With the rapid expansion & implementation of technology, small businesses have got the opportunity to adopt the latest technology in order to optimize their business model. If they implement right technology at the right place, it can help mitigate operational expenses, while maximizing business productivity. More and more, small and midsized companies are turning to cloud-based software to boost their business. But many are also there, who still hesitate to move, worrying about the cost & data safety. The advantage of SaaS (software-as-a-service) can be clearly seen in past few years. Cloud computing, especially software-as-a-service has become the best way for businesses both large and small to gain a competitive advantage through cloud adoption.
The migration of traditional IT system to the cloud is slowly and steadily increasing. A Gartner research report shows, $111 Billion of IT spending has shifted to the cloud from on-premises and will increase to $216 billion by 2020. Many IT organizations are adopting “Cloud-First Strategies” as a foundation for staying relevant in a fast-paced world. According to Ed Anderson, research vice president at Gartner. A recent CISCO Report shows cloud traffic to jump 262% by 2020 and will touch 14 zettabytes (ZB) by 2020. Cloud traffic will represent 90% of the data centre traffic.
Out of the three mainstays of cloud computing, SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is one of the most popular among business organizations. Others are PaaS (platform-as-a-service) and IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service). In 2017 the Software-as-a-Service market is expected to grow 20.3% from 2015, with an expected value of $ 43.7 billion. SaaS market is huge and the opportunity is high to taste success with the use of SaaS applications for your business operations.
Before understanding what SaaS integration can do for you, you need to understand what it is. SaaS is the use of a software which allows businesses to access its features through a web based portal which can be used anywhere. There are various types of SaaS solutions available for a business. Here in this blog, we are going to discuss how a SaaS solution can change the way you do business.
An Opportunity to Compete
“Small businesses are moving towards cloud technology” and implementing SaaS solutions to help their business grow to scale their operations while keeping the IT cost, infrastructure overheads, cost related to additional resources and inventory management challenges minimum.
When it comes to acquire market share and win customers, small businesses were relegated to the side-lines as bigger players were enjoying a monopoly. But, the scenario has changed since last decade. Small businesses are slowly capturing market share & start-ups are becoming the biggest threats for big players. Cloud-based SaaS services are changing all that. It gave an opportunity to small & medium sized companies to compete in the market & win their share of customers.
With the cloud, individuals and small businesses can snap their fingers and instantly set up enterprise-class services.
Roy Stephan- CEO/Founder PierceMatrix
Optimized Revenue Flow
Revenue flow is the lifeblood of any business. But in the case of a start-up or a small scale business, constant revenue flow is very important. Anything which restricts the free-flow of revenue, particularly in the initial days of the business, can be disastrous.
Small businesses are choosing cloud based SaaS solutions over on premise ERP system which requires a lot of up-front cost and hardware. It makes far more sense to adopt cloud solutions, which will give you an opportunity to scale up or down in future. The choice in terms of the best way to move forward without compromising the cash flow is the best business strategy.
Cloud-based SaaS can be treated as a relatively lesser expense which can be dealt with in a timely and predictable manner. It will make sure to minimize all the operational cost and give an opportunity to optimize revenue flow.
Impressive Features
What can make your resources more productive? What can make your business model more efficient? The seamless features of your business application are the best answer for this. It will provide your workforce with an opportunity to perform their daily task in a hassle free manner.
Cloud platforms always introduce new innovative features and optimized information for both internal and external use for your customers, partners, vendors etc. The traditional business applications require manual upgrades and healthy investment.
A SaaS business solution enables you to receive updates, software upgrades, and new functionalities as soon as they are released. This will enhance the efficiency and will give you latest business insights. SaaS solutions automatically updated to make your data more secure and useable. It automatically fixes all the bugs and makes the system seamless. You can also start using the new features immediately. SaaS solutions will allow you to have a vertical and horizontal look at your entire business processes which help to find right solutions to business problems.
Business growth is now being driven by the speed of technological change and latest application features, and the fact is that traditional software solutions are increasingly lagging behind. The tables have officially turned. You need to be an early adopter.
Remote Access
As you don’t need any software or hardware installation, manual setup or updating- businesses can get started straightaway. They need to sign up the service and give access to the appropriate person. From there onwards, the entire business process is run off the cloud. All the assigned resources can access the data and all the departments can be integrated. The access is remote and can be available instantly from anywhere, anytime and on any device.
All the files, reports, business websites can be integrated with the SaaS ecosystem. This allows the users an enhanced information sharing system between internal and external departments. This will eventually improve collaboration and overall business efficiency.
Lessen Application Cost
This is one of the most important advantages of a SaaS application. Every business needs less application cost. It can even put a bigger impact on individual business units and as a result the entire business process. IT infrastructure cost, maintenance cost are always on the higher side. SaaS solutions can significantly lower these costs, which means you can invest your capital in other areas while having a secure and flexible business system.
SaaS business models are usually subscription based and not only allow scalability but also tailored solutions for your specific needs. Very minimal initial investment and lesser hardware cost make SaaS more popular among business units. Whenever you want you can add/remove users and also can control the entire business functionalities. This saves time, cost and incredibly lower your investment risks.
