You are parched and were offered a choice of 50%-full or 10%-empty glasses of water, which would you choose?
I suspect most of you will respond with something like “I will choose the fuller glass of water” followed by a murmur of something like “thanks for asking a stupid question!”
If this was the whole thesis of this article, then we can call it a day and go about recovering the 10 wasted seconds of your lives. But if you have nothing better to do and want to continue, then let’s see if I can make this story interesting.
You have now been magically transported to the Dunes of Arrakis. For reference, John Carter is transported to Mars but substitute in yourself in his stead and Arrakis for Mars. So far so good? If you are not a crazed sci-fi fan like me, you may need to look up both of these references. I’ll wait.
So, we continue. With no water source to be seen in the Dunes of Arrakis, your mouth is as dry as the exiled Fremen without a stillsuit, and under the beating heat of Canopus, you are rapidly losing hope.
Just as you are about to give up the ghost to the Dune and body to the Sandworm, Chani appears in a whip of smoke. She is holding two identical glasses of water, one half-full and the other one almost full. She offers you the choice with an interesting declaration: ‘one is half-full and the other one is only partially empty, choose one.’
In the thew of unrelenting heat and thirst, you lunge for the partially empty but fuller glass of water and gulp it down with glee that could not be described in earthly terms. With quick emptying of the glass, your thirst is satiated with great new hope for survival on Arrakis. However, you are still in the same predicament in the Desert Dune as Chani disappears as if a mere mirage, taking the other half-full glass of water with her.
Hours went by, and you are still grasping the empty glass that once held your salvation. As you lay on the hot sand waiting for the salvation of Chani’s return, you remember what she said about glasses being half-full and partially empty. What did she mean?
The typical human tendency (based on my anecdotal fallacy) is to decern events episodically and choose what we want versus what we might need. No one will argue, at least not vigorously, that getting a one-time larger volume of water feels better than a guarantee of smaller drips regularly. This choice is fine as long as Chani returns daily and offers you the same option.
Okay, enough with the Dune references.
Let’s transport you back to Earth 2020 as a superhero with the responsibility of running a software company, and the glasses of water are now the revenue models. What would you choose? What is a better fit for you? Of course, the option is to eliminate the choice and go for both. Sound good?
Forthwith, let’s combine the on-premise license sales with the MRR SaaS model for your business. About now, I expect to hear the straining of some readers’ facial muscles, but don’t fret. There are successful companies that started with on-premise products and mirrored a SaaS version of the same products. For them, I applaud you. I will own your shares. I expect your continued success.
What are your directions for the rest of us mere mortals with daily struggles? Don’t say both because you may hear my facial muscle strain. How about you create a product for multi-tenant SaaS and deploy it to different stacks for single-tenant or thousand-tenants depending on customer needs and wants. Yes, you still need to figure out standardization for user Auth and ACL but that’s nothing new.
With the advent of SaaS, the subscription economy is no longer just for subscribing to magazines or, for these old enough to remember, Columbia House LP (8 for a penny!) — how I wish I have saved all the vinyl!
For folks who might not be inclined to consume Software as aService or anything else for that matter As A Service, I get it. I liked getting an actual physical CD in a nice box so I can unbox and catalog them nicely. It just feels like I am getting something tangible for my money. Well, I woke up from this dream a few decades ago when I joined Salesforce.com.
As Marc likes to say, ‘To light your home do you really want to build your own Power Station or just flip a switch?’
