What are XaaS and SaaS bundles?


XaaS and SaaS bundles are a simple and effective way to combine any number of physical and / or digital products into one offering, improving the buyer journey and reducing the complexity of billing for the customer. Many products, such as Cloud Security or Cloud Storage, have complementary products, such as M365 or even a physical device, that are frequently purchased together.

The goal of the bundling strategy is to make sales easier, and to increase the purchase value by the customer. A bundle can also be seen as a way for a company to sell a specific outcome to the customer, such as data management and security, a workspace with digital and physical elements, and so on. Bundles are especially valuable for SMBs, as they often do not have resources in-house to procure, deploy, and manage large amounts of software and apps.




Contents

  1. What are some benefits of SaaS and XaaS bundling?
  2. What are managed XaaS bundles?
  3. What are some types of XaaS and SaaS bundling?
  4. What software is important for a bundle pricing strategy?
  5. What are some general pros and cons of XaaS and SaaS bundling?


What are some benefits of SaaS and XaaS bundling?


Bundling certain products makes sense for both the seller and the buyer. Bundling often gives the customer a discount on their purchase, and at the same time, allows the company to sell two or more items instead of one.  

The products selected are ones that customers often buy together, so combining them makes the customer purchasing experience much smoother. The company also increases their average order value, decreases their CAC or customer acquisition cost, and grows revenue through the channel.


What are managed XaaS bundles?


Managed XaaS bundles are a solution made up of products such as hardware and software, professional services, customer support, and operational management, bundled together into a single unit price, charged per month, which is controlled by a managed services agreement. The bundled services are delivered remotely, and delivery resources are shared across clients, reducing cost for the company.  

These managed bundles include many variants of as-a-service products, such as DaaS or Data as a Service, HWaaS or Hardware as a Service, and WaaS or Workplace as a Service.


What are SaaS Bundles


What are some types of XaaS and SaaS bundling?

Core product bundling

Core product bundles can also be known as hard bundles. They consist of a provider’s core product – hardware, internet access, mobile phones and plans, etc. – sold with a cloud application – like Office 365, Dropbox, Norton, etc. Core product bundles are easily scalable and drive revenue growth off the back of existing products and brand awareness, and help providers sell large numbers of SaaS applications. Core bundles help to improve ARPU and build relationships with independent software vendor (ISVs).

Adjacent app bundles

Adjacent app bundling is outcome-based bundling, as it describes a package where a rich suite of applications, such as G Suite or Office 365, is bundled together with 24-hour tech support or customer training and onboarding. Adjacent bundling is a way to upgrade customers onto new software products – which in turn generates more APRU. It also helps providers meet ISV support standards like Microsoft’s CSP requirements.

Mixed bundles

Mixed bundles describe a package where all individual items and services associated with the bundle can also be purchased individually by the customer. Mixed bundles help reduce the potential to hurt popular products’ sales – customers might only want to buy one specific product, and for the company, it is better to sell one item than nothing.

Aggregator bundling 

Aggregator bundles give the customer the most choice, as they can stack, or customize, their bundle by selecting from multiple options. In terms of subscription services, the aggregator model supports choices locked in from day one or choices that can be changed at the beginning of each payment period.

Limited time bundling

Limited time bundles are often rotating offers that give a customer a discount on a selection of services or products for a specific timeframe – applied to both the purchase and usage. Limited time bundles create a sense of urgency in the buyer, as the bundle should be structured in a way to make it highly desirable. Telcos use this type of bundle to increase their ARPU.

Partnership bundling

Partnership bundling lets one provider sell the products and services of another company with their own in a cross-company bundle. This type of collaboration offers many competitive advantages for companies such as growing new customer bases, opening new geographies, sharing market research, running trials of products, and more.

Organic bundling

Organic bundling describes a bundle where customers can only purchase specific products or services via a bundle. Organic bundling uses psychology to create the idea of exclusiveness, scarcity, and uniqueness – these bundles are enhanced as they appear rare and can make the customer feel special as they were able to access the offer.





What software is important for a bundle pricing strategy? 


Revenue recognition software for bundled products and services is very important in terms of attributing income to each revenue stream, as is being compliant with accounting standards in any geography the products are sold. Accounting standards could include ASC 606, IFRS 15, or the local GAAP.

Revenue recognition software is important when making business decisions, and to understand the performance of the bundled products to ensure each revenue stream is accurately controlled. A powerful recurring revenue solution will help companies eliminate manual errors, maintain compliance, and control changes to customer invoices and bundles.

What are some general pros and cons of XaaS and SaaS bundling? 







Ready to learn more about XaaS and SaaS bundles?


CloudBlue is a powerful XaaS platform that will help you grow revenue. Here are some resources for more information:


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Subscription Based Models

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Telefonica Bundles

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Mike Jennett, Director of CloudBlue Platform Strategy, is an accomplished business and technology executive. With a deep focus on product development and go-to-market strategy, he plays a pivotal role driving strategic growth and market expansion. Mike’s career is characterized by his adeptness in driving technological advancements and his commitment to leading digital transformations with experience including IDC where he was VP of the Mobility and Digital Transformation IEP practices, and HP where he held numerous leadership roles. Mike’s expertise is also reflected in his published works and contributions to multiple tech publications. Mike holds a B.A. from California Polytechnic University.
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The team includes technical account management, managed services, support, custom solution development, and customer enablement.

