For decades, industrial companies have excelled at selling hardware and embedded software. These businesses are built around capital expenditure cycles, engineering credibility, and project-driven relationships.
Shifting from hardware + embedded software to SaaS is not just a business model change — it’s a sales DNA rewrite.
𝗜𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿:
- Budgets are capex-driven.
- Deals are one-time + maintenance.
- Sales cycles are long, tied to shutdowns and approvals.
- Reps win through engineering credibility.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆:
- Budgets move to opex / digital.
- Sales cycles shrink to 3–9 months, with land-and-expand.
- Success depends on ROI storytelling, value selling, and retention.
- Incentives shift from closing the deal to renewing and expanding it.
And perhaps most disruptive: The account owner changes from the plant manager to the CIO or CDO.
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𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭:
1️⃣ From technical selling to value selling
Success now depends on ROI-based conversations and business outcomes, not specifications or uptime.
2️⃣ From closing deals to growing accounts
Incentives move from deal closure to renewal and expansion, measured by ARR, NRR, and churn.
3️⃣ From project channels to digital ecosystems
Traditional integrators give way to cloud marketplaces, ISV partnerships, and API ecosystems.
Industrial firms that try to “overlay” SaaS on their existing go-to-market find themselves fighting friction at every level — incentives, channels, even culture.
🧭 SaaS isn’t an add-on — it’s a reinvention of how you sell, measure, and serve.
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