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How much rent do you pay?

No, I don’t just mean an apartment or housing. In our business lives we ‘rent’ many things. Equipment? Office space? How about software? The whole SaaS model is equivalent to paying monthly rent on your systems.

Think about all the technology you touch on a daily basis for your work – how many monthly/recurring payments do you have? It’s overwhelming, isn’t it – and a slight increase by multiple vendors can significantly impact your bottom line.

Give this song by Spoon a listen as we see what the experts are saying about the rent we pay this week…

For the CRM Aficionados…

SaaS pricing is an art unto itself. How many tiers, what features are available on each tier, etc. – there are many variables. For those of you who use Salesforce, you’ll probably be impacted by their latest price increases.

For the first time in more than seven years, Salesforce has increased its prices on the majority of its popular plans. The Starter plan stayed at the competitive $25/user/month, but the Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited plans all saw an average increase of around 9%.

What’s the reason for the increase? According to the official Salesforce press release, it’s because the company has substantially increased its generative AI offerings, including AI Cloud, Einstein GPT, and others. As a result, they’ve increased prices to make up for the increased functionality of the platform as a whole.

I’d love to hear from you if you’re a Salesforce user – how are these increases impacting you? Maybe you’ve been losing sleep over the changes – or maybe you’re still seeing the value? I’m curious how other major CRM vendors will respond.

For the Music Lovers…

Spotify users have been waiting almost two years for the platform to up its game when it comes to audio quality. Apple, Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon, and others are already available in higher-res audio while Spotify seems stuck in 2017.

A “Supremium” tier was announced in 2021, and promises have been made and broken since then. Now, though, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel: data miners have identified changes in Spotify’s code that seem to include the ability to carry lossless audio.

The Verge also reports on the possibility of 24-bit lossless audio, AI playlists, advanced mixing tools, audiobooks, and more. And – the code seems to reference a cost of $19.99/month.

What do you think? Does a tier for higher-res audio resonate with you? And what about B2B? I’m sure most of us have found ourselves working with systems overdue for an update. Do you stick it out and make do because you like the rent you pay… or does the stuck-in-the-past software have you looking at alternatives?

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post The Art of SaaS: What Do You Pay? appeared first on Virtual Causeway.

What Do B2B Marketers Do Now? is an ongoing email. Join the mailing list to be the first to receive these weekly insights!

I’ve had the chance to see some great shows over the years. And many of these occurred at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference.

Well – it’s that time of year again – give this song by Foo Fighters a listen as we see what the experts are saying this week.

Living the AI Dream(force)?

Were you at #dreamforce last week? Estimates say 40,000 attended Salesforce’s annual conference in San Francisco this year… a far cry from the 100k+ attendees they boasted pre-COVID. And Foo Fighters performed – again!

You may have seen some of Marc Benioff’s criticism of the city as well – and his warning that Dreamforce 2024 wasn’t a lock for San Francisco if the city’s unhoused and addicted population intruded on his company’s annual software festival.

And what did we learn? Yes, everything is AI. Salesforce’s Einstein product was front and centre, which is to be expected, based on the current trend in B2B and beyond.

What do these lower attendance numbers mean – are they a function of our reluctance to spend time in San Fran? Were the conference (and hotel/travel) costs too outrageous this year? Or we were caged and now we’re free… but maybe Salesforce underestimated the amount of people still unwilling to get back to in-person events.

The next few weeks will be interesting to see: how the conference’s success is assessed and perceived (by Salesforce and others), and what the future of Dreamforce might be.

Speaking of AI…

Maybe you’ve heard “Heart On My Sleeve,” the song that uses AI to mimic the vocals of artists Drake and the Weeknd. Well – there was some recent press around it, and the fact that it’s not eligible for a Grammy – but only because it’s not commercially available (after being removed from streaming services over copyright issues).

AI-generated music that took the voice of popular artists to make new songs or have them “cover” other songs gained traction on social media earlier this year. “Heart On My Sleeve,” in particular, has millions of plays on streaming services Spotify and Apple. Financial Times reported that Universal Music Group – which both Drake and the Weeknd have deals with – requested streaming services prohibit AI platforms from using streamers to study copyrighted songs.

What do you think? It’s interesting that while this song isn’t Grammy-eligible, it’s not for AI-related reasons. While many are hesitating when it comes to AI, many others have embraced it – whether in music or in B2B. But AI isn’t going anywhere! So if you’re one of those hesitating, well, now and then you might try to bend. With the right AI monkey wrench, it might be better than you expect!

As always, don’t hesitate to call me to brainstorm or just say hello!

Looking forward,
Rick

Rick Endrulat, President | ricke@v-causeway.com | www.linkedin.com/in/rickendrulat

The post Dreamforce, AI and the Road Ahead appeared first on Virtual Causeway.