Opinions : Can On Premises be a SaaS product

Discussions
#1

Hi All,

Working on a product that is Hard Boiled On Premises, no chance of it going Cloud unless it is private cloud.
Server configuration Management and Automation (think Puppet/Chef but PowerShell DSC) , web based ,SQL server back end, engine is PS remoting. Has LDAP integration etc, roles and blah blah.

I am looking at selling it as a monthly renewal like SaaS but with the server licence to be updated every month.

I would like to know any opinions and reasons behind the opinion and if it is a stupid way to do it or mad genius or just a hard sell.

Cheers
Edwin

#2

That would be too much trouble for any on-premise setup (unless the configuration is something they really need to do once or twice a year, like a release LT setup). I’d think of annual licenses.

Speaking of which, companies already do that. See SmartBear’s ServiceV – it is an on-premise application, but with a annual license.

The benefit of SaaS tho is a convenience of deployment on demand. Can your product provide that? May be a Docker image or a VMware one? If not, it is still a on-premise application - which still can have an annual billing.

#3

Like @rfctr, I would also say annual licenses could be better.

Might be harder to sell due to up-front investment, but quality of customers should also be increased by that fact.