Doing Homework: What Does SaaS-Based Business Expense Report Software Cost?
We were presented with a comparison chart from a competitor by a prospective client recently (who is considering our SutiSign product). The chart certainly attempted to present their product in the best possible light, but it motivated us to explore what we felt were skewed assumptions that did not help the client truly assess the ROI potential of SaaS-based online software solutions.
(See also our white paper on “Why SaaS for Small Businesses.“)
We do agree with this competitor on the basics: The implementation of an business expense report software? should:
- Speed up important business processes (in this case the processing and archiving of expense reports and data)
- Secure the data collected by these business operations better than old paper-based methods
- Reduces costs dramatically in most cases
- Save a lot of employee time
- Give the organization a competitive advantage over competitors who have not yet adopted the new technology.
Challenging Competitive Cost Assumptions
(For reference, here is our base pricing.)
Traditionally, there are two ways to achieve the benefits listed above: An internally placed and managed software solution, or an outsourced solution delivered as SaaS.
Putting aside the practical issues of a hybrid system, here are our areas of disagreement on their financial assumptions:
|
Their Assumption about SaaS |
Our Rebuttal |
|
| Set-up costs | $10,000 minimum (for 100 users) Higher for larger user populations. | We have never charged as much as $10,000 to set up a user. |
| User Fees | $50 annually per user for 100 users$33 annually per user for 1000 users | This may underestimate what we see in competitive pricing for larger accounts. |
| Service Fees | $25,000 per year | We charge no annual service fees. |
Their Results vs. Our Results (assume 100 users):
| Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for their system (their estimate) |
Under $120,000 |
| SaaS-based system TCO??????????????? (3-year, their estimate) |
Over? $300,000 |
| Our actual average SutiExpense Three-Year TCO for 100 users |
Under $35,000 |
The bottom line:Do your own homework, and suspend judgment before launching your investigations, and ask hard questions about all the costs involved in the multiple types of electronic signature solutions available to you.
You may not choose SutiExpense in the end, but as long as we had a fair review, using numbers and testimonials that truly reflect the TCO you will experience, and the quality of our service levels, we cannot complain!
