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ISV Partner Case Study AVANTE SOLUTIONS AND THINKITSM CHARLES CYNA PRESIDENT
ISV Partner Case StudyAVANTE SOLUTIONS AND THINKITSM
CHARLES CYNAPRESIDENT
AVANTE SOLUTIONS BACKGROUND
CRM AND SERVICE MANAGEMENT BOUTIQUEEstablished 1999 in Chicago 3 PartnersExpanded to Calgary, Mississauga and New YorkCurrently 34 full-time EmployeesApproximately $9m in annual revenue
WHY WE ARE HERE TODAY
LOOKING TO DIVERSIFY CORE BUSINESS FOR SOMETIME3 Partners with all eggs in a single basketGrowth in existing business model reasonable but not outstandingSome latent concern we were not well educated about emerging SaaS
solutionsNeeded something to get excited about
THE EPIPHANY
AFTER 14 YEARS IN THE SERVICE MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY IT FINALLY OCCURRED TO US THAT CUSTOMERS WEREN’T THAT HAPPY WITH WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN OUR INDUSTRYTools are incredibly expensiveProcess consulting incredibly expensiveImplementations very long and painfulLimited customer success
THE BUSINESS SOLUTION
AFTER ABOUT EIGHTEEN MONTHS OF YELLING ‘LIVELY DISCUSSION’ WE FINALLY CAME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED. IT TURNED OUT TO:Reduce implementation time by at least 50%Reduce process consulting by at least 75%Reduce cost of average software licenses by at least 50%
DECIDED TO SPIN OFF A NEW COMPANY TO FOCUS ON THE VENTURE – THINK ITSM CORP.
ALL WE NEEDED NOW WAS TO BUILD IT
THE TECHNICAL SOLUTION
NEEDED A SAAS PLATFORM FOR THE SOLUTIONShould we build it ourselves?
SOME QUESTIONS WE ASKED OURSELVES:
Can we compete with platforms being developed by companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Oracle etc…
Should we complete with platforms being developed by companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Oracle etc…
Where does our expertise lie?
How much money would it take to build a competitive SaaS platform that had the requirements we needed to build our solution?
THE SAAS PLATFORM
CHOOSING A PLATFORM PARTNERWe need something that could scaleIt needed to be secureIt needed to be cost effective (i.e. we needed to make some money)It needed to be something we could get excited about
THE CONTENDERSSalesforce.comA bunch of open source platforms (i.e. Bungee)Microsoft
THE SAAS PLATFORM
CHOOSING A PLATFORM PARTNERWe need something that could scaleIt needs to be secureIt needs to be cost effective (i.e. we needed to make some money)It needs to be something we could get excited about
THE CONTENDERSSalesforce.com
ü Scalable ü Secure ü Proven
û Proprietary development platform û Expensive û Partner Commitment? û Could we get excited about it?
A bunch of open source platforms (i.e. Bungee)Microsoft
THE SAAS PLATFORM
CHOOSING A PLATFORM PARTNERWe need something that could scaleIt needed to be secureIt needed to be cost effective (i.e. we needed to make some money)It needed to be something we could get excited about
THE CONTENDERSSalesforce.comA bunch of open source platforms (i.e. Bungee)
ü Inexpensive Licensing ü Open Architecturesü Some Exciting Controls
û Not proven û Limited richness in controls û Financial Viability û Invariably in or just out of beta
Microsoft
THE SAAS PLATFORM
CHOOSING A PLATFORM PARTNERWe need something that could scaleIt needed to be secureIt needed to be cost effective (i.e. we needed to make some money)It needed to be something we could get excited about
THE CONTENDERSSalesforce.comA bunch of open source platforms (i.e. Bungee)Microsoft
ü Evolving productü Process Engineü Proven scalability and flexibilityü Attractive licensingü Eco-system attractivenessü Looks so much better than Salesforceü Partner Commitmentü Some unexpected other positives
û Internet Explorer only client for CRM û Certification clarifications
SOLUTION OVERVIEW
SaaS Website(Dynamics CRM)
Web Process Configuration(Dynamics CRM, SQL Server, .NET GUI)
Business Intelligence(SQL Analytics)
Web Service Management App(Dynamics CRM)
SCREEN 3
CUSTOM ATTRIBUTES
CUSTOM MULTILINGUAL INTERFACE
DYNAMIC INTERFACE BUILDER
