What was the inspiration behind SMLWRLD adopting a SaaS model?

The SaaS product was a moment of epiphany Dan had whilst riding in from Essex on his scooter. He was listening to a SaaS podcast and suddenly realised that this was a fundamental change we could make to the way our business operates.

When he presented the idea, it made absolute sense. It was the kind of Eureka moment that leaves you wondering 'why didn't we think of this before?' The company was taking a very labour-intensive approach, building from scratch every time a new client came on board, often resulting in months of intense building and testing.

How did the transition take place?

Initially, there was the question 'do we have the technology to do this?' – which we did. We have a very robust, well-tested software platform, developed over many years. The past year has been spent making refinements to ensure that the software is fully up to scratch.

We’re now at the point where we are demoing the template to new clients. Being given the choice of being able to see a site in less than a week, as opposed to being left in suspense for months whilst a site is made from scratch, is much more saleable, and allows us to quickly gain the confidence of potential clients.

How has switching to SaaS affected your pricing?

Moving to a full SaaS model means we can be much more transparent about our costs in comparison to our competitors. Often, intranet companies will say they have clear, transparent pricing, but when you get to pricing pages, you are asked to provide your email to receive a quote.

In contrast, we have very clear price points and a sliding scale calculator on the website, allowing clients to see a cost based on the size of their business. There is also the option to trial the intranet with ten users for £1 per user, which is an excellent opportunity for small organisations.

We still provide the alternative of a fully customised Intranet, as there will always be businesses that require this; but ultimately, the greater transparency in our model, and in our pricing structure, will allow people to account for what they’re paying for more precisely.