Most strategic alliances begin with one goal: mutual monetary benefit. Think of the Taco Bell and Doritos “Doritos Locos Taco” partnership; the companies joined forces to add credibility to one another, encourage fans of each brand to find common ground in the shared product, and ultimately maximize profits. The bottom line is monetary gain, and the collaborative taco is a product of how Taco Bell and Doritos could make the partnership compelling to each of their consumer bases.
Cadence is a SaaS company, but more broadly recognized examples include Netflix, Google Workspace, and Spotify. The name “software as a service” gives a nod to the fact that a monetarily-focused partnership is not necessarily at the core of some of the most successful SaaS partnerships. SaaS cannot exist without the individual that is being serviced. Therefore, as the name insinuates, service is the core functionality.
SaaS partnerships are often unique as the shared interests of the companies are not always immediately apparent as with traditional business partnerships.
Take as an example Cadence’s recently announced partnership with Calgary-based Bōde. Bōde is a real estate software that acts in place of a traditional realtor by enabling its users to buy and sell real estate on their terms. Cadence is an estate settlement software designed to help families navigate the difficult legal and administrative process after the death of a loved one. Cadence and Bōde provide two fundamentally different services that, when combined, significantly improve the quality of life of grieving individuals.
Now, why would a real estate software company partner with an estate settlement software company?
The answer lies in the quality of care that Cadence and Bōde users receive from each company as a result of this partnership. Users facing the challenges of property inheritance receive compassionate estate settlement guidance and time-saving task organization through Cadence. With Bōde in the mix, users save up to 50% on traditional commission fees and reduce the amount of time spent on the phone or filling out endless real estate-related paperwork. The bottom line, unlike the Taco Bell-Doritos example, is the customer’s experience.
Local economies can also benefit from partnerships such as Cadence and Bōde’s. In this circumstance, real estate that doesn’t sit on the market benefits the local economy, as do workplaces when executors can move through estate settlement tasks more efficiently.
A partnership of this nature, one that intersects provincial tech communities with a common goal, demonstrates a unique and intuitive aspect of SaaS: the end benefit always falls in the hands of the user and the larger community. This same philosophy can be applied to a myriad of SaaS partnerships that are designed from infancy to satisfy the needs of the end user.
The lesson at hand is that the SaaS space allows companies to reframe mutual beneficiality. The success of the end user becomes integral to the success of the partnership, not just a marketable positive side effect. With this framework in mind, we can observe how SaaS companies that operate on a B2B (business-to-business) model are returning the ultimate benefit to the community, and in turn, strengthening relationships that extend past the usual borders.
This concept is similar to that of the circular economy approach, wherein sustainable companies aim to operate in a manner that causes as little disruption to the environment as possible. The same philosophy applies when looking at this humanistic approach to SaaS partnerships where the bottom line is always the customer, deeming the alliance undoubtedly worthwhile and sustainable.
At a recent funeral & cemetery professionals conference, we heard this same sentiment expressed: “If you focus on service, the sales will handle themselves.”
SaaS has been around for nearly as long as the Internet has been easily accessible to the general public. It is a cloud-based method of providing and accessing software that typically operates on a subscription or one-time purchase model. The first SaaS company is widely known and accepted to be a customer relationship management company Salesforce in 1999, but since then, the world of SaaS has expanded to include virtually every industry you can imagine— including deathcare.
Deathcare services are often viewed as highly traditional in their operations, making this an industry that is ripe for disruption. Deathcare SaaS companies that address challenges related to bereavement are typically born from the personal perspective of their founders, many of which have experienced a defining loss of their own or have witnessed a loved one deal with such a challenge. This is the case with Cadence. Our company’s estate settlement solution was ideated by founder Rachel Drew after dealing with the administrative challenges of losing her mother.
People increasingly expect cloud-based solutions to assist with new and old processes. The work of bereavement is no exception. The generational gap is clear— SaaS deathcare solutions are considered an exciting development for baby boomers and a logical fix to an age-old problem for Gen X. On the other hand, SaaS solutions are seen much differently for millennials and even Gen Z individuals that are finding themselves in estate executor positions. Individuals that grew up in the age of the Internet expect SaaS solutions to traditional problems.
Though SaaS in deathcare has existed for a few years, the challenges that deathcare workers navigated in 2020 due to COVID-19 make one thing clear: the funeral and deathcare industry has a severe need for complementary solutions to traditional human-run services. Cadence is one of those companies, relieving the administrative burden from firms that deal with estate settlement and helping individuals tackle their executor tasks.
Are you interested in a partnership? Reach out to our team at [email protected], or book a time to chat with us here.
