Project management software firm Hansoft reduced its sales cycle by up to 20 percent using Amazon Web Services (AWS). The Sweden-based company’s project management tools are used by customers with high-performance requirements, such as game developers and organizations in the space and defense industry. The simplicity of Amazon AppStream 2.0 has allowed Hansoft to deliver its software to customers in seconds.
Go back just a decade or so and the project management (PM) software landscape looked very different. Mainly the preserve of project managers themselves, these programs were a far cry from the sophisticated software of today, which enables firms to manage highly complex projects involving teams scattered across the globe. Back then, there were also fewer products available for customers looking for a systematic approach to bringing their ideas to life.
“There was a big gap in the market when Hansoft started 10 years ago,” says Johan Karlsson, Hansoft’s vice president of marketing and customer success. “Now, there are hundreds more PM solutions in a list that grows every time we look, so we have stiff competition.”
The company, based in Sweden’s Uppsala district—known for being a hub of innovation, with links to both the founding of Skype and MySQL—counts numerous game developers and Internet of Things pioneers among its clients.
When you’re in the business of helping your clients’ projects run smoothly, you need to ensure their first experience with your product is seamless. “Previously, getting a trial set up for a potential new customer could take weeks, sometimes months.
The customer had to provision servers and sort out access issues. It didn’t exactly make us look good for this to take so long, and—more importantly—it was hampering our sales cycle. Getting customers on board was a really slow process that was affecting our bottom line when competitors could move faster.”
There were two distinct challenges for Hansoft: getting potential customers to try its software, and doing the same for its existing on-premises customers in order to convert them to the more flexible SaaS model. As Karlsson says, both are “critical to driving sales—and customer success.”
Amazon AppStream 2.0, a fully managed service for streaming applications to users across a variety of devices, proved to be the solution the team was looking for. According to Erik Jakubek, Hansoft’s director, IT solutions, getting started was a simple process. “We launched the Amazon AppStream client, and it just worked. There was no more to it than that.”
Customers can now get access to Hansoft software in seconds through a web browser. “You want to try out Hansoft? Well here’s the link, just click it and start,” says Karlsson. “That’s how easy it is to deliver enterprise-level project management software to clients and prospects using Amazon AppStream.”
The company has seen a positive impact on the sales process, allowing it to close deals faster because it takes less time to showcase its software. Karlsson says, “Using Amazon AppStream, we’ve reduced the first steps of our sales cycle by up to 20 percent.
The benefit to the business is enormous. Because we can engage customers so easily, they have an excellent first impression of Hansoft, and our ability to either onboard a new customer or upsell an existing on-premises client to our SaaS offering is greatly improved.”
The other benefits to Hansoft are cost savings and the ability to direct more resources to core work. “We have an extremely lean and efficient IT department, and we don’t have to expand our IT function even when our client base grows,” says Karlsson. “The simplicity of AppStream means we can focus on development work that will help make Hansoft the best PM software in the market. I’d estimate it saves us the effort and expense of two full-time staff. That equates to a lot of extra features for customers!”
Learn more about how Amazon AppStream 2.0 can speed delivery of your applications.