There’s a lot to think about when making an investment in a new SaaS management platform. Features, functions, and pricing are the usual things buyers examine. But there’s one more consideration in the choice of vendor that buyers should understand. And that is “time to value.”

So here, we’ll go over:

• The definition of time to value and why it’s crucial
• How to evaluate a SaaS management platform’s time to value
• What helps BetterCloud customers speed time to value to quickly achieve a positive return on investment.

Defining time to value and why it’s important in SaaS

Let’s start off with making sure we have a common understanding on this key metric.

Time to value is simply a measurement of the amount of time from purchase to when you start deriving value. The faster a SaaS management solution solves your problems, the sooner you realize value. 

It’s as easy as that. 

But it can be complicated. 

Why? 

The reason is because to develop time to value calculations, you need a definition of value. And value, of course, is usually unique to each organization. For example, some need a SaaS management platform for:

• Higher productivity
• Speed user lifecycle management
• Improved security
• Reduce operating costs

However, if you’re like most organizations looking to automate SaaS operations with a SaaS management platform, you’ll likely define value in terms of improved productivity.

Evaluating a SaaS management platform’s time to value

When it comes to using a SaaS management platform to increase productivity, there’s a lot that goes into making sure there’s a fast time to value. 

Specifically, there are two main components to time to value– one is related to the product itself, and the second component is around deployment.

Product-related time to value is its ease of use

And, of course, regarding a SaaS management platform’s ease of use, it breaks down into how easy it is to: 

• Navigate and operate, and 
• Create automations.

Deployment-related time to value is ease of setup process

In the world of SaaS management platforms, the ease of setup process breaks down into:

• Certification programs and training
• Knowledge base and active user community
• Professional services packages
• Customer success and support

Some SaaS management platform vendors are better than others. And, according to our customers, BetterCloud delivers on the time-to-value promise.

How BetterCloud brings fast time to value for customers

A few of the key findings from our May 2023 SaaS Management Impact Report was about this very subject. We found that nearly 90% of customers get BetterCloud up and running in less than 6 weeks, with 24% getting the job done in less than a week.

More than half, at 53%, get value from BetterCloud right away, in less than a month.

Fast and painless implementation. No-code workflow creation simplicity. Easy to learn and use. Together, these factors help BetterCloud customers accelerate time to value and grow productivity to achieve fast return on investment.

So now let’s look at each one.

An intuitive UI for great usability and visibility

As soon as you log in to the platform, the BetterCloud dashboard shows the overview of your domain across all connected applications. In a single view, you can quickly see a real-time view of your domain’s status including:

• Critical alerts
• Workflow executions
• File metrics
• User metrics

No code automations available for more than 70 common, market leading SaaS apps

BetterCloud is built to ensure your team has fast time to value. Our SaaS management platform includes: 

• Pre-built integrations for more than 70 of today’s market leading SaaS apps that many organizations use
• Pre-configured workflow templates that leverage best practices in automating activities and policies across the SaaS environment
• Access to 1000+ essential actions and alerts – out-of-the-box – to meet the unique needs of your business

“The Integration Center just happened to match so perfectly to our needs. It checked off all the boxes of the wide umbrella of SaaS applications Ibotta has, so it was an immediate winner off the bat.”

^{Jon Aviles, Senior IT Identity Management Engineer, Ibotta}

In addition, our platform is purpose-built to make creating workflows easy. You can speed development of workflows using BetterCloud’s easy-to-use workflow builder. This way, anyone on your team can create workflows without the need for complex context or coding.

Using a drag and drop approach, your team member uses simple IF/THEN logic to build the workflows that maximize operational efficiency, scale IT impact, and deliver a quick time to value.

Easy extensibility for unique automation needs

As your organization travels the SaaS automation journey, you’ll uncover some unique processes ripe for automation. 

For example, you’ve automated both onboarding and offboarding processes for user lifecycle management. You’ve already automated some SaaS-related help desk tickets, like password or MFA resets or app access requests.

Now you’re ready to automate a unique or custom need. BetterCloud supports flexible workflows with extended triggers and complex arrays using the Platform API.

As for learning to write even the most complex workflows, you’re never alone. 

BetterCloud offers a plethora of resources to help you grow in your automation skills, and assure a fast time to value and quick return on investment.

Abundant training for every skill and budget level

When you become a customer, you get free access to the BetterCloud Flight School. Want to attend live training? Bring your questions because we’ve got you covered with a free, 90-minute overview session led by BetterCloud experts. 

If you prefer to learn on your own time, there’s nearly 5 hours of on-demand video instruction where you can pause and replay and truly learn at your own pace. 

And finally, if you want an intensive online training workshop, we’ve got that too. In just two days, you’ll learn everything you need to know to become an extraordinary BetterCloud administrator. 

These sessions are generally held a few times per month. Then to ensure each attendee gets individual attention, class sizes are limited. 

Our paid training is a great investment. It assures that your company has a fast time to value with the BetterCloud platform. In addition, it’s a valuable course for preparing to become BetterCloud certified.

Find answers using an extensive knowledge base and from a large and loyal SaaSOps Community

And since learning is always a life-long experience, BetterCloud has your back. There’s a large and searchable knowledge base. To particularly ensure a fast time to value, there’s even a section that focuses on getting started on BetterCloud.

Additionally, there’s a large community of experienced BetterCloud users who are always willing to help. Simply join the BetterIT Slack channel and get answers from your peers at other companies, as well as BetterCloud team members.

Acclaimed professional services for successful implementation and configuration

In addition to extensive training options, a detailed knowledge base, and active BetterCloud community, BetterCloud also offers first-class professional services. 

Thanks to BetterCloud’s Executive Advisory Group (EAG) and their professional services offerings, companies get a quick setup for the fastest time to value. Depending on the size of the new BetterCloud user, implementation is done together with a BetterCloud Solutions Consultant. 

For larger companies or those with a more complex SaaS environment, there may be an implementation project manager to keep the deployment tempo up to meet time to value requirements.

If your team has aggressive time to value requirements, BetterCloud professional services will quickly help get you up and running.

Fuel fast deployment with BetterCloud’s great customer success and support teams

Finally, to answer your questions and troubleshoot problems, you can rely on BetterCloud technical support. With an average chat response time of just 15 seconds, our extensive support team can quickly address your questions. Then to make sure you’re getting the most out of your BetterCloud investment, your BetterCloud Customer Success Team is dedicated to help you meet your goals.

Get Fast Time to Value with BetterCloud

At BetterCloud, achieving your maximum operational efficiency – as quickly as possible — is our highest priority. While the mission starts with BetterCloud’s ease of use, it continues by quickly helping your IT team to become BetterCloud experts. 

Take advantage of plentiful options that include:

• Free on-demand training videos
• Live free workshops
• Paid workshops
• Detailed and up-to-date knowledge base
• Active user community on Slack
• Top notch professional services
• Fantastic tech support
• Dedicated customer success teams

In no time, your IT team and entire organization will benefit from better productivity and a quick return on investment.

Do you need a SaaS management platform with a fast time to value? Reach out to get a demo now.