircilerle konuşurken "Son dokuz ayda, önceki birkaç yıla kıyasla daha çok özelliği kullanıma sunduk" dedi. yeni ürünleri.Üretken suni zekanın, başlangıçta ekip emek harcaması ve yazışma için tasarlanan Slack benzer biçimde araçlarda devrim yaratacağına inanılıyor. Artık talep üstüne günlük dilde metinler, görüntüler ve sesler üretiyor.Ek olarak Slack ve Microsoft Teams, çevrimiçi asistana benzeyen suni zeka özelliklerine haiz yeni sürümler yayınladı.Jones, "Bu yaz iki haftalık tatilimden döndüğümde müşterilerden ve iş arkadaşlarımdan takip etmem ihtiyaç duyulan dağlar kadar ileti vardı" dedi. "'Slack AI'dan her şeyi özetlemesini istedim ve tüm bir günü, hatta bir haftayı harcamak yerine iki saat içinde güncel bilgilere ulaştım."Gider onayı ve kullanıcıları şirket içi uzmanlığa bağlama benzer biçimde karmaşık yönetimsel görevleri otomatikleştirmek için yeni suni zeka araçları kullanılıyor. Kullanıcılar artık Anthropic'ten Claude ve OpenAI'den ChatGPT benzer biçimde sağlayıcıların direkt Slack içinden üretken suni zeka söyleşi robotlarıyla konuşabiliyor.Jones, oldukca çeşitli üçüncü taraf uygulamalarının ve araçlarının mevcut olmasının "bizim gücümüz bulunduğunu" söylemiş oldu."Biz Teams'ten oldukça farklıyız... Biz her şeyden ilkin oldukca açık bir platformuz."Microsoft daha ilkin Slack tarafınca aylık 300 milyon kullanıcısı olan Teams'i büyük seviyede popüler olan Office Suite ile bir araya getirmiş olduğu için eleştirilmişti.Microsoft'un Slack'in taleplerine uymasına karşın AB soruşturması devam ediyor ve şirket daha çok düzenlemeyle karşı karşıya kalabilir. Sadece Microsoft'un OpenAI'ye yapmış olduğu mühim yatırımlar ona üretken suni zeka mevzusunda rekabet pozitif yanları sağlamış oldu. AFP bildirdi.Jones, Slack'in, değişen teknolojinin büyülü formülünün temel bileşeni olan verilerinin kalitesi yardımıyla suni zeka mevzusunda da başarıya ulaşmış olmaya eşit derecede uygun olduğu mevzusunda ısrar etti."Platformda bir firmanın tüm bilgisine sahibiz... personel değişik departmanlar içinde ortaklaşa iş yapıyor, tüm bu yapılandırılmamış veriler orada" dedi. "Bu, AI kabiliyetlerimizi oldukca kuvvetli kılıyor şundan dolayı oldukca fazla içeriğe haiz."Şimdilik Slack'in, OpenAI'yi her insanın bilmiş olduğu bir isim haline getiren üretken suni zekanın kalbindeki sistemler olan kendi dil modelini geliştirme planı yok.Jones, bigün daha hususi bir model tasarlama olasılığını saklı tutarken, "Tekerleği tekrardan buluş etmemiz icap ettiğini düşünmüyoruz" diye latife yapmış oldu.Daha da uzak bir ufukta, Slack bigün, kullanıcıları en kişisel ayrıntılarına kadar tanıyan bir tür dijital yazman olan, son aşama kişiselleştirilmiş suni zeka aracıları geliştirebilir."Kesinlikle makul bir gelecek. Bakın, bir akrabalarım var, çalışıyorum, oldukca meşgulüm... Bir sistemin her şeyi tek bir yerden takip edebileceğini düşünmek mükemmel değil mi? Fakat bu vakit alacak." İnsanların bunu yapmalarını kolaylaştırmak için" dedi."Bence bir olasılık ve arzu var, sadece itimat sınırına ulaşmamız birazcık vakit alacak."
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