Prior to CloudBlue, his resume boasts leadership of some of the world’s largest companies during their digital transformations and marketplace launches. Taylor is a practitioner of servitude leadership when it comes to enabling his team to drive positive outcomes on the road to operational excellence.
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As a Dutch racing champion and car enthusiast, he brings the same drive to the tech realm, steering Keenondots from a managed hosting firm to a global cloud enablement leader. Laurens is celebrated for his outcome-driven leadership, deep industry insight, and passion for balancing business innovation with client engagement.
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Before joining CloudBlue, Lincoln was AppDirect’s Regional Director, Asia Pacific & Japan, responsible for forming, building and leading AppDirect’s business and operations across the APJ geography. He built and led AppDirect’s fastest growing and highest performing region globally within 3yrs.

Before joining AppDirect, Lincoln was EMC’s Practice Manager, Cloud Service Providers, APJ, working with the leading Service Providers to maximise their Cloud Business presence & market success. Lincoln joined EMC in 2007, and has over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, having been based out of Singapore, Australia and the UK. Prior to EMC, he was in range of sales and channel positions at Symantec and VERITAS.

Lincoln has an Honours degree in Business Administration from Kingston University in the United Kingdom.
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Brent is a Canadian based corporate lawyer with more than 20 years of experience as a strategic legal advisor both in private practice and as in-house counsel to large multi-national companies. Prior to joining Ingram Micro in 2008, he worked at a well-respected corporate law firm in Toronto, Canada and later served as general counsel for Toshiba Canada. During his 15-year tenure at Ingram Micro, he has held positions of increasing complexity and responsibility, and since being promoted to his current role in 2022, Brent is the legal lead for both Ingram Micro’s Canadian and global cloud businesses, as well as CloudBlue.

Brent holds a law degree (LL.B.) from Queen’s University, a Psychology degree (B.A. Honours) from Lakehead University, and has been admitted to the bar in Ontario, Canada since 2002.
Anurag serves as the Head of Product Management for CloudBlue and is responsible for product direction and driving innovation. His leadership has been marked by a keen focus on customer needs, growing the ISV ecosystem, and ensuring the continual evolution of CloudBlue’s product portfolio.

Anurag joined Ingram Micro in 2017 and has been instrumental in, positioning CloudBlue as an industry leading monetization platform for MSP’s, Telco’s and Distributors. Previously Anurag worked at Oracle and Microsoft where he managed many technology projects and programs.
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Prior to joining CloudBlue Rony lead the R&D efforts at Tripwire acquired by Thoma Bravo, and Cedexis acquired by Citrix. Rony is a leader with extensive experience in transforming both complex technology problems into products that customers love and disjointed organizations into agile high performing teams.
Coen is a distinguished leader and entrepreneur in the realm of cloud technology. Currently serving as CEO of Keenondots and the Global Director of CloudBlue SaaS. He is passionate about driving innovation, fostering collaboration, and leading high-performing teams to achieve transformative results.

With a background as Managing Director of INTO Cloud and a pivotal role as Director of Products of KPN, he brings a wealth of experience in steering organizations through the complexities of the digital landscape.

Beyond the boardroom, Coen is a marathon enthusiast, demonstrating endurance and discipline in pursuit of both professional and personal goals.
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Prior to CloudBlue, Alyson served as Ingram Micro’s Director of Global Business Intelligence Marketing Automation driving channel partner campaigns. Her tenure in marketing leadership at prestigious companies such as Western Digital, Ocean Institute celebrates redefining marketing campaigns and building top performing teams based on trust, experimentation, and results.

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Before CloudBlue, Darek managed Ingram Micro’s Services division for hi-tech customers in Europe & APAC. His prior experiences include also launching and leading pan-European services business for TDSynnex, as well as strategy consulting with Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

As President of CloudBlue, Uddhav is a distinguished leader and visionary with nearly two decades of platform-building experience. He is an industry leader in digital commerce, the subscription economy, and monetization platforms.


Notably, at SAP, he spearheaded the transformation of their platform business into a multi-cloud platform-as-a-service, offering enterprise and developer-friendly subscription models. At Pure Storage, he championed the efforts to successfully disrupt the storage industry by creating revolutionary Storage-as-a-service, AIOps-as-a-service, and Disaster Recovery-as-a-service offerings with cutting-edge features and establishing a sophisticated subscription commerce infrastructure that is channel-friendly.


At CloudBlue, Uddhav guides and empowers businesses to rethink their monetization strategies by unlocking the power of digital ecosystems and marketplaces. CloudBlue provides enterprises with a mature multi-tier, multi-channel marketplace and monetization platform that enables usage-based subscription models and global delivery of Anything-as-a-Service solutions. Uddhav has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of the subscription economy through his innovative thinking and impactful contributions.

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