In today’s highly segmented software markets, a vendor can almost always find a way to describe themselves as a leader in some fashion. Put enough qualifiers in the phrase and you can weed out enough competitors, and bingo, you are a leader.
I recently read an ad when SLI Systems claimed to be “the top pure SaaS-based site search provider.” Perhaps this is true. But it is an incredibly misleading statement. Narrowing the market to “pure SaaS-based site search” eliminates providers like EasyAsk, who offers BOTH SaaS-based and on-premise licensing models. SLI is not claiming to be the best… they claim to be the best of a subset of suppliers.
The first question you might want to ask is: why is SLI Systems ONLY SaaS? The most likely answer I can think of is that their solution is too difficult for customers to manage on their own – thus SLI has to manage it for them. But do customers really want to give up that much control?
EasyAsk started in the software business. To be successful, we HAD TO make our software easy to use, as well as scalable, reliable and feature rich. Our analytics and tools allow customers to tune and manage their search application easily and efficiently on their own. The analytics automatically find where to tune, and the GUI allows the user to perform the tune with the single click of a button.
And as customers asked for a SaaS-based solution, EasyAsk’s ease of use became one of our greatest assets, allowing us to run a scalable SaaS platform on which we could deploy customers in days, NOT weeks or months.
Many people assume small- to medium-sized business’ want a SaaS-based solution. At EasyAsk, we don’t assume, we give them a choice. Their answer might surprise you. Just ask Travers Tools or Schuler Shoes – both small business’ who preferred an on-premise license to SaaS. A recent new customer we signed is starting with SaaS and eventually wants to migrate to on-premise. With SLI Systems, you do NOT have these options.
In the end, wouldn’t you want to buy the best solution, regardless of the licensing and deployment model? With EasyAsk, you get the best search, navigation and merchandising solution, rich with Watson-like natural language capabilities that will increase your customer conversion rates – guaranteed. Once you’ve chosen, you then decide how you want to deploy – SaaS or On-Premise. The choice is yours.