{"id":18519,"date":"2015-11-03T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T12:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cloudcomputing-news.net\/news\/2015\/nov\/03\/key-take-aways-from-the-2015-pacific-crest-saas-survey\/"},"modified":"2015-11-03T12:38:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T12:38:44","slug":"40-of-saas-companies-use-aws-to-deliver-their-apps-according-to-pacific-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/40-of-saas-companies-use-aws-to-deliver-their-apps-according-to-pacific-quest\/","title":{"rendered":"40% of SaaS companies use AWS to deliver their apps, according to Pacific Quest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>(c)iStock.com\/alexsl<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"tweet_quote\">40% of SaaS companies are using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver their apps today.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"tweet_quote\">Median subscription gross margins for SaaS companies in 2015 are 78%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"tweet_quote\">Overall, SaaS companies are projecting median revenue growth of 46% in 2015.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Channel sales and inside sales strategies delivered the highest revenue growth rates in 2014.<\/li>\n<li>Companies in the $5M &ndash; $7.5M range achieved 70% revenue growth in 2014, surpassing the median 36% growth rate last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These and many other insights are from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacific-crest.com\/2015-saas-survey\/\" >2015 Pacific Crest SaaS Survey<\/a> published by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forentrepreneurs.com\/\" >David Skok<\/a>&nbsp;of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.matrixpartners.com\/\" >Matrix Partners<\/a> in collaboration with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacific-crest.com\/\" >Pacific Crest Securities<\/a>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacific-crest.com\/2015-saas-survey\/\" >You can download a free copy of Part I of the study here<\/a> (PDF, opt-in, 72 pp).<\/p>\n<p>305 SaaS companies were interviewed, 31% from international locations and 69% from North America.&nbsp; David Skok and Pacific Crest Securities will publish Part 2 of the results in the near future. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forentrepreneurs.com\/saas-metrics-2-definitions\/\" >SaaS Metrics 2.0 &ndash; Detailed Definitions<\/a> provides a useful reference for many of the SaaS metrics mentioned in the study.<\/p>\n<p>This year&rsquo;s survey attracted an eclectic base of respondents, with median revenues of $4M a year, with 133 companies reporting less than $5M, and 57 over $25M. Annual Contract Value (ACV) across all respondents is $21K, with 17% of respondents reporting ACVs over $100K.&nbsp; Please see pages 3 &amp; 4 of the study for a description of the methodology. Key takeaways from the study include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SaaS GAAP revenue growth is accelerating in 2014 and is projected to increase further in 2015 from 44% to 46%.<\/strong> Median revenue growth in 2014 for all survey respondents was 44%, with the aggregate projected growth for 2015 reaching 46%. When SaaS companies with less than $2.5M in revenues are excluded, median GAAP growth was 35% in 2014 and is expected to reach that same level in 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9386 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/grow-SaaS-Revenue.jpg\" alt=\"grow SaaS Revenue\" width=\"1173\" height=\"912\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SaaS companies with mixed customer strategies are growing at 57% a year<\/strong>.&nbsp; Excluding respondent companies with less than $2.5M in revenues, a mixed customer strategy dominates all others. Concentrating on enterprises and small &amp; medium businesses (SMBs) both drove 33% revenue growth of respondent companies this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9387 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/median-growth-rate-as-a-function-of-customer.jpg\" alt=\"median growth rate as a function of customer\" width=\"1172\" height=\"908\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>40% of SaaS companies are using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver their apps today.<\/strong> AWS is projected to increase to 44% three years from now, with Microsoft&nbsp;Azure increasing from 3% today to 6% in 3 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9388 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/SaaS-Delivered.jpg\" alt=\"SaaS Delivered\" width=\"1057\" height=\"820\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>41% of all SaaS companies surveyed rely primarily on field sales.<\/strong>&nbsp; Factoring out the companies with less than $2.5M in revenue, field sales accounts for 32%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9389 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/primary-mode-of-distribution.jpg\" alt=\"primary mode of distribution\" width=\"1055\" height=\"818\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Field sales dominates as the most effective sales strategy when median deal sizes are $50K or more.<\/strong> In contrast, inside sales dominates $5K to $15K deal sizes, and the Internet dominates deal sizes less than $1K.&nbsp; The following graphic provides insights into the primary mode of sales by median initial contract size.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9390 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/mode-by-initial-contract-size.jpg\" alt=\"mode by initial contract size\" width=\"1056\" height=\"820\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>16% of new Average Contract Value (ACV) sales is from upsells, with the largest companies being the most effective at this selling strategy.<\/strong> One of the strongest catalysts of a SaaS companies&rsquo; growth is the ability to upsell customers to a higher ACV, generating significantly greater gross margin in the process. SaaS companies with revenues between $40M to $75M increase their ACV by 32% using upsells. Larger SaaS companies with over $75M in sales generate 28% additional ACV with upsell strategies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9391 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/ACV-Value.jpg\" alt=\"ACV Value\" width=\"1055\" height=\"815\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The highest growth SaaS companies are relying on upsells to fuel higher ACV.<\/strong>&nbsp; There is a significant difference between the highest and lowest growth SaaS companies when it comes to upsell expertise and execution.&nbsp; The following graphic provides an overview by 2014 GAAP revenue category of percent of ACV attributable to upsells.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9392 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/fast-upsell.jpg\" alt=\"fast upsell\" width=\"1057\" height=\"820\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>60% are driving revenues with &ldquo;Try Before You Buy&rdquo; strategies, with 30% generating the majority of their revenues using this approach.<\/strong>&nbsp; On contrast, only 30% of companies generate revenues and ACV from freemium.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9393 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs-images.forbes.com\/louiscolumbus\/files\/2015\/10\/freemium.jpg\" alt=\"freemium\" width=\"1055\" height=\"821\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(c)iStock.com\/alexsl<\/p>\n<p>40% of SaaS companies are using Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver their apps today.<br \/>\nMedian subscription gross margins for SaaS companies in 2015 are 78%.<br \/>\nOverall, SaaS companies are projecting median revenue growth of 46% in 20&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18520,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519\/revisions\/18520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}