As a premium SaaS solution provider, Apogaeis takes the responsibility of infrastructure, performance, scalability and security, which allows you to focus on your core job, setting up business strategies, focusing on more sales, and customer happiness without being worried for non-business related things.
Data Security
Data security in cloud platform is one of the biggest concerns, when it comes to storing business data in the cloud. Many business leaders think data can be wiped out or theft from the cloud platform. Servers can be damaged and virtual hardware can be destructed. If any of the things happens, it can be devastating for the business.
But, with cloud-based SaaS systems all the data is stored safely on the servers of the service provider. There is no fear of data loss if any unforeseen disaster strikes your physical business premises. Your business can still function and your data is safe. SaaS offers small businesses an opportunity to secure their business data from potential disaster, and enables them to optimize their business processes.
A Flexible Platform
Flexibility is one of the most important aspects of any business to complete at the highest level. Businesses which are flexible with their strategy, culture, approach and business model always carry a competitive advantage. The approach towards new applications, added features, system upgradation, and added users define a business’s flexibility.
SaaS solutions provide a seamless opportunity of easy new user addition, feature customization and also a new customized business solution. As the backend and infrastructure are being managed by the service provider, no need for you to think about how to modify modules or features whenever required.
SaaS applications scale easily in both business and user perspective. It is designed to integrate many users to work together. As it is very easy to add new services and solutions without forcing any software, information can be shared easily between teams at any time from any device. Users can use this very easily as SaaS applications are very easy to understand & operate. Moreover, usually these applications are customized, so you can only see the modules, reports, and data from your concern department without much confusion.
Superior Customer Service
67% of the customers hang up because they couldn’t talk with the real person. 75% of the customers believe it takes too long to reach a live customer care executive. 80% of the customers don’t avail any service because of poor customer service experience. These numbers tell the story.
When it comes to delegating telephonic assistance, an automated software is not the best option. A digital call centre is an answer. SaaS solutions have been used to accomplish superior customer service. For small businesses, it is very important to achieve 100% customer satisfaction.
Business Collaboration
This is the beauty, SaaS solutions allow multiple users to work together at the same time under the same software suite. SaaS gives power to more than one user to work on the same document or a piece of a module. In such cases, a collaboration between the users is highly desired. There are high chances that data can be stored or saved wrongly.
SaaS is smart and allows users to save data intelligently without leaving any chance to lose data. No more emailing documents for review, systematic folders and master documents. All you can have in a centralized location. Think about Dropbox, one of the smartest cloud storage based on SaaS model. You never lose any data and allowed to work on your stuff anytime and anywhere.
Collaboration between the IT team and the business team is very important. Business executives are driven by data. Their entire business strategies depend highly on reports, data or information. They always in the need of a proper business application. They always prefer to see the real time picture of the business. Here the question of IT infrastructure arises which need to be addressed by the IT people. Installation, upgradation, migration, testing, developing will end up losing some project time or even entire project.
SaaS applications deploy very quickly, without any infrastructure management or maintenance. These applications are powerful, efficient and fully functional which can be used directly by the business team every day without any dependencies on the IT department.
High Scalability
SaaS solutions are highly scalable and small business friendly. Instead of paying a large amount for a complete software suite, small businesses need to pay a monthly fee per user basis. They can subscribe to any new feature if business demands. Users can export their business data easily, as SaaS service providers usually allow them to access their own information. With data mobility, small businesses are not locked with any particular feature.
“SaaS allows small businesses” to integrate processes in their cloud software to their back office systems and/or website. This makes it easy to capture web form data that gets automatically inserted into the CRM via their “web-to-lead” tools and functionality. Most SaaS offerings are built to be accessed through an API or web service. This allows developers to customize the cloud software and create new functionality to match business requirements.
SaaS is designed for broader audiences, even in the case of industry-specific offerings. For this reason, SaaS user experiences tend to be more scalable and easy to understand. Because SaaS is designed to be responsive and agile, cloud software user experience tends to be more intuitive and user friendly.
Conclusion
The popularity of SaaS is increasing at a steady pace. Small businesses are moving towards cloud based SaaS solutions because it simplifies deployment and reduces customer acquisition costs. With SaaS, developers can also support many customers with a single version of the product. SaaS allows companies to scale as fast as possible without investing on costly infrastructure or adding IT resources.
Cloud based SaaS solutions are in high demand, as it priced on a subscription basis and having a clear number of business advantages. Traditional business applications are slowly going out from current IT plans of many companies. The ability of quick deployment and gamut of capabilities with lower investment risk has made SaaS solutions the first choice for many business managers. Companies are continuously looking for solutions which can fulfil the organizational requirement with data security on high priority, IT departments choose SaaS solutions which are the best fit in this case.
Apogaeis is one of the top most Cloud service providers to many global clients. Our cloud solutions are industry-specific, robust and cost effective. Our custom built SaaS based solutions are faster which can be deployed quickly with lower upfront cost and zero risks. Are you willing to learn more about SaaS? Click Here to talk to subject matter expert.
