Best Practices as a Service: A 2021 Investment Theme

The past ten years have witnessed a complete reshaping of Enterprise IT through the widespread adoption of SaaS. A recent report from Okta revealed that the largest organizations now utilize an average of 175 applications, representing a significant increase in just the last few years. Professionals now have access to more resources than ever before to accomplish their work. This proliferation of options fosters innovation, creativity, and operational flexibility – yet simultaneously introduces the potential for significant challenges.

Providing individuals and businesses with tools is distinct from equipping them with the knowledge to utilize those tools effectively. Furthermore, the escalating number and increasing complexity of software solutions over the last decade have made it increasingly difficult for end-users to deliver optimal experiences to their customers.

This situation presents an opportunity for a new wave of tools designed to provide guidance – and, at times, enforce – the most effective methods for utilizing existing software. This approach, which could be termed “best practices as a service,” involves software that offers a defined perspective on what constitutes “best” performance within a specific area and encourages adherence to that model by as many users as possible, with minimal resistance. It delivers streamlined simplicity for a complex digital landscape.

Let me illustrate this concept with examples from several key sectors, including e-commerce, security, web development, and, in my own field, writing.

E-commerce has been a focal point for venture capital investment in recent months, and it is a sector brimming with startups offering best-practices-as-a-service solutions. Within the realm of checkout platforms alone, companies such as Fast, Checkout.com, Bolt, and Rapyd have secured substantial investment. A similar trend is evident with online storefront builders like Shogun, which raised $35 million late last year.

What is the common thread among these platforms? They compel online retailers to implement established best practices to maximize conversion rates and average order value. Online storefront templates ensure websites are responsive across various devices, well-organized, and prominently display essential elements like the “Buy” button. Simultaneously, checkout platforms like Fast prioritize the swift and seamless collection of payment and shipping information, while also incorporating services such as risk and fraud mitigation.

The process of entering credit card details is not inherently complex. Online stores were capable of doing so in the 1990s using fundamental HTML. However, current best practices surrounding design can significantly improve conversion rates, and every transaction is valuable. It is therefore unsurprising that these companies have collectively attracted a billion dollars in venture capital funding in recent weeks.

Now, let’s consider cybersecurity. Achieving perfect security is exceptionally challenging in virtually any environment. The SolarWinds incident underscored the critical importance of robust corporate security measures to safeguard data and intellectual property. However, many organizations fail to implement even the most fundamental security protocols.

While absolute security is unattainable, enforcing best practices can effectively mitigate the most apparent risks. Consequently, startups like Security Scorecard, which has raised nine-figure venture capital, scan and monitor your security vulnerabilities, providing a score based on your adherence to best practices. Qualsys offers a similar service with its popular SSL penetration test, assigning a letter grade to assess the security of connections to specific servers.

Cybersecurity professionals are aware that certain encryption protocols are outdated and that leaving a data server unprotected and without a password creates a significant security risk. They should be aware, but oversights frequently occur. This is a characteristic of our complex world, and where these software packages can enforce industry-recognized standards.

Turning to web development, with a standard Jamstack architecture and a globally distributed CDN, most websites, excluding those requiring extensive interactivity, should load almost instantly. Yet, many websites perform significantly slower than anticipated.

In this instance, the impetus for improvement came not from a startup, but from an established service. Google developed accelerated mobile pages (AMP) to enforce a set of standards focused on web performance. These standards, ranging from ensuring proper page loading order and avoiding delays caused by script downloads to optimizing image sizes and minimizing site payload, are not groundbreaking. Similar to cybersecurity and software engineers, developers should understand and implement these principles, but a clear standard has prompted many sites to enhance their performance.

Finally, let’s examine the field of writing. This afternoon, I received a demonstration of Axios’ new AxiosHQ platform, scheduled to launch on February 8th after a prolonged and public beta period. It aims to bring the publisher’s renowned “smart brevity” to corporate communications, utilizing elements like “The Bottom Line,” “Why It Matters,” “Yes, But,” “Between the Lines,” and the ever-popular “But, But, But.” The AxiosHQ editor provides specific suggestions to users, indicating overly lengthy headlines, recommending bolding key points and reducing length, and encouraging the use of bullet points to condense content. The core strategy is clear: prioritize conciseness – always less verbiage – and consistently encourage users to streamline their messaging.

This writing model aligns with platforms like Textio, an “augmented writing” tool that analyzes job postings to optimize performance and eliminate potentially biased or discriminatory language, and Grammarly, which increasingly leverages NLP and AI models to enhance writing through grammar suggestions.

As a writer, I must admit these platforms are concerning. How can managers lack the ability to write concise emails? How can recruiters struggle to craft effective job postings? How can individuals be unfamiliar with the fundamentals of language, style, and form?

However, as the world demonstrates, many – perhaps even most – individuals struggle with the basics of writing, much as the average web developer may not create a performant site, cybersecurity professionals may overlook security vulnerabilities, and e-commerce vendors may place the “Buy” button several clicks away.

Platforms offering best-practices-as-a-service, like those mentioned above, establish safeguards against compromising essential functionality for other objectives. You might prefer a large image of an igloo on your website. AMP will prevent you from doing so. You might believe your meeting summary warrants a 10,000-word document to be distributed to 5,000 employees. AxiosHQ will emphatically object. A senior executive might consider relaxing security protocols to boost sales – Security Scorecard will attempt to thwart that ill-advised strategy.

William Gibson is frequently quoted as saying that the future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Similarly, optimal performance exists in many domains, but it is not universally accessible. We are discovering that default best practices are crucial and should be respected unless you possess a thorough understanding of the underlying principles (and even then, you probably don’t).

In essence, while the previous generation of software focused on providing everyone with a comprehensive toolkit to build software, launch online stores, and create internal communications, the next generation of SaaS must guide users in utilizing those tools effectively. This represents a decade of startup opportunities – and the good news is that these new best-practices tools may accelerate the realization of that vision.

Summary writing report

• 1,372 words, 6 minutes.
• 22 spelling and grammar mistakes and the illegal use of the word “abecedarian.”
• Axios Smart Brevity Score: Not Smart and Not Brevity. Number of bullet points below minimum.
• Checkout conversion flow to Extra Crunch: This is behind the paywall you dolt.