What everyone should know about the SaaS application.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is an on-demand software built on a service model which allow providers to host and make an application available to end-users over the Internet. It is a fast, simple and convenient way to improve work coordination by enabling enterprises to scale the infrastructure depending on their needs; hence, it dramatically reduces deployment time.

How SaaS operates.

Software as a Service (SaaS) application largely evolved out of the growing recognition that the internet presents a viable option to on-premise installation which has dominated computing since the early days. With the help of the model, thousands of business owners have been able to rise above their capital, yet it is estimated to raise almost $133 billion globally by year 2020 according to Statista forecast. The first saas model showed up in the late 1990s and from that point forward it has increased to more than 6,500 advertising innovation organizations, with about 800 in the business tech section alone.

It is common for businesses in the cloud market to make use of the SaaS alternative as it utilizes a functional web service to provide applications to their clients. This service delivery is mostly overseen by a third-party vendor or programmed configurations (bots). A considerable amount of the SaaS applications are operated straight from web browsers, which eliminates the need to download it on any device.

Users could simply access the platform from any location by utilizing their login information and password and could also contact customer maintenance when encountering troubles while making use of the applications. Cloud technologies open new opportunities for industry growth and business improvement by storing, processing, and managing huge amounts of data in real time, across numerous servers.

SaaS is being used in a number of businesses including: enterprise resource planning, collaboration, and other managerial areas (customer relationship, accounting, Human Resource (HR), service desk, content, corporate performance, and more). Companies could deploy the services of various SaaS platforms within their organization and make the most of a limited IT budget while getting access to the latest technology and professional support. There are 6,500+ marketing technology companies alone and there are about 800 in the sales tech landscape alone. 

 

Advantages of SaaS

Many corporate organizations and start-ups using the SaaS application have experienced a great deal of improvement in their daily operations and service delivery. Some of benefits of using the model includes and are not limited to:

Cost Effectiveness and Flexibility

SaaS platforms offer free and paid plans; the free plan gives limited features while users can get access to advanced features when they subscribe to the paid plan which is the most commonly used type. Subscription fee is usually paid on a monthly or annual basis resulting to a lower cost of hardware and software maintainance .

Easy Set-up and Deployment

Most of the SaaS application are already installed and configured in the cloud, thereby minimizing common delays resulting from lengthy traditional software deployment; this enables efficient and prompt service delivery.

Easy and Automatic upgrades

The SaaS providers deal with hardware and software updates by centrally deploying them to the hosted applications and relieving users of this responsibility. The provider efficiently and promptly manages the security of the platform by only making the applications available for installation and usage on a company-specific web-server which makes it impossible to log-in using personal devices and from unapproved locations.

Accessibility and Scalability

SaaS is accessible on a wide range of company devices that have an optimized browser and internet connection. The platform is more accessible than the traditional business software installation as it can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Furthermore, the time and money spent by businesses on installing, managing and upgrading the SaaS software is greatly reduced.

 

Disadvantages of SaaS

As efficient and benefitial as the SaaS application is, it also has a few disadvantages which is discussed below:

Performance

Since the SaaS application model is based on web delivery, if internet service fails, a company will not be granted access to their software or data. Depending on network speed, some SaaS model may run slower than other on-premise client or server applications; this should be considered by a company before they make use of it since the software is not hosted on a local machine.

Limited Variety of Applications

While SaaS is becoming an increasingly popular tool to enhance a company’s service delivery, there are still many applications that don’t offer a hosted platform. Hence, these could limit the extent to which the application could be deployed.

Security and Lack of Control

When it comes to cloud and hosted services, the inability to manage and keep sensitive information private is a turn off. On the other hand, in-house software applications give businesses a higher degree of control than hosted solutions where control resides with a third party. In addition, everyone is compelled to use the latest version of the software application and cannot defer upgrades or changes in the features.

Finally, a major impediment of service excellence is the lack of access to customize SaaS software to the specific needs of a company and the inability of users to handle complexities arising from an upgrade could pose a threat to efficiency.