What is a BDS?

The BDS is 2-day on-site engagement based on the Mural SaaS Maturity Framework™, which provides a proven structure for measuring Business, Technical, and Operations readiness for building, running, and marketing a solution in a SaaS business model.

^ to top

Where is the BDS held?

A BDS is typically help in your main office.  This allows for all the key players to be present, including the Mural team, while keeping travel expenses to a minimum.

^ to top

What is included in a BDS?

A BDS includes much more than a 2-day in-person engagement, included in the BDS is:

  • Pre-session survey to gather information about the company, its industry, and its goals
  • Access to the Online Self Assessment to gather information about the company’s SaaS maturity and augment the information from the pre-session survey
  • Pre-session call with the consultant who will lead the BDS to go over the Assessment and Survey to answer any questions, learn what the company hopes to gain from the BDS, and set expectations
  • Comprehensive final report detailing all the information gathered, discussed, and decided before and during the engagement, including a roadmap for executing on the recommendations provided.
  • Up to 2 1-hour calls after the session to “check in,” answer questions, and offer assistance as needed up to 1 month after the BDS.
  • A 1-hour call at 3 months after the BDS to answer further questions, assist with issues that may have come up, and help the company stay on the path to success
  • Access to the Mural partnership network for assistance with problems and solutions where Mural cannot directly help the company

^ to top

How can a 2-days BDS add value to my company long-term?

The BDS alone can add value and help your company to improve, but it should always be clear that there is more to the “big picture.”  Mural has completed over 400 BDS engagements and acquired an immense amount of experience and best practices for helping software companies, hosters, and Telcos to succeed in a SaaS environment.  We have a wealth of experience and services to help your company grow and succeed long after the BDS is over.

The BDS adds value as a stand-alone engagement and is a great way for you to understand the complexities of the SaaS world, where you stand, what you need to do to succeed, and how Microsoft and Mural can help you get there.  If your company completes a BDS and feels the time isn’t right to push forward, it’s a good place to stop while still getting an action plan for improvement and a great return on your investment.  Of course, we’re sure you’ll see your potential after the BDS and use it as a springboard into further development, investment, success, and increased revenue.  Mural has many services to help your company do just that, and a network of partners for areas that we don’t cover.

^ to top

How much does a BDS cost?

The BDS engagement is offered at a fixed cost of $15,000 USD plus travel expenses.  We do our best to keep travel expenses to a minimum and always bill them at cost.  This cost can be paid by the partner, by Microsoft, or co-funded by both, depending on the partner’s agreement with Microsoft.

Remember, this fixed price covers all aspects of the BDS, from the Online Self Assessment, pre-session tele-consultations and preparation work, the 2-day in-person session itself, as well as the post session detailed summary report, action plan, and the 1 month and 3 month follow up calls.

^ to top

How long does the BDS take?

The on-site BDS engagement is 2 full working days that requires the presence of involved stakeholders.  In addition to the 2-day engagement, there is a pre-session call and 2 post-session calls that usually last about an hour.

^ to top

What happens after the BDS?

The first thing that happens after a BDS is a comprehensive BDS report, typically delivered within 1 week following the BDS.  This report contains a full summary of the information, decisions, conclusions, and next steps determined during the BDS.  This report also contains a roadmap and action plan for carrying out the decisions and goals set during the BDS.  The BDS recipient also receives up to 2 1-hour phone consultations with the BDS presenter to use within 1 month of the BDS as well as 1 1-hour phone consultation at 3 months after the BDS to assess progress, answer questions, and determine next steps as needed.

^ to top

What is the Mural SaaS Maturity Framework™?

The Mural SaaS Maturity Framework contains 40 Key Success Factors™ (KSF) that are designed to assess maturity and readiness across 5 Key Process Areas (KPA) of success for SaaS.  The 5 KPAs are:

  • Business & Financial Management
  • Application Architecture Readiness
  • Hosting Architecture Readiness
  • Operations/Support Readiness
  • Go-to-Market Effectiveness

Within each Key Process Area, 8 Key Success Factors map to a maturity model that scores the company on a scale from 1 to 5 for each KSF. Each level of maturity in turn provides the them with proven best practice guidance for moving to the next level of maturity.

The Key Success Factor’s continuous and iterative methodology of assessment, planning, and execution ensures Microsoft Partners choose “right-size” investments in their SaaS offering — ensuring that the right levels of maturity are reached “just-in-time” and avoiding the scenario where the company over-invests in areas that don’t require high levels of maturity early in the life-cycle of the offering.

