Tracking SaaS Usage with Totango in Real-Time
August 18, 2011 
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The Totango Service
Totango [http://www.totango.com] is a new service launched on July 28, 2011, currently in a public beta, that allows users to track application events in real time for subsequent analysis. It is similar to Google Analytics [http://www.google.com/analytics/] but with the added ability for the user to control what data is collected and at which time intervals the recording occurs. Totango also enables AJAX tracking activity, and delivers the user a clear picture of application usage patterns as well as customer engagement levels. According to Totango, their mission is to help online companies build better customer relationships through the gathering and analysis of customer usage patterns of Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS applications. [http://www.totango.com/about.html]
Salesforce Integration for SaaS Applications
The Totango service is fully integrated with the Salesforce [http://www.salesforce.com/] Sales Cloud, making it a powerful tool for data generation to guide sales leads and activity. Totango analyzes real customer behavior within Software-as-a-service, or SaaS applications, making it easy to provide an immediate response to customer needs and achieve successful sales outcomes. Proactive account monitoring allows sales teams to develop valuable insight into customer usage and needs, and sales leads self-qualify through usage patterns that are automatically sorted by Totango.
Since users can specify exactly what goes into Totango using their own application, the data collection can be tailored to each users specific needs. This feature is what really sets Totango apart from page view metrics like Google Analytics, which are usually filled with information that needs to be filtered to be relevant to each users’ needs.
Using Totango
Totango is currently free in public beta, and implementation is simple once users sign up and obtain a Totango ID. No pre-booking or scheduling is required to record application events.
When users have a designated event they want to register for the SaaS tracking service, they simply create a HTTP GET to Totango and input basic information including username, organization and which event is being registered from either the client or call server side. Once Totango begins receiving data from the event, a string comparison is completed to support the best possible configuration. Within a few minutes, users will begin to receive information about their customer SaaS usage in real time.
Beta testers have reported that the service integrates well with no noticeable slowdowns on the server side. Real time displays of user activity stream onto the desktop activities monitor, and the numerous customer relationship management metrics within the system have practical and immediate applications for sales teams. Early reviews indicate that Totango may be the ideal tool for measuring trial conversion rates and timing sales to maximize profits on SaaS.
Future Applications
With the prevalence of SaaS usage either being maintained or increased by over ninety-five percent of organizations surveyed by the analyst firm Gartner, [http://www.documentmanagementnews.com/the-news/software-as-a-service/557-over-95-of-organisations-to-maintain-or-increase-saas-usage.html] SaaS applications have clearly gained widespread acceptance across a number of industries, including a rise among small and medium sized businesses. A recent survey by Goldman Sach [http://www.deskaway.com/blog/2010/02/15/44-of-saas-usage-is-for-collaboration/] reports that sixty-four percent of the companies they contacted use SaaS for salesforce automation, representing a large potential market for the Totango service.
