> Page 23 View from the Repair Bench > Page 24 AI in MI > Page 25 My Turn
IN THE TRENCHES I BY CYPH SHAH MY GUIDE TO SAAS CONSIDERATIONS N avigating through the sea of SaaS products in search of your Moby Dick can be a challenge.
into a support subscription for one minor change. This may work in some scenarios where the tool is open source, but you may hit a brick wall in others. It’s important to understand the difference be- tween a closed subscription-based model and engineering-friendly ones. Don’t rely on this avenue without accepting the fact you may invest hours into a dead end. DOUBT THE DEMO Many SaaS tools will offer a live demo for you to poke around on, but sometimes what you see isn’t always what you get. Additional features may be unlocked in the demo that aren’t included in your plan or explicitly defined. After surveying a multitude of provider options over the course of days you may grow tired of the process, opting to make a best guess while crossing your fingers so you can move on with your life. That’s where they get you. And because these tools are not a one-size-fits-all, relying on referrals from industry compatriots may not prove to be an effective maneuver. GLOBAL RELEVANCE Make no mistake, a lot of this correlates to other software inte- grations, like APIs and plug-ins. Make sure they all communicate properly. They all need to be on specific versions to pass data prop- erly. Your main CRM may require security updates that knock one or two of them into disarray, trigger- ing a domino effect of debugging.
One example: We were relying on the UPS API for our web- site AstroAVL.com until UPS decided to sunset that feature. Our website’s pings for data were hitting a closed server, resulting in impediments in the customer’s checkout process. With the help of our quick-thinking develop- ment team, Excel Bots, we crafted and deployed a custom script to estimate freight costs based on the published rate data updates. DON’T GO IT ALONE You may be tempted to take full control of the rudder but un- less you’re well versed in sailing through SaaS and Java, it’s best to bounce navigation routes off of those around you — specifically a developer who understands your company’s needs and workflow as well as you do. THE HULL COMMANDS THE BUOYANCY If your core online operations exist on a popular platform, like Shopify, you may be in for a smoother voy- age. However, I’ve stumbled upon plenty of popular extensions that have terrible ratings and a litter of off-putting reviews on support. In a perfect world these tools would fit together and interact like a well- tailored suit. But in the event they don’t, prepare redundancy proto- cols for when systems go down. This way, you won’t find yourself upstream without a paddle. MI
I’ve researched and deployed a handful, including cloud-based POS systems, CRMs and other order management tools. And I learned the hard way that what you think you’re getting might not really give you the end result you thought it would. Chart a smoother course by learning from my SaaS experiences. “LOW ENTRY PRICE” ISN’T “LOW COST” While comparing product solu- tions, I often went through the options weighing what features I could live without for a price that appeals to the budget. What some mid-to-lower tier pricing options don’t tell you is that you’re going to encounter gaps in performance or functionality that weren’t read- ily apparent during the first 90 days. And by then, your initial installation support has expired. Bridging those gaps is going to require an additional subscription for tech support which often comes with a hefty price tag, doubling or tripling what you anticipated. Keep this in mind and potentially ask your onboarding customer success manager for a breakdown on your support tier. PRODUCT SUPPORT’S NOT ON YOUR SCHEDULE Being able to articulate your needs to the provider may come with
“Understand the difference between a closed subscription- based model and engineering- friendly ones.” challenges best dealt with over the phone or live chat instead of emails where details can be lost in translation. However, those product support teams may be on the other side of the pond, and getting in touch with a live agent can require you working during their hours, not yours. So, be prepared to fire up the coffee pot at 3 a.m. if you want real-time answers to your SaaS problems. CUSTOMIZATIONS MAY NOT CORRELATE There are occasions where you may choose to defer to your own developer to make custom tweaks to the script instead of jumping
Cyph Shah is the manager of Astro Audio Video and Lighting in Glendale, California.
22 I MUSIC INC. I JULY 2026
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