Over the past several years, Saugatuck has conducted dozens of business strategy consulting engagements with independent software vendors (ISVs) and SaaS start-ups – focusing on SaaS business strategy development and validation, new market assessments and opportunity targeting, positioning / messaging, and the development of a variety of go-to-market strategies and programs.

What is Happening?

Out of this work, combined with recent case-study research that we have conducted, Saugatuck formally launched its SaaS Readiness Assessment (SRA) consulting practice in October, 2007 – providing a short-duration workshop-based engagement to help ISVs understand their business strategy and offering readiness (and gaps), and to plan and manage the transitions required from traditional software business models and operations to the more demanding business of SaaS.

This Research Alert provides six best practices as it concerns ISV SaaS transition strategies, as shared earlier this week during an IBM PartnerWorld briefing in Waltham, MA, at the IBM Innovation Center.