Adobe Creative Cloud
Along with Microsoft’s Office 365, the launch of Adobe’s Creative Cloud last year proved the effectiveness of cloud products sold as a subscription. As I researched Adobe’s recent announcement that they’d be “terminating” their on-premise license, I realized that there was a lot of confusion surrounding the issue. Many people seem to think that Adobe no longer sells on-premise software and has made a complete shift to the cloud. That’s not exactly the case. So let’s set the matter straight and figure out why there is so much hoopla about Adobe’s announcement this week.
First the rumors: My first encounter with the Adobe announcement this week was a rumor that they were shutting down their desktop licenses and moving their entire line of products exclusively to the cloud. To put it mildly I was shocked. With the success of Google, Salesforce and others, software companies definitely see SaaS as an important business strategy. And over the past couple of years we’ve seen big name software makers like Autodesk, Microsoft and Adobe shift to the cloud and subscription licenses. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Adobe Creative Cloud, SaaS, Subscriptions
Selling B2B software online is a little different than selling a retail product. For one thing, the buying cycle is longer. It’s also more complicated. Business buyers may be leery of submitting their payment information to an e-store. B2B products are more complex than consumer products and may require customization by the manufacturer before use, thus diminishing the need for a direct e-store.
But, whether your B2B product lends itself to direct selling through an e-store or not, you need to optimize the path that customers take toward purchasing. So how do you that? According to this infographic from Google, it’s all about balancing SEO, PPC, video content and mobile design.
Source: Google
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under B2B, channel partners, Google +, Infographic, PPC, SEO, video content
This month we focused on trends in mobile apps, the Asian e-commerce market, customer service KPIs and the ever controversial “death” of software.
We’ll continue these topics in our e-commerce digest, with more information on mobile trends and customer service KPIs from Parature. We’ll also delve into the online sales tax discussion as tax-free Internet shopping comes to a close.
How Bad Is the PC Market? Analysts Count the Ways | AllThingsD - Our ears all perked up recently when we heard that PC sales suffered from their worst market contraction ever. Yes, the PC market is down. But does this mean that on-premise software is going the way of the LaserDisc?
Not quite. Even though PC sales have slowed, people are not throwing away their computer towers and laptops. These are still important devices for businesses and consumers. We will continue to use keyboards and mice and discs for many years.
However, it is important to see where the market is heading. Software applications of every type will need to update their offering. This is done through testing and iteration, the ability to deliver complex functionality, display it simply, access it conveniently, and integrate it socially. Certainly, cloud and mobile technology are expanding our understanding of the how and where of personal computing, but they haven’t quite replaced the PC and its software. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Customer Service, mobile, payment methods, Sales Tax
