SUMMARY
The global SaaS market is projected to reach over $307 Bn in market size by 2026 from $158 Bn in 2020
Conventional on-premise IT solutions can are up as much as 75% of a business’s IT budget
The best advantage that SaaS platforms offer is that they have been developed by experts from particular domains
Making your business processes more efficient and generating more revenue are top of the agenda for any business owner. There is also a lot of talk around digital transformation and leveraging the power of digital tools to make your businesses better.
If you’re a business owner looking for enterprise software that you need to adopt for your business processes, you have a few choices. Developing something on your own, buying software from a service provider or using a SaaS platform are probably the options you have at hand.
SaaS is hardly a new kid on the block. The global SaaS market is projected to reach over $307 Bn in market size by 2026 from $158 Bn in 2020. This is hardly surprising because SaaS is a truly versatile delivery model for software applications and offers some very distinct advantages.
Let’s take a look at why SaaS makes the most sense for you!
Lower Costs
SaaS platforms usually work on a modular pay-as-you-go model which gives you an instant advantage over the huge up-front investment you’ll have to make for developing something on your own or buying a whole software and setting it up on your servers. This also gives you the option to pay only for the number of users that actually uses the software and gives you a much greater flexibility in choosing the platform.
According to a Giva white paper, conventional on-premise IT solutions can are up as much as 75% of a business’s IT budget. Worse, the human resource cost of running and maintaining a conventional on-premise system can be as high as 85% of TCO, a cost that’s trivial with SaaS.
Lower Implementation Time
SaaS platforms are usually very easily configured for use and you can start using it within a few hours. It may take a bit of configuration which can be quite easily managed and is often done by the provider themselves. For example, a SaaS solution for accounting will take between 2-3 months to set up, as compared to an on-premises system that can take as much as a year to properly configure.
Compared to the time it takes for development or implementing a legacy system, this is quite miniscule. It also gives you the advantage of making quicker decisions. Most of the systems work on a modular structure which means it’s easy for you to pick and choose the parts you need and not bother with the rest!
Security
Most of the cloud platforms come with advanced security features that are designed to prevent cyber-attacks and data theft. You don’t have to worry about the security of your servers. According to an Aptean white paper, 2/3 of IT professionals cited security as a key determined when picking a cloud-based SaaS solution. This strongly incentivizes SaaS vendors to ensure cyber security and compliance with standards like NIST framework and ISO 27001.
Most of the SaaS providers do give an option for on-premise implementation, which means you, can configure to run these programs on your own servers if you’re still concerned about security or you deal with extremely sensitive data that can’t be hosted on a cloud platform.
Features And Upgrades
The best advantage that SaaS platforms offer is that they have been developed by experts from particular domains. This means that they have already done the thinking for you in terms of the features you may need and have already included them in those platforms.
There is also a team that is focused on the task of making the software better every day. This is a great benefit as you don’t have to spend your time and energy in updating and maintaining the system constantly.
Upgrades And Scalability
Scalability is another benefit of SaaS platforms. Most of these platforms give you the option to start small and then add more users or modules as you grow which means there is a huge amount of scalability. This is great for small businesses and entrepreneurs beginning on their digital transformation journeys.
The modular and pay-as-you-go models makes sure that you have the option of running trials of the software and seeing how it works for you in a smaller group before committing large sums of investments for on-boarding more people on these platforms.
Final Takeaways
There are definite reasons for the success of SaaS as a model. The benefits it offers businesses are unmatched compared to other models. SaaS platforms save costs on not just development but also in terms of infrastructure, security, and time.
SaaS is an opportunity for you to drive more efficiency in your business and chase those revenue goals you’ve set for yourselves with minimal investments and the advantage of the best in class systems that run with minimal investments and infrastructure.
