Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing. — Warren Buffet
The more you know, the safer you are. This is true for everything in life. If you have a comprehensive knowledge of any specific activity or task, you will know what risks to avoid and how to avoid them. For any business, this is a necessity. Mitigating risk is how successful companies create savings and increase profits.
By leveraging the Salesforce platform, go-to-market resources, and the partner ecosystem, you can get a force multiplier that you don’t get building on another tech stack. Getting on the AppExchange is the fastest way to get through for an enterprise class app. Improve your odds by knowing what the risks are in the building process. Here are a few ways to mitigate risk when building a B2B SaaS product for the AppExchange:
1. Avoid Building the Wrong Thing
Sounds ridiculously simple, right? Make sure that you fall in love with the problem, not the solution. To get a true understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, examine it from every possible angle. Talk with each stakeholder—from employees and business leaders to potential users—to get their unique insight and perspective. That way you’re not just solving any problem, you’re building a product that solves the right problem. Changing direction before the solution build is always the cheapest option.
Focus energy on getting to a minimal viable product (MVP) as quickly as possible. Once customers have your product in hand, you’re able to collect essential feedback that allows you to streamline the process while directly addressing your customer’s needs.
2. Don’t Get Caught Out by the AppExchange Security Review
When it comes to developing for the AppExchange, getting through Security Review quickly can be the holy grail. This involves not only your code, but also any applications (web, mobile, and desktop) that your app integrates with. If you’re going to be integrating an external system with Salesforce, that makes
your security review a bigger deal than if your app is 100% native.
The Security Review process is complex and constantly evolving, and can be one of the biggest risks a B2B SaaS developer for the AppExchange can face. Having a product stuck in limbo has the potential to create a major financial loss for any company. In order to fast track the Security Review process and make sure that your product gets to market in a timely manner, it is essential to prepare.
The best preparation is an understanding of the Open Web Application Security Project guidelines that the AppExchange platform follows. The concepts, including enforcing FLS and CRUD, access control, cross-site scripting, and unused code, need to be understood in the way that they are applied during the review process. This type of Security Review preparation will not only allow you to speed up the process, but it will also produce a highly secure product that your enterprise clients feel safe using. Take a look at this comprehensive Security Review requirements checklist provided by Salesforce to get you going in the right direction.
3. Utilize a Product Development Organization
The demand for developing commercial apps on the AppExchange sparked a niche service: product development organizations, or PDOs. Why? Because building a product that scales for thousands of customers is completely different than customizing a single instance of Salesforce. PDOs help you architect and design a commercial app, tackle specific areas of your build (like third-party integrations), or simply augment your own development team. Relying on a PDO, without a doubt, is the best way to mitigate risk when developing an enterprise product for the AppExchange.
PDO’s can help:
- Accelerate your time to market
- Stand up variably sized, qualified teams quickly
- Play any role in the product development lifecycle
- Support your product management, marketing and sales teams
- Provide superior domain knowledge
- Review your team’s architecture and development
- Leverage best of breed solutions and processes
- Be your trusted advisor to help navigate the complex Salesforce ecosystem
A new certification was launched in Fall 2016 for a PDO Master. A designation within the Salesforce Partner Program, PDO Master partners must achieve specific goals and delivery objectives, as well as drive customer success with many, validated Salesforce implementations. This indicates the highest level of expertise with Salesforce solutions, and is something to consider when utilizing a PDO.
Final Thoughts
What all of this means is that your SaaS product will get to market and into the hands of customers faster. In fact, the right PDO will get you to market at least 40% faster, which means increased savings and profits. Create savings by freeing up your workforce to concentrate on their specialties, rather than using their time trying to learn a new skill and navigate a complex system. Create profits by beating your competition to market. If you can release a product, that is the first of its kind, to market, you will set the standard and pave the way to becoming a household name.