The BDS focuses on the “Go-to-Market Effectiveness” KPA and its 8 Key Success Factors, which are each scored from 1 to 5 on a maturity scale for the company. This detailed information allows the company to understand where they are strong and where they need to focus their efforts.

The Key Success Factors for the Go-to-Market Effectiveness KPA are:

  • Organizational Effectiveness
  • Persona-Driven Offerings
  • Competitive Differentiation
  • Messaging & Positioning
  • Demand Generation
  • Sales Process
  • Customer Service & Support
  • Web-Centric Customer Experience

^ to top

What is the Online Self Assessment?

The Online Self Assessment is a tool, created in a partnership by Microsoft and Mural, designed exclusively for ISVs who are planning, building, testing and/or launching a software + services solution on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. It will help you to continuously measure your SaaS readiness in business, technical, hosting, and operations.

There are 2 kinds of Self Assessments:

  • Quick Assessment – this assessment takes only a few minutes to complete, has 8 questions, and gives a to precursory idea of the full value of the Self Assessment.  This assessment is recommended only as a “taste” of the full tool.  Your goal should be to complete Detailed Assessment.
  • Detailed Assessment – this assessment is much more involved and may take anywhere from 15 – 30 minutes to complete depending on the knowledge of the person taking it.  This assessment provides a detailed look at the SaaS maturity of a company and the output includes several next steps for improving your SaaS business.  This assessment should always be the goal for your Self Assessment.  Your company is only eligible for a tele-consultation once you complete the Detailed Assessment, as this provides the most information to help guide the discussion. These outputs are presented at the end of the Detailed Assessment and may be saved as a PDF document.

Partners must register with the Self Assessment to gain access to the Detailed Assessment and their results.  Each assessment is recorded and available for partners to return and see at any time. Partners are also encouraged to return and re-assess every few months to track their progress and success.

^ to top

How does the Online Self Assessment help me?

In addition to the items listed above, the Self Assessment provides both the partner and Mural with important information.

  • The pre-session survey is greatly augmented to include detailed information about your company, its goals, and your current SaaS maturity.  This insures that time on-site is spent fixing problems rather than discovering them.
  • You learn about your strengths, weaknesses and focus areas before the BDS begins, ensuring you have the right people in the room with the right focus for the in-person session.
  • By knowing the focus areas of your company, Mural can better allocate resources and specialists whose skills are the best match for your focus areas.  This ensures that time on-site is maximized and the follow-up report and recommendations are highly action-oriented and impactful.
  • In addition to visibility of your SaaS maturity in advance of the BDS, you can track progress afterwards as you re-assesses in the weeks and months following.

^ to top

How can I share the data in my SaaS application with my channel partners?

Depending on the type of relationships you have with your channel partners, you may need to support many different types of sharing relationships. A couple examples of these sharing relationships are the single-blind and double-blind models. In a single-blind model, the Original SaaS Manufacturer (OSM) will be able to see all or some of the data accessible to the channel partner but the channel partner can see none of the OSM data. Depending on contractual relationships, this model can also be reversed to ensure the OSM does not see portions of a channel partner’s data. In a double-blind model, neither the OSM nor the channel partner is allowed to view or utilize the data of the other party. The need to support these models often arises from sensitivity to sharing customer or order information. Ensuring that these complex sharing relationships are incorporated into your SaaS application will be key to successfully implementing a SaaS based channel strategy.

^ to top

I’ve been told that it will take a minimum of 12 months to take my SaaS prototype to the next level. How can I launch my SaaS application more rapidly?

Our advice to our clients is always “don’t over develop”. Early on in the requirements definition process and before development has even started, we will help you to identify which elements of your application are absolutely critical for your customers and for generating revenue in your initial launch and which features are perhaps deferrable to a later phase. This approach will ensure that your development costs are contained, your key customer needs are immediately satisfied and that your application is effectively and successfully launched, sooner rather than later.

^ to top

Isn’t SaaS just “ASP” re-branded?

No! SaaS is not just a way of delivering applications in a new way. It’s an entirely new way of building, designing, selling and servicing consumers and businesses via the web, creating endless “Long Tail” opportunities for new software companies, traditional on-premise software vendors and service providers.

^ to top

What is “The Long Tail?”

The Long Tail is a concept coined by the Editor of Wired magazine in 2004 whilst analysing the buying behaviour of consumers on the web. It is essentially a new take on the old “80-20” rule: i.e. a few players dominate the top end of the market, but there is increasingly room for smaller players to profit from lower volume sales of “niche” services. Mural discusses the Long Tail theory in it’s Business Design sessions to identify new “Blue Ocean” opportunities, where success isn’t always measured by size!

^ to top

Back to BDS