For most people, the nuances of technology are at best a foreign language and at worst a turn off. Buyers don’t give a flying souflee what vendors are doing as long as they know their apps are running. So when Xero put this headline into the blogs:Â 55,000 servers and pumping I couldn’t help but wonder what the heck was going on. My initial response was to question whether that meant 4.5 servers for every Xero customer. If so then it has huge implications for cost and on to viability. That’s something that should be of concern to anyone investing in SaaS apps. It seems I missed the context. I was shocked at the response that implied I was taking the piss. But as I said in comments:
Rod. Not having a crack at all – aaah – I think I get it. Xero gets access to not necessarily using. OK. That isn’t clear.
Hmm…headline doesn’t help, neither does the opening para which says: “We’ve just added more than 55,000 new servers…” but later says: “Akamai have more than 55,000 servers around the world, in over 70 countries…”
I don’t think Xero did itself any favours trying to conflate the server environment in the way that it did even though the story’s essence was bang on the money and should be welcome as indicative of a vendor moving forward to better support its customer base. Ben Kepes thought I made a bad joke saying:
I really hope that was a joke Dennis…. A bad one admittedly but better than not understanding the post
I have news for Ben – my audience doesn’t always ‘get it’ either. What Ben misses is that I bat for buyers who are not necessarily interested in the tech that supports vendor ’stuff.’ Ergo Ben’s comment represents the triumph of techno-speak over business sense. Slam me if you want but remember I represent a proxy for buying decision makers. If you get the message wrong or present in an obfuscated manner then don’t shoot the respondent messenger who doesn’t ‘get it.’ And don’t expect me to get it right every time. At least have some respect for buyers. Otherwise you present as someone who doesn’t care about customers.
To Rod’s credit, he returned with a jocular comment that the author has ambitions to be a tabloid journalist. I guess that’s a tacit admission to having muffed the discussion. Either way, at least we have clarity. Perhaps a lesson for us all to get away from technospeak and into business value?
Disclosure: Xero has been a faithful AccMan sponsor and a company I wish all the best as one that’s trying hard to make a difference. But as I’ve always said about any sponsor, that doesn’t give them a free pass. I still admire what they’re doing.
Disclosure 2: I am an equal opportunity flamethrower.
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