Stephan, please explain your role in the plazz AG team.
My role in the plazz AG team is Chief Sales Officer. That means I am the face of the company to the customer. With my team, we take care of customers and show them the advantages our products offer and This means I am the spearhead to the buyer. With my team, we take care of the customers and show them the possibilities that our products offer and which Challenges customers face can be solved with our solutions. We maintain a close partnership with our clients throughout the entire period of cooperation, and this begins as early as the consulting sessions for the implementation of our applications.
Why is the right pricing structure so important from a sales / distribution perspective?
The bottom line for us is to offer a solution that solves problems as simply and comprehensively as possible for the customer using an SaaS Approach. However, the use cases and requirements that can be covered by Polario are diverse. With Polario, we serve two major subject areas, events on the one hand and communities and employee communication on the other. Both application areas have overlaps as well as areas of divergence. That’s why we meet different requirements with the Campus and Events editions. We offer a classic SaaS model with monthly billing for communities and employee communication, while events are billed on a per-project basis. As a result, all customers will find the right price model for their application.
So what are the basic differences between campus & events contracts?
A defined endpoint, in the case of an event contract. An event, whether digital, hybrid or live, is usually treated like a project. Thus, we work with the customer towards a previously defined goal. This means, of course, that both the customer and plazz AG can plan for the necessary resources, but it also means that a high level of service is required over a mostly short period of time. Our pricing structure makes Polario calculable for customers with project-based budgeting. However, event series increasingly develop into longer-term communities with which an organizer would like to stay in contact in the future. And that’s also where we get into the campus area, where long-term use as a community or even employee app is planned. We offer customers a typical SaaS concept in the form of a subscription that provides a high degree of cost transparency based on the number of users. We believe that our pricing structure is particularly attractive here, as most customers do not have to account for unexpected large cost blocks such as app updates outside of the subscription.
What support services can customers expect?
As a company, plazz has very high quality standards, on the one hand for our products such as Polario, but also for our service. That is why we often refer to our service as SaaS+. Basically, our software solutions can be operated and administered by the customer himself, there is also a support team available to assist our customers. Our support team, based in Erfurt, Germany, not only assists our customers with questions about the product, but also deals individually with the topics of our customers. Depending on the service requirements of the customer, we do not force anyone to book support, we offer a wide range of services. The spectrum here ranges from content integration, i.e. content maintenance, to complete project management. If the customer wants to get the best out of Polario independently, we naturally also offer consulting services and workshops. One of the most important goals of plazz, is to offer customers a “rounded” solution that can be customized to their needs.
How does the price structure compare to competitors?
Some competitors work with low loss-leader offers and entry-level prices in order to retain customers. The hard part usually comes in the course of use, since numerous basic functions, such as Chat, Pages or push notifications, are not covered by these versions and have to be booked for a fee.
Our Polario price structure follows the approach of transparency and calculability. For us, it’s all about long-term collaboration with each of our customers and building a value-added digital product with them. When usage increases due to a larger number of users, the customer benefits and so do we. Similarly, if further fields of application can be additionally covered by special functions. In this way, we create win-win situations together time and again.
Are the solutions tailored purely for web or is the application also available for mobile devices?
Schon seit Jahren vertreten wir bei der plazz AG den Ansatz „Mobile First“. Some studies now assume that over 85% of all Germans own a smartphone. I see it as an absolute necessity to be present on mobile devices. Which also goes back to our quality claim as a company to offer the customer a good user experience by default. In addition, the topics of community and events also touch on each other here; after all, the information channel also plays a central role in the successful dissemination of information. Basically, customers can decide for themselves whether they want to book the application purely on a web basis, e.g. as an intranet replacement or as a digital event platform. Optionally, the native apps are available as a way to communicate with non-desk / blue collar workers or for live events. Our customers can be sure with Polario their users will get a good experience no matter the device.
Why should companies invest in the digitization of their events and their communication?
Digitization is an absolute necessity for all companies in order to remain attractive to employees and stakeholders. In the context of events, for example, digitization can reduce travel times. What this means for many customers is that they can invite international speakers and experts to their events who previously would have had to be flown in. Of course, this topic is also particularly important in the context of sustainability and responsibility as a company. In addition, of course, digitization can also be used to drive forward communication. Internal and external networking in particular play a major role here. Whether at events or for internal communication, different channels help to build long-term connections between event participants or employees.
Anything else you’d like to share with blog readers?
Over the years, we have supported large and small clients with their events. We have observed that there is a trend away from individual events toward permanent communication platforms. Employees and event apps, e.g. for training events, are growing together. In the future, the target group of stakeholders wants to be informed 360 degrees about many processes in the company. With plazz, our customers rely on a partner who can flexibly map these changes in its products.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Feel free to follow plazz AG on LinkedIn if you would like to learn more.
