In my most recent THINKstrategies Update newsletter, I stated that the winners in the increasingly competitive Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Managed Services markets will be the companies who own the trust of the customer. In that newsletter, I highlighted some of THINKstrategies’ latest publications which spotlight innovative approaches to building trust in both markets.

Yesterday, Intacct Corporation asserted itself as a leader in the trust-building business by unveiling a new “Buy with Confidence” program aimed at assuring the success of customers using its on-demand financial management solution.

Under Intacct’s new program, the company is committing to deliver the following levels of service to its customer:

1. Service Availability: Intacct is guaranteeing 99.8% service availability. If it fails to achieve its goal, it will provide a AvailabilityPlus subscription credit of 10% of the customer’s subscription fee for each percentage point below the service level goal, up to 50% of the customer’s monthly subscription fee. (The company reports that its service availability averaged over 99.9% system availability from November 1, 2006 through April 30, 2007.)

2. Professional Services Quality: If the company doesn’t fulfill its professional service contract commitments and its professional services team is late or over budget in an implementation project, Intacct will credit the customer 10% of the contract value “No Questions Asked”.

3. Rapid Response: Intacct’s support team will acknowledge customer requests within 4 hours, and resolve the problem or provide an update to the customer within 24 hours of request.

4. Immediate Notification of Changes: Intacct will notify customers in advance of any system or development plans that could impact their operations.

5. Communication Excellence: Intacct will provide regular updates of product roadmap, new releases and online training.

6. Billing Errors: Intacct will promptly correct any errors in billing statements.

THINKstrategies’ research shows that a substantial number of customers are still apprehensive about relinquishing control of their critical business applications to a SaaS provider because of availability, support and billing concerns. Intacct’s new Buy with Confidence program responds to these concerns by establishing clear service level objectives and penalties which will make customers more comfortable selecting its on-demand financial management solution.

This program sets a new standard for the SaaS market, establishes Intacct as a leader in the industry and should encourage more organizations to take advantage of the company’s on-demand financial management solution.