One year ago today, we released Daylite Cloud. Here is a recap of what we’ve seen over the last year since releasing Daylite Cloud, what we’ve been working on, and what we have planned moving forward.
Majority of new customers are choosing cloud
About 86% of our new customers are choosing Daylite Cloud over Daylite Self-Serve. This is way higher of a ratio than we expected, and confirms that small businesses just don’t want the hassle and IT costs associated with managing a server, backups, setting up proper networking, dealing with software updates and compatibility issues, etc.
Another unexpected surprise was that 50% of new customers are choosing the yearly plan over monthly. This tells us they’re more committed to the app and are more confident that Daylite is the right solution for them. We had expected most new customers to choose a monthly plan because it’s less of an upfront cost and gives them flexibility and more time to be 100% sure that Daylite is the right solution for them.
More existing customers want to move to cloud
The adoption rate of Daylite Cloud has been immensely better than we anticipated. When we launched Daylite Cloud, we expected that most new customers and potential customers would choose Daylite Cloud over Self-Serve because of the ease of use. But what we didn’t expect, was that so many current Daylite customers would want to move to Daylite Cloud.
We received an overwhelming number of requests from customers that wanted to move their databases to Daylite Cloud. This news was exciting and affirming that we made the right decision to invest so much time and resources into building Daylite Cloud. But it was also daunting. We weren’t prepared to handle moving this many databases, especially databases of such substantial size – which require more time to move.
As a result of so many customer requests to move to Daylite Cloud, we’ve had to ramp up our migration process much faster than we anticipated. Our migration process has drastically improved, and while we’re not able to move quite everyone, we’ve moved a substantial amount of customers and some pretty hefty database sizes so far. So far we’ve moved almost 1000 companies to the cloud. We’re still working on improving this so that we can move everyone, and we’ll reach out to customers individually as we’re ready to move you.
How Daylite Cloud improves customer support
Our ability to provide great customer support has increased because of Daylite Cloud. With Daylite Cloud, we don’t need to ask for your logs to figure out the cause of a problem. Because all the server-related functionality is handled on our end, we can just look it up and sort out the issue. This means less back and forth with customers. We can also detect early warning signs of issues because of Daylite Cloud. In many cases, we’re able to reach out to the customer before they even report a problem. This ability to be proactive about customer support would never be possible with Daylite Self-Serve.
What Daylite customers are loving about cloud
It’s really exciting to hear from so many customers how happy they are to finally be moved to the cloud. Over the years we’ve always heard from customers that while they love Daylite, managing their server is a downright pain in the butt sometimes. Daylite Self-Serve requires IT costs to manage the server, having to do updates to the server, dealing with compatibility issues, investing in hardware to run the server, dealing with backups, security in case their devices are stolen or lost, networking to make sure remote workers can sync, etc.
Now with Daylite Cloud, it eliminates all the hassle and IT costs that come with managing a server so customers can stop worrying about their database and just focus on their business.
Here is what customers are saying about Daylite Cloud:
“Before we moved to Daylite Cloud, we had problems with things not syncing on people’s iPhones. Now that we’re on Daylite Cloud, everything just syncs automatically. We don’t have to worry about someone being in the office and syncing with the server. From the standpoint of reducing frustration, Daylite Cloud has been amazing.”
–Josh Nelson, Elder Care Law“After testing Daylite Cloud, I just realized that that whole side of operating Daylite had just vanished in thin air. Poof! Now I just focus on the Daylite’s client aspects and don’t have to even think anymore about server, sync, backup, etc.”
–Vincent Goalard, International Pharma Services“With Daylite Self-Serve there was the issue of devices only syncing a limited amount of data. So if I searched a client from my iPhone and saw there were some attachments, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to open them. Now with Daylite Cloud, if I go to a client and see there is a linked copy of their financials from two years ago, I just tap on it and it downloads from the Cloud –perfect!”
– Chris Tossell, Hawk Eye Consulting“One thing I really love is the smarter integration with Apple Contacts and Calendars. Previously, with Daylite Server, I had to enter in a lot of information myself but with Daylite Cloud, I just click a button to add a Calendar. The simpler you can make something, the better. That’s what I love about Daylite Cloud. “
–Eriq Chang, Eriq Chang Studio
In the works for Daylite Cloud
One of the benefits of having customers on a subscription plan is that we can add new features on-going – rather than having to lump them all into one major release. It also gives us more predictability over our cash-flow. This means we’re able to hire more resources, which then means more features being added to the app and is better long-term for customers.
We’ve been working on Multitasking support for Daylite on iPad, which is in beta and will be released soon. We’re also going to be adding a new view that will help teams work more cohesively, making improvements to the calendar for easier scheduling between teams, and adding functionality to the iPhone and iPad so you can get updates closer to real-time.
We’re also working on improving our API. We’ve added integration with Zapier through our API so you can automate creating contacts and opportunities in Daylite from other apps like Google Forms, TypeForm, Wufoo, etc. We’re working on adding more to the API such as tasks, projects, appointments, web-hooks, and more. This means you’ll be able to develop custom integrations and workflows, as well as more integration options with Zapier.
Benefits of a SaaS model
We’ve heard the same thing from so many customers about cloud – “Finally! What took you so long?!” I had some hesitation about moving to a SaaS model. It was partly because I wasn’t sure if customers would want to move to a subscription model, and partly because the idea of having to completely rebuild the Daylite architecture made my head spin.
Thankfully, Daylite Cloud has proven to be the right decision and has been positively received by the majority of our customers. The SaaS model is a win-win for both us and our customers. We’re able to now gradually add new features and customers can start using them as we release them, at no additional cost. It’s no wonder the SaaS market is growing so fast, led by customer demand.
Moving forward, we can add new features to Daylite at a more aggressive rate because of the SaaS model. Many of these features will be exclusive to Daylite Cloud because of technical functionality. The features we have planned are super exciting – both from a customer and geek perspective. 🙂
We’ll be sharing more details about these features as they’re ready for beta testing.
Thank you to all our customers for making 2016 an amazing year for Marketcircle!
Until next time,
AJ
