The time for SaaS solutions has arrived. Their explosive growth leaves little doubt to their ultimate victory in self-hosting solutions. However, some fears remain among potential users.
According to Gartner, the Software as a Service (SaaS) market is expected to represent $ 216 billion by 2020, more than two times its current size. However, several questions remain concerning these solutions, and particularly, on their adaptability to the different business sectors and corporate structures.
What is software as a service or SaaS?
As the name implies, software as a service (or SaaS) is a distribution software model in the form of pure service: the software is provided remotely, with no installation required on a server or local machines, and the user is billed for its use, usually by subscription, rather than by license.
This subscription allows you to manage the tools, not as an investment but as an operating cost, with benefits that would follow in cost management.
Today, most business needs can be covered by SaaS solutions, especially in the following areas:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Financial Management
- Accounting management
- Communication tools
- Resource Management
- Marketing Management
Thus, it is possible to benefit from the advantages of SaaS in all the critical functions of your business. So, why deprive yourself?
Can SaaS software adapt to my needs?
Over the last years, one of the major issues for SaaS solutions has been to move from a locally hosted solution on a physical server, to access a remote cloud solution.
Yet the cloud solution will allow you to enjoy a number of benefits, such as:
- Regular updates that are automatically deployed from the moment they are available - no need to wait for a specialist to install the update locally
- Lower costs associated with maintaining physical servers when switching to a subscription system - all infrastructure costs and risks are borne by the service provider
- Reduced resource requirements to maintain the physical facility and therefore reduced human resource costs to maintain the IT infrastructure
- Higher quality of service in terms of stability and security compared to a local solution, thanks to lower risk of theft, breakage or failure, as the data is hosted in highly secure data centers
According to BetterCloud "86% of users say that SaaS applications help them more than server applications to succeed".
Is SaaS software appropriate for my type of business?
The second concern comes from the adaptability of SaaS software to a particular activity. Since software is offered by generic product providers, these products may be too limited in relation to the specific needs of a market.
Adapting to your business means meeting your needs in more specific ways for better results - in other words, it's a crucial component when choosing a software solution.
In order to account for the flexibility of SaaS tools, a good indicator is the variety of industries that are equipped.
The good news is, any industry would benefit by integrating such a solution, by identifying in advance the needs they wish to meet.
For example, Mike Heim, CIO at Whirlpool, measures a "30% drop in team meetings" thanks to SaaS solution, allowing you to optimise your internal processes.
In addition to saving time, we can also mention the flexibility of a SaaS solution, as manifested in the following benefits:
- Help you in the decision-making process
- Allow you to centralise information
- Automate business related processes
A Professional Service Automation (PSA) solution such as Beeye, is the perfect tool to monitor your KPIs. Thanks to the custom fields that you can find in many modules of the tool, you will be able to display the information that suits you, with the indicators that are relevant to you.
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