By Navin Nageli, Founder & CEO
As a SaaS platform provider in the transportation and public safety space, our competition is not other systems providers, per se, but the "status quo" mindset. Something familiar but poorly built or inefficient is better than something new and unknown. ‘Better the devil you know than the one you don't’. This is a much bigger challenge in the government sector with the myriad of data silo’s, fiefdoms, titles, legacy systems, in-house solutions and lack of any true financial incentive to change. So, “no change” can sometimes be the easier way out. On top of that, some of the clients have deep battle scars from technology implementations gone wrong in the past, making it easy to empathize with their reluctance to change.
What’s the answer?
The answer is two-fold:
- First, the responsibility lies with the SaaS provider like us in educating the client and showing them that technology done the right way does not have to be cumbersome and expensive. We need to show them, “not tell them”, how it is possible. Having a clear implementation process that sets up expectations, timelines, resources, etc., can alleviate client concerns.
- Second, it is very critical we have a champion within the client organization that gets “technology”. There are folks in the government sector that recognize the challenges and know that there has to be better way. This champion understands the power of technology but also has the political savvy to navigate the organizational hurdles.
The best and, in fact, only success we have is when we have both.