Applications & OS News
PTC Channel Chief Stuart Heavyside On The ‘Massive’ SaaS Opportunity And Why Digital Marketing Is Key To Partner Success
Thomas Grillo
‘The transition to SaaS is going to drive a huge amount of revenue, which the channel is going to take more of,’ says PTC Senior Vice President and Channel Chief Stuart Heavyside. ‘We should see the pie get bigger and with that the channel get bigger as well.’
What's the rollout of the SaaS model for the channel look like for the rest of the year?
In November, Jim [Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC, pictured] announced our SaaS journey to Wall Street. We’ve been working with partners on how that model works in our partner space. At the same time, the product teams have been taking our Windchill [PLM software], Creo [3-D CAD software] and our other products and asking, ‘How do we move them into a SaaS space?
The challenge is varied depending on which application you’re talking about. IoT is a relatively modern application. Creo and Windchill have been around a really long time.
Some of our augmented reality is already built on SaaS technology. That’s already out there. We are already selling that. Now we are taking the core and saying, ‘How do we move towards that with CAD in our PLM base?
What will be the impact of SaaS in the channel?
SaaS will drive more focus on customer success. It’s going to remove the complexity of the old model, eliminating how the hardware comes together, and how to implement it. The SaaS model is going to drive end-user outcomes that are more positive than ever before. Our partners will be able to help our customers do that. We’ll drive more revenue that comes with it, so everybody’s happy. The selling motions change with SaaS. SaaS ultimately is an underlying technology of delivery.
My experience when I was away from PTC [included selling SaaS software]. But I was also running Onshape and focused on that digital selling model. That ability to understand how the customer is really using and getting value from your product is integral to SaaS. How do you know that in an on-premises environment? You don’t.
Having the insight to know what customers are really getting value from so you can focus on that whether it is sales, marketing or customer success is key. That is a motion that is new with SaaS. It does take a while to get your head around it. But I am very confident that our partners are going to do well with this. We are talking regularly with our partners about how does this evolve and how do they participate.
