January 15th.  It is normally hard for you to remember dates but that one sticks in your head.  That was the date you so proudly took the reigns of the company.  You remember the Italian dinner with your wife, the warm send off of the outgoing CEO, and the initial strategy meetings with the directors as you vowed to "take the company in a new and more profitable direction".  

Here you are now nearly two years later and the new direction ironically looks a lot like the old direction with the exception of a higher cost of good sold.  Between energy costs, health-care costs, the strengthening dollar, and the collapse of the market you start to wonder if this is payback for something you did in a former life.  

You need a way to govern the business, govern IT, and stay cash positive.  You need a new era of accountability, transparency, and a focus on only the most pressing and promising projects.  You need to know who is adding to the bottom line and how many consultants you REALLY need on staff.  Sacrifices have to be made but they can't be felt by the customer or you might as well go back to consulting.

It is going to be a difficult time through a terrible financial crisis but if you can survive and begin to prosper then your company will have outlived many competitors and will be positioned to achieve excellence.

You look at traditional "big ticket" PPM systems that require many months of setup and many hundreds of thousands of dollars to stand up.  Microsoft, Planview, CA, HP, Deltek, and Primavera are far too complex, expensive, and capital intensive for today's economy and attention span.  Then you hear from a business conference several CEOs talk about SaaS systems available for only $10/user/month for the average user.  Their resource based prioritization, business value assessment, project workflow, and dashboard reporting are spot on.  Their price undercuts their online competitors by 70% and their datacenter operations and security are "banking standard" quality.  

You know that project, portfolio, and resource management will be the difference between those that survive and those that die.  You remind yourself you have always been a survivor as you pull out your credit card and sign up for the free trial.

At a Glance:  How SaaS Project Management Saves YOU Money:

Increase revenue for existing customers Better revenue through tracking customer change requests and billable issues.

Start for free No large capital expenses for software or servers.  Should be free to try for 30 days and unlimited users.  Also look for solutions that have no contracts, no fixed numbers of users or pre-payment requirements, and allow you to cancel at any time.

No minimum number of users You should be able to start the first month free and start a pilot for only $30/month thereafter (1 full user).  Look for solutions that allow you to add as few or as many employees, suppliers, and customers every month with no commitments.  You should be able to download your data at any time.  You should also only pay for active users and not just "names" in the system.

Low cost for full PPM Low monthly costs.  You shouldn't have to pay more than $10/month/user for most users.

Only pay for people that use the system that month Only pay month to month for those that need to use the system.

Many users do not even need paid accounts Reports download to Excel, Word, and MS Project for easy emailing.

Lower customer service and management costs One stop shop for all project status, reporting, and billing information.

No servers to purchase and setup Eliminates servers, software management, procurement, setup, maintenance, and energy costs.

No software footprint or compatibility/upgrade fees Browser based and delivered via the internet so no desktop costs for average user.

No dedicated technical support needed on-site Software service is web-based and supported remotely as part of the low user cost.

Works with tools you own and know saves training and startup time and money Integration with Microsoft Project insures quick transition from existing plans to SaaS PPM system.

Eliminate expensive redundant systems Consolidate and eliminate expensive project, time, help desk, and other tracking systems.

Security is extraordinary and requires no further investment Uses banking standard for secure communications and guaranteed service levels insure users have access to their work.

Eliminate wasteful meetings Eliminate needless meetings with online collaboration and status reporting.

One source of reporting and projects saves teams time and the company money Manage more projects with the same number of people.

Improve customer loyalty through project portal and collaboration for more follow on engagements Enter issues and feedback online 24/7 with email updates to eliminate confusion and project administration.  Customers can also enter change requests and new project requests for improved opportunity capture/delivery.

Meet goals while lowering staff levels Going through mandatory budget and staff cuts?  VPMi has demonstrated improve efficiency and project accountability with less staff.  Supply and Demand resource reporting shows how many people (by role) you need to meet your demand.  What-if allows you to eliminate functions and people under/not utilized.

Filter, download, and port into existing systems Data screens allow sophisticated filtering and all download into Excel for porting into new/old systems.

Teams can utilize best practices without spending money building their own processes Utilizes the Project Management Institute best practices for easy recognition of forms and terminology to project teams.

Thanks for reading and let me know if any of you have any feedback on your own SaaS PPM efforts!  I would love to hear your thoughts!

Warm Regards,

Nick Matteucci, Co-Founder www.VCSonline.com
VPMi = Simple + Sensible + Supportable SaaS Project Management

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