Only a few years ago, most software companies sold seat licenses for their products, charging customers on the basis of head count. But today, software is typically provided using cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) models that charge customers fees for consumption.
Technology companies have spent billions on the innovation necessary to achieve this product shift. In this article, Doug Chung (Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School) explains why now, they need to transform their sales organization and sales management practices accordingly, including an overhaul of the skills salespeople need, how they are trained and compensated, and how they interact with clients.