For those of you who know me or are readers of this blog you’ll know I have a passion for creating business models based on recurring revenue – the majority of my consulting projects have been based on this aspect of business.
While Salesforce is generally credited with making Subscription based Software / Software as a Service mainstream, the last 20 years have seen
In the architecture space all the major players have introduced Subscription licensing either in parallel or as a replacement for perpetual based licensing. Cadimage was the first in the world for ArchiCAD and I then went on to lead the GRAPHISOFT SE Introduction of Subscription Worldwide.
Subscription businesses build revenue over the long term so have high cash requirements during the short to medium term. However, the pay off, if executed well, can be very rewarding.
Another advantage is that the cost to get started can be very low if based on a monthly model. This is not to say that sales are or will be easy – value still needs to be delivered at any price – but having a fee based on a period of time reduces risk for the customer.
The flip side of this is of course the ability for customer to stop paying if they don’t see value. Therefore the sales process for a subscription business continues long after the initial purchase.
As a person who has always had a customer centric mindset I see subscription models and the associated customer journeys as compliments to the overall strategy.