Software Companies-help your customers get the results they want by delivering the services they need.

WorkRails recently conducted a survey of several thousand software users to discuss their buying behaviors when it comes to professional services. The survey yielded some interesting insight that confirms what we already know — to avoid churn, today’s software companies must include an on-demand services strategy.

For example, our survey showed the following:

• Over 80 percent of respondents expect their software providers to offer service professionals for projects that include integration, training and upgrades.
• However, despite this demand, more than half of people look online to find service professionals.
• The number one challenge we heard about was finding a qualified software professional to perform project work.

The opportunity is clear. With the continued migration of software to the cloud, there needs to be a different way to think about professional services. There is — and will continue to be — a place for the longer term software engagement model. But, in this SaaS world, we continue to see a quickly growing need for shorter-term projects that arise post-implementation, and right now software companies are missing an opportunity to eliminate one of their customers’ pain points

Service professionals wear a lot of different hats in today’s software companies — they can drive engagement, customer satisfaction, education, stickiness. With the number of competitive options available to software users, services personnel have become critical for retention, whether they are employees or part of a partner network. So, shouldn’t software users be able to purchase services and schedule access to these resources without leaving the application?

At WorkRails, we are helping software companies drive product adoption and retention through professional services. We help companies operationalize the customer experience, for the first time bringing an easy-to-use commerce engine to professional services. We help companies better manage every step of the service delivery function, from engagement through the completion.

In short, we are helping software companies give customers what they’re asking for — services!