12 Building Blocks of Cloud Commerce Go-to-Market Success

Cloud-based technology has empowered millions of business users, and many people have come to believe small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can find what they need to get up and running all on their own. We’re here to tell you the truth—it’s a myth. When it comes to business SaaS, SMBs can’t do it alone. Self-service doesn’t work.At least not at first, and definitely not until a SaaS provider has taken all of the necessary steps to create a seamless end-to-end customer experience that provides ongoing value.We wrote this with that goal in mind, to give you all of the building blocks—12 in total—to create a superior customer experience that will drive revenue, differentiate your brand, and build loyalty in the digital economy.As you read, you’ll notice that there is one key idea: Business software is sold, not bought. That means it takes active participation from providers to engage with business customers, support them, cross sell and upsell them, and manage the entire customer lifecycle.

AppDirect developed the 12 building blocks based on 10 years of experience across hundreds of cloud solution providers and ISVs worldwide.The framework is a 3x4 matrix that looks across the customer journey and captures the most important piece of a winning cloud commerce go-to-market plan.The framework will trigger meaningful conversations and close collaboration across your organization, helping product management, sales, marketing, support, and operations develop a cohesive plan through a digital marketplace. Every piece of the puzzle is mission-critical, which is why we call them building blocks for success.