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I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

hivekit.io

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Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#51

Post by rurp »

browningstreet wrote: post #35
michaelt wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not exaggerate here, the software industry managed to deliver software for on-premise use for several decades.

This is very circular -- yes, that's true.. and because it was so difficult everyone, vendor and customer alike, moved towards SaaS hosted offerings. There has to be a name for this argument-type: A leads to B, and those who seem to know only B start arguing for A because they don't remember why A lead to B in the first place. I see this all over the place.

I don't know that the shift was about difficulty, at least not primarily. As best I can tell it's more about profit, and companies usually move to SaaS because it makes them more money and the other pluses and minuses are less important to them.

I know as a consumer I'm much more reluctant to buy a new subscription product than I am to make a single purchase, but the options get less and less every year.

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#54

Post by tobyjsullivan »

steveBK123 wrote: post #41
macrael wrote: post #5

"Third: Package it nicely. Ideally, your customer should be able to download a zip with an executable and some config files from a well designed enterprise page - or get a URL to a Docker Repo. When your on-premise version starts for the first time, it should set itself up as autonomously as possible: Check if it has the required access and permissions, connect to the database to set up tables, have sensible log outp…

The industry used to be able to ship shrink wrapped software that a non-technical person could install on their home computer, without 24/7 instant messenger support to get working. I think B2B software should be able to create manageable installations for technically competent IT professionals.. If your install has that long of a manual task list, your cloud SaaS infra is probably junk too.

You’re thinking of a time when only “computer geeks” could install and run the software of their choice. When every office had fleets of IT admins to install the pre-approved applications people needed for their day-to-day.

Back then, learning how to manage your own PC and install software was tantamount to earning an IT certificate. Doing so for a few years in high school would be enough to qualify you for a career in IT.

So I politely disagree. The industry was never able to ship software that a non-technical person could install. Especially not B2B, but barely B2C as well.

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#55

Post by arccy »

KRAKRISMOTT wrote: post #21
dijit wrote: post #16

There's a lot of really great SaaS products that get no traction in companies I've worked in. Largely because "control your workflow" (a-la the toyota method) requires that a vendor is unable to change things on your behalf without your knowledge. "On-prem" is about being permitted to invest your own resources into ensuring that your $thing will work during the hours it needs to work and you can pour as much or as li…

On prem is easy if you are willing to pay 100K a year. Once 6 figures come into play, any SaaS company would be willing to do on-prem. I find that those complaining about on-prem are mostly small business customers that are more trouble than they are worth. Serious B2B companies won't blink at those prices.

try 10x that if your product is any degree of nontrivial

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#56

Post by Mindless2112 »

keithwinstein wrote: post #14

ObNote that in standard English it's "premises," even for a single building. Some explanation here: https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=premises

Yes, please. "Premise" means something entirely different: "A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn."

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#57

Post by MichaelZuo »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #54
steveBK123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The industry used to be able to ship shrink wrapped software that a non-technical person could install on their home computer, without 24/7 instant messenger support to get working. I think B2B software should be able to create manageable installations for technically competent IT professionals.. If your install has that long of a manual task list, your cloud SaaS infra is probably junk too.

You’re thinking of a time when only “computer geeks” could install and run the software of their choice. When every office had fleets of IT admins to install the pre-approved applications people needed for their day-to-day. Back then, learning how to manage your own PC and install software was tantamount to earning an IT certificate. Doing so for a few years in high school would be enough to qualify you for a career…

Windows 7 Enterprise?

Mac OS X Server?

The vast vast majority of SaaS products talked about on HN are probably not even 1/10th as complex.

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#58

Post by Symbiote »

tobyjsullivan wrote: post #54
steveBK123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The industry used to be able to ship shrink wrapped software that a non-technical person could install on their home computer, without 24/7 instant messenger support to get working. I think B2B software should be able to create manageable installations for technically competent IT professionals.. If your install has that long of a manual task list, your cloud SaaS infra is probably junk too.

You’re thinking of a time when only “computer geeks” could install and run the software of their choice. When every office had fleets of IT admins to install the pre-approved applications people needed for their day-to-day. Back then, learning how to manage your own PC and install software was tantamount to earning an IT certificate. Doing so for a few years in high school would be enough to qualify you for a career…

"The industry" sold software in the 1980s that had use instructions like "Insert disk 1 and press the 'Reset' key to load".

In the very early 1990s, something like "Insert disk 1 and click the disk icon, then click ". Installation to the hard disk was optional, and might be one or two steps.

Later in the 1990s, installation was pressing "Next", "Next", "Next" after inserting the CD.

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#59

Post by rufus_foreman »

browningstreet wrote: post #35
michaelt wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not exaggerate here, the software industry managed to deliver software for on-premise use for several decades.

This is very circular -- yes, that's true.. and because it was so difficult everyone, vendor and customer alike, moved towards SaaS hosted offerings. There has to be a name for this argument-type: A leads to B, and those who seem to know only B start arguing for A because they don't remember why A lead to B in the first place. I see this all over the place.

>> because it was so difficult everyone, vendor and customer alike, moved towards SaaS hosted offerings

I actually remember why one company I worked for moved from on-premise to SaaS. They told us that the market valued recurring software revenue at a higher multiple than it did one-time software revenue.

On-prem was a large one-time sale and a small recurring support contract. SaaS was almost all recurring revenue.

On the customer side, it is capital expenses vs. operating expenses.

Re: I want to convince you to have an on-premise offering

#60

Post by marcosdumay »

KRAKRISMOTT wrote: post #21
dijit wrote: post #16

There's a lot of really great SaaS products that get no traction in companies I've worked in. Largely because "control your workflow" (a-la the toyota method) requires that a vendor is unable to change things on your behalf without your knowledge. "On-prem" is about being permitted to invest your own resources into ensuring that your $thing will work during the hours it needs to work and you can pour as much or as li…

On prem is easy if you are willing to pay 100K a year. Once 6 figures come into play, any SaaS company would be willing to do on-prem. I find that those complaining about on-prem are mostly small business customers that are more trouble than they are worth. Serious B2B companies won't blink at those prices.

I've rejected plenty of >100k a year proposals because there wasn't an on-premises alternative. (And also another batch because despite being willing to pay yearly for upgrades and support, there wasn't an option of retaining the license in perpetuity.)
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