Clickability's SaaS Web Content Management Platform has always been just a little bit different than those of traditional WCM vendors, but now they are going even further offering a complete web content management platform that includes not only software as a service (SaaS) but Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).The new Web Content Management Platform includes Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, On-Boarding and Support as a Service, and Innovation as a Service. The new Product Editions: Express, Professional and Enterprise offer something for everyone – from the department level to the SMB to the Enterprise customer.2007 was big year for Clickability. With over 100 customers, some of which are Fortune 500 and 1000 organizations, 400 websites and up to 5 times expected growth in the pipeline, they are a busy company. They landed a few $1 million plus first deals and experienced a 180% growth in their monthly recurring revenues.No wonder they went out and racked up an additional $8 million in a second round of venture funding.
Clickability On Demand WCM Platform
No stranger to a solution that provides more than basic web content management, the introduction of the new Web Content Management Platform just goes that much further to provide customers with a complete end-to-end solution offering.Infrastructure as a ServiceClickability’s platform is supported by a complete on demand infrastructure that includes hosting, security, data storage, service-level agreements (SLAs), and disaster recovery. They currently have 2 fully redundant data centers with a third one coming late 2008/2009. According to John Girard, CEO of Clickability, this type of service has only come into vogue in the last 12-18 months and they are the only company to provide this just in time / on demand capacity as part of their platform.On-Boarding and Support as a ServiceThis is Clickability’s implementation and on-going support service. They have a process they follow for each new customer that comes on the platform. It starts with a Pre-Sales Discovery where they review the requirements, define the content migration strategy and review the initial schedule and then moves through Discovery (creation of a statement of work), Integration, Service Launch and finally on-going support. With their branded Implementation Practice, a customer can be live in weeks (as opposed to months or years with an in-house solution).Software as a ServiceThe SaaS component is the heart of the Clickability Platform offering content management, site hosting, content delivery, integrated analytics, newsletters, search, RSS/XML syndication, social media/community, user generated content and more. Their multi-channel delivery system is device agnostic enabling customers to publish content to multiple device types as well as their website. The entire solution is designed for the non-technical user. Innovation as a ServiceThe Clickability Platform Innovation Model includes shared:* Customer best practices* Benchmarking* Code libraries* Solution databasesClickability has in-house domain experts that can provide best practices and other expertise to customers. The ability to share customer successes is the driver behind the CMS Customer Success Site/Customer Success Team – they proactively reach out to customer to provide services.“Clickability embraces the SaaS agile development model, with four major and ten minor releases per year”. New functionality and capabilities occur frequently allowing all Clickability customers to take advance of the latest improvements to the platform. When asked how they deal with such continuous changes to the platform, Clickability CEO John Girard said the agile development model helps them build and integrate new functionality quicker than traditional software implementations. New releases are usually tested in beta with existing customers before being pushed out to the full customer base. Sometime they make mistakes, but their ability to fix it fast and push out the fixes is a testament to their development process and their solution architecture. The other thing that’s true with the Clickability Platform is that they don’t have reverse compatibility issues like in-house products do. There is no backward compliance to worry about. This means they are focused on moving forward all the time.
New Clickability Product Editions
Designed to enable the smallest to the largest customer implementation, these three product editions show Clickability’s desire to open a wider band of opportunity for their solution. Express Edition:* Designed for the SMB, Departmental Intranet* Community oriented site, basic interactive capabilities* Forms Builder, Search, Website Analytics, Visitor Registration, Events/Calendaring scheduling and lots more* Support via Email and Help FAQ* 1 Domain, 5 seats, 1 GB storage/month, 250,000 page views/months, 25,000 newsletters/month* Pricing $15-20k set-up, $2,999/month, $99/extra seatProfessional Edition:* Mid-range offering: Enterprise Intranet* Interactive Marketing, Micro-sites* Social Media toolkit, single sign-on, Content API access, configurable workflow and more* Can include Ad Server/ Campaign Management Server* Support via Email, Phone during specific hours and a Help FAQ* 5 Domain, 10 seats, 2 GB storage/month, 500,000 page views/months, 50,000 newsletters/month* Pricing $30-75k set-up, $4,999/month, $129/extra seatEnterprise Edition:* Complex implementation* Global Intranet, Enterprise e-business, Global Enterprise* Multi-channel publishing, Ultra-large singe site* Enhanced authentication, Localization, Personalization, Diff Functionality* Can include Ad Server/ Campaign Management Server* Support via Email, Phone (7/24) and Personalized Help Portal* Unlimited Domains, 15 seats, 5 GB storage/month, 1 million page views/months, 100,000 newsletters/month* Pricing $75+ k set-up, $7,999/month, $149/extra seatIn an interview with John Girard, CEO and Robert Carroll, VP of Marketing, both agreed that 2008 was the start of displacing and disrupting the installed content management product in the enterprise. With the web accelerating quickly, in-house products with long product cycles can’t keep up like the SaaS model of continuous changes. They noted three drivers of the SaaS model:* Green of SaaS* Recession proofing on business – customers can expand and decrease their solution as required without worrying about hardware and software costs.* Innovation without adding hardware – customers can focus on the business aspect of their site and not worry about supporting the platform it sits on.With the US economy going the way it seems, solution providers like Clickability may just be sitting in the sweet spot. Offering a tiered solution offering will also help them bring on a wider range of customers.Will 2008 be the year of the SaaS model for Web Content Management? Do you think vendors like Microsoft and IBM should be concerned? Tell us your thoughts below. And keep a close eye on Clickability; we’re curious to see if 2008 truly becomes their breakout year.
About the Author
Barb worked for CMSWire from November 2007 through October 2013. She has over 10 years’ experience as an IT solutions architect focusing on content management and enterprise collaboration. Connect with Barb Mosher Zinck:
