By Gary Griffiths, CEO
I have been iPass’ CEO for nearly two months now, and while I’ve been on the iPass board of directors for nearly five years, I’ve never been more excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us than I am today. When I was announced in my new role on our last earnings call I told our shareholders that iPass had no option but change, and that they could expect change across many fronts; most importantly reflected in a maniacal focus on our company reaching $100M in Open Mobile revenue.
I said that iPass will invest in new opportunities and new product offerings to fuel this growth, and that while some think of our company as a bit of a relic from the days of dial-up connections – they will need to start thinking of iPass as the nimble Software-as-a-Service company that we will be. In fact, I like to think of iPass as the hottest start-up in Silicon Valley that no one knows about – and I’m fine with keeping that a secret for a while.
Today we take the first – and very important step – in keeping that promise to our shareholders, customers and prospects, as we start that journey to $100M.
Why? Because today, iPass is bona fide Software-as-a-Service company, or if you prefer – the first “Wi-Fi-as-a-Service” company.
Today we launched “I am UNLIMITED,” a 100% hosted SaaS offering to keep our customers always connected. Unlike our history of usage-based pricing and cost models, UNLIMITED behaves like you’d expect SaaS to behave. The basic package includes a fixed per user, per month price – for UNLIMITED use Wi-Fi: this is all the Wi-Fi our customers can consume. UNLIMITED time, UNLIMITED data, UNLIMITED devices – laptops, smart phones, and tablets – and UNLIMITED networks – even while in the air. Because today’s insatiable thirst for information is only quenched when we are connected – connected to all of the sources and people that matter the most – wherever we are. Because we don’t think our customers need to be mindful of a meter running when they are using our service – we’re not a taxi. And we believe that when our customers are traveling, they have work that needs to be done. And they also deserve some downtime – YouTube, a movie, a few tweets…
Prior to announcing “iPass UNLIMITED,” we typically sold to large enterprises, and the IT executive was our primary customer. Since the enterprise IT team was responsible for deploying and maintaining iPass for their employees, this typically required the installation of iPass software on a customer premise based server. Our new UNLIMITED product is cloud based, so no on premise servers or software is required, and meaning now, like all SaaS offerings, we can sell to Line of Business: sales and marketing leaders who, unlike IT, are typically the actual users of the service.
With UNLIMITED, we expect to shorten our sales cycles, so that our customers can enjoy the power of the iPass solution. We no longer need the long negotiations of an on premise solution. Our value proposition is clear; we keep people connected to what matters most. Couple that with the fact that we are making it very easy to do business with us: the contracts are “on line”; the buyer’s budget is predictable; and the product is easy to install and use – one click and you are ready to go. We are focusing UNLIMITED on small-to-midsize enterprise, providing our ability to drive a high volume SaaS based business.
And while iPass UNLIMITED is targeted for new accounts, we’re not neglecting our installed base. Many of our customers have asked for a predictive pricing model, and we have listened to them and responded. We’re offering existing customers the opportunity to move to UNLIMITED Wi-Fi for a modest premium over their current monthly average usage-based pricing.
We’re very excited about “I am UNLIMITED” as this is the first leg in our three-pronged strategy: UNLIMITED, INVISIBLE, and EVERYWHERE.
But more about “Invisible” and “Everywhere” in some upcoming blogs.
Today, we’re proud to have launched the industry’s first “Wi-Fi-as-a-Service” and doing our part to make sure that all of you reach your UNLIMITED potential.