Everything "as a service"

The recurring revenue model (aka "as a Service") has major benefits. For the customer it allows them to pay as they go; for the supplier it gives them confidence in forward revenue and a much stickier relationship with the customer.

It is so powerful that almost every growth-oriented business understandably aims for it to play a key role in their business. It can be anything from ongoing support propositions, warranties, software subscriptions through to "usage-based" models for vehicles.

Innovation side-effects

If we just took the SaaS marketplace; the number of apps and software tools that can be bought on a pay-monthly model is now vast and ever-increasing.

This is great for customer-choice and many offer a low-price entry point.

However, this comes with an ongoing challenge for the buyers. Its increasingly challenging to manage the plethora of subscriptions.

Shadow spend

Ever paid for something that you no longer even use? For SMEs its a real challenge; on the one hand wanting to give the team the flexibility to try new tools and on the other creating a downstream isssue of what has been signed up to by who.

Some fly under the radar because they are low cost (but do add up). Others are set on annual renewal and need to be caught before that happens.

Subscription creep

Its not unusual to approve a SaaS tool with an entry-level starter package. The team start to use it and needed features are sitting behind higher level subscriptions. Subscription spend creep results .

How can modlify help?

By defining simple data and process models its easy to keep this spend in control, collaboratively. Set out the internal owners for each of the subscriptions and identify a subscription spend review process. Check that its still in use, still offering value for money and put in place a future checkpoint. Create really clear visuals of spend so that the whole team can be involved in making sure the business is spending wisely.