Why you should expect more from your software

In part one of a two-part blog, App Advisory Plus gold partner Joiin explore why you should justifiably expect more from your software and how vendors are responding. More innovative vendors understand that customer expectations have changed and look to build more meaningful relationships.

We all expect a lot from technology. We’re often welded to our devices, immersed in them. Think iPhones and their wealth of apps; the power of Xero and its easy-on-the-eye visuals; B2B platforms like Hubspot, which is lovely to use and consumer tools like Grammarly, which is a user’s delight.

Suppose you’ve recently explored the market for new cloud finance software. If so, you’ve likely become aware of a new interplay between vendors and consumers, shifting the market with the more innovative software vendors rightly responding. In a nutshell, this is the shift in software expectations you’ve likely experienced:

·     Software now comes with a consumer-grade experience you enjoy elsewhere – software that’s easy to implement, use and scale. Think plug and play.

·     You can realise the added value early on – software that’s more intuitive, simpler, and quicker to adopt. But don’t mistake simpler for ‘basic’.

·     Vendors look to develop a more meaningful relationship – there are opportunities to play your part in a product’s development. Vendors and consumers work together.

·     Easier on-the-pocket pricing is here – meaning less of a vendor’s costs are included in your price, with traditional sales layers stripped away.

Let’s look at each of the above in more detail and delve into the benefits for you.

A user experience you enjoy elsewhere

Away from finance, Grammarly is an exciting example. It smartly simplifies a minefield of a subject that makes most of us wince: grammar. As you write, Grammarly responds, and you interact via an easy-on-the-eye and intuitive interface. It’s easy to set up, implement and scale across your writing platforms from email to Word – an example of what we call ‘self-service’ in the software market.

So, if you’re exploring new cloud finance software, can you realistically expect a Grammarly-like experience? With a platform like Joiin, you can. Our consolidated reporting platform is designed to be self-service. Despite consolidations being a hugely complex task, the nuts and bolts of Joiin crunch your data to create great-looking consolidated group reports. Much like Grammarly makes grammar effortless, so Joiin makes consolidated reporting simpler.

But don’t let phrases like ‘effortless’ and ‘simpler’ fool. Behind these powerful platforms, developers often adopt evangelical zeal to ensure the software remains easy to use. The mantra is always ‘simpler, simpler, simpler’ (for you, the user).

Added value realised early on

Driving positive team adoption of a new software system can be demanding, so ease of use is essential. Otherwise, day one or month one of your transition becomes stressful and challenging, with value only realised after considerable time and effort have been committed.

This is where the mantra of ‘simpler, simpler, simpler’ wins out. Today’s software vendors prioritise ease of use as this makes adoption quicker and saves you time. Coupling ease of use with free trials and freemium/premium models, backed by on-demand demos and video tutorials means new customers can jump on board with minimum effort.

With Joiin, our free trial enables you to test our platform to see if it meets your needs before subscribing to a paid plan. You also get in-app and in-person support with a wealth of on-demand onboarding videos and content designed to be used at your convenience.

A more meaningful relationship with your vendor

Today’s software vendors constantly work to improve their products based on highly valued customer feedback and insights, which inevitably leads to an improved user experience overall. If you decide to utilise a software product in today’s market, you can justifiably expect to play your part in its development.

And it is this interplay between software vendors and consumers that leads to more meaningful relationships happening in the market.

If we jump back to the writing assistant Grammarly, you know you’re using a product, but an intriguing thing also happens – you feel a part of it. It’s helping you to write better, but you’re also building a more meaningful relationship with the app and its developers through your feedback and suggestions, especially alongside the in- and out-of-app support that Grammarly provides.

At Joiin, we value customer feedback and have implemented 300+ platform updates based on our users’ suggestions. We also appreciate that our relationships with customers benefit them and our product. Our mutual gain is a better product.

Pricing that’s easier on the pocket

When a software vendor and its customers have focused on the mutual goal of a simpler, easy-to-use product that incorporates user feedback and suggestions, the vendor can offer a lower-priced product. The product’s features, performance, stickiness and virality do much of the selling.

In tandem, today’s vendors realise they can strip away traditionally accepted complex layers of pre-sales, sales, and onboarding. Of course, these multiple sales layers must be paid for, and a more traditional approach would see them covered by a higher product price.

Thinking more innovatively, today’s vendors have realised they can do without these complex layers and offer much lower pricing, making purchasing far more accessible. And because the primary focus is on the product being easy to use and intuitive anyway, many vendors find they can operate successfully with much smaller sales, onboarding, and success teams (with fewer overheads to cover in the price).

Of course, with all the above, we’re talking about product-led growth (PLG), a phrase gaining prominence that you may have encountered in the software market – more on that in part 2 of this blog.