Tigerpaw saw a strong response from partners at their annual conference, when the ability was announced for existing partners to switch from a license-based model with extra charges for tools and modules to a subscription -based model with everything included.
James Foxall, Tigerpaw’s CEO
OMAHA – At their sixth annual partner conference here, PSA vendor Tigerpaw unveiled a new offer around its TigerPaw One subscription-based offering to replace concurrent licensing, and whose chief appeal is the inclusion of Tigerpaw’s full suite of business automation tools, which are sold separately under the licensing model. Response at the show was strong, with over 60 per cent of attendees signing up for the new model, with a day still to go.
The new subscription model was developed because Tigerpaw partners are not using available Tigerpaw tools that would improve customer service. Over a third are not using Tigerpaw Mobile. Almost half are not using the email connector. Half are not using the customer portal. Less than half are using the Exchange integration, or the payment processor. In some cases, this is due to an unwillingness to take on more tools on which employees need to be trained. In more however, it’s because of cost.
Accordingly, last November Tigerpaw announced TigerPaw One, which was designed to incent partners to switch from perpetual ownership of the core software, with add-on fees for additional tools and modules. The new Tigerpaw One system works on a subscription model, providing all the tools Tigerpaw has without additional charges, and giving immediate access to new ones as they are developed.
“We introduced it at our event last year, and we gave it away for free for a year, just for the attendees, in what was essentially a vertically-controlled trial,” said James Foxall, Tigerpaw’s CEO. “We never opened it up to the broader user base, although we did offer it to new customers. A quarter of the new customers took the Tigerpaw One offer.
What is new now is that Tigerpaw now has a program to facilitate the transition of licenses to Tigerpaw One. Attendees at the conference get the full subscription for a preferred rate over what is available to the general user base.
“This is not a temporary price, although it is a special just for those at the conference,” Foxall said. “It’s not a bait and switch. It will be the regular price, with the usually maximum five per annual allowable annual increase. It’s the first time we have given our existing partners the ability to switch.” The catch – partners who switch don’t have the option of going back to concurrent licensing.
“Tigerpaw One moves from the hodgepodge concurrent licensing module was have today, to one where users get all our modules and all our add-ons, for a low monthly fee,” Foxall added.
Foxall said Tigerpaw One also changes the relationship between their partners and the Tigerpaw reps, because it removes completely the suspicion that the rep is trying to sell them something.
“With Tigerpaw One, there is nothing additional to buy, so clients know that when we talk to them it’s solely about ways to get them to be more efficient,” he said.
Mike Meldrum, CEO and president of Detroit-area Complete Active Technologies, said that before they switched to Tigerpaw One last year, he was constantly getting complaints from staff that they were falling short in different applications and didn’t have enough licenses.
“When they talked about it last year, I had been adding up what the costs would be to add things like the customer portal and email integrator, and was in the mood to make a change,” he said. “My sales team and operation team literally wanted to lynch me, we were having so many problems. This now gives people access to all the modules, and people are more efficient by using tools Tigerpaw already had embedded. So in a way it kind of saved my life!”
Pete Engle, CEO and President of Stuart FLA-based Joy Communications, which specializes in voice applications, had been a Tigerpaw user for 16 years. They jumped at the chance to integrate additional modules into their customer service.
“I believe something like the customer service portal is a differentiator for us in the marketplace,” he said. “The portal lets us log in and track the service ticket from open to a resolution, and also lets the IT manager on the customer side be able to review it. – We get a ‘wow, you guys can do that?’ when we show this to a customer.”
Foxall said Tigerpaw One has already exceeded their expectations at the show.
“We were hoping to see about 50 per cent of the clients here migrate,” he said. “We have passed over 60 per cent, and with a day to go, by the end of the show we expect to go over 70 per cent. It has been a tremendous success for us.”
Foxall said that they have no plans to speed up the conversion process by forcing partners to move to the subscription-based model.
“It’s not out of the question that one day, Tigerpaw One could be the exclusive product,” he indicated. “That being said, I’ve got a big customer base of people who have made a big investment in the product. I don’t see much sense in forcing people to make a move they don’t want to make. Judging by the response here, I do think most of them see the value and want to make the move.”
