The Price of Business Value
The SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) marketplace is relatively young and going through dramatic changes every day. The debate rages among the “professional papers”, blogs, and articles on what makes a good SaaS application and how to monetize it. One thing is clear: the old world of shipping software (either with a CD or electronically with a key) and charging a license fee with ongoing maintenance is as outdated as an 8-track tape. I’m sure many large enterprise vendors will cling to that old model as long as possible. But when really smart guys, like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, start hedging their bets with investments in companies like NetSuite, the writing is on the wall.
So back to the question of structuring payment procedures and monetization policies. Social networks or Google display thousands of ads per day; just like Network television, sponsors pay for viewers. Many users think the clutter and inconvenience is a fair trade for a free service. But business SaaS users have a more serious mission and are ready to pay for valuable applications. Salesforce.com and WebEx come to mind as successful examples of a subscription model with a reasonable fee.
After much consideration, we decided to come up with a hybrid payment model. eXpresso Pro is the unlimited, full-function product that is only $79 per year. If you are a Pro user and you want to invite a non-eXpresso user to share a spreadsheet, we will still offer a free version of eXpresso. It will have limited functionality, but it should be perfect for the casual user or the occasional member of a project or sales team.
We are grateful to the users who helped make the eXpresso public beta a success. We are committed to providing excellent support and continuing innovation to users of both the Free and Pro versions.
