By Guest contributor |
The pace of software development is faster than it has ever been. The software as a service (SaaS) market is expected to grow from $242.27 billion in 2024 to $254.84 billion by the end of 2025, according to the Business Research Company’s SaaS Global Market Report 2025. Keeping track of it is hard, but customers expect you to make it look easy, especially when you’re in a pre-sales motion showing them how a solution is going to work.
AI is further complicating things, with new features being added constantly, shortening product cycles and disrupting the market with every new release.
Selling software today is tough. Buying it with confidence is harder. A lack of trust and transparency may be driving longer sales cycles for vendors and managed service providers (MSPs). Nobody wants to mess up, especially with failed digital transformation costing $2.3 trillion globally in 2024, according to Taylor & Francis. Yet, everyone wants to stay ahead.
What’s the answer?
Selling and implementing software must reflect today’s complexity. It’s time to move on from a “trust me, it’ll work” approach to a collaborative, “let’s build it together” approach that lays a strong foundation in pre-sales and sets the implementation teams up for success.
In this reimagined journey, customers engage with immersive, hands-on environments. These modern labs can include all the customisations and configurations that a customer needs but without using their data or live production environment. It’s a safe space to test, tweak and understand the software, laying a clear foundation for implementation. Because clients see how it works from the start, there are fewer costly surprises and no margin-cutting change orders to salvage deals.
The same environment that you used to close the deal then becomes the foundation for delivery. Customers can safely onboard in an exact replica of what they’ll use in production, guided through tailored scenarios designed by their implementation partner, so they fully master the technology before the launch date (or whenever they need a refresher). Their performance can even be assessed to determine readiness or training needs as and when relevant.
This hands-on approach removes delivery shock. Customers get what they need, and you avoid costly fixes caused by poor discovery or misaligned expectations.
This build-to-blueprint foundation sets the stage for renewals and upsells. Customers get a solution that works for them and won’t be blindsided by a final product that looks nothing like the demo. The software will be adopted and deliver returns, likely with a faster time-to-value since training is highly personalised from the start, and this’ll make future investments easier to justify. Labs also encourage upsells by letting customers explore new features such as AI safely.
Today’s virtual labs are suited to this tailored customer journey because they have the flexibility and scale needed. They go beyond simulations and offer real-time practice with feedback and challenge-based scenarios that strengthen skills.
Furthermore, different labs can be developed for different use cases. Because they reflect real-world software, new features are reflected instantly, keeping customers up to date.
It would be amiss to not mention how AI changes the need for labs and the way that MSPs can build and deploy them. Customers need controlled environments to safely test AI features without risking data or incurring unexpected costs. Labs provide that space. AI also makes it easier to build and scale labs. AI can generate code, instructions, real-time content and translations, reducing manual setup and maintenance.
So, what’s next?
Well, software selling is only going to get more confusing as AI causes features to proliferate and buying teams to resort to increasingly complex and lengthy procurement processes. The old tactics of sales and enablement aren’t standing up to the pressure and fear that software customers feel today. Giving them the freedom to explore, learn and experiment in a lab will be the only way to instil confidence and the motivation to bring a new software solution onboard.
It’s a fresh approach that will help you stand out as a trusted partner, de-risk the customer experience along the sales cycle and protect your margins. That’s what we call a win-win.
Danny Abdo is chief operating officer at Skillable
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