In today’s competitive business world, most businesses are beginning to realize and understand the importance of fundamental business technology in streamlining both their internal and external processes.
Entrepreneurs who have streamlined processes can get a clearer picture of their business operations before making any business decisions. Just like many other cloud technologies, Software as a Service has become a solution that is affordable, flexible, and secure in optimizing business models
What is SaaS?
SaaS, also known as Software as a Service, is a software distribution model in which third-party providers can host applications and make them available for customers over the Internet.
The idea behind this distribution model is that customers don’t have to buy the applications and servers or even run them internally. Instead, they sign contracts with service providers in order to utilize their software, applications, server farms, and staff support over the Internet.
SaaS or Software as a service has developed into one of the most prosperous branches in the IT market. According to a Gartner research report, the total projected expenditure for migrating from on-premises to the cloud will increase by 17%, and jump from US$111 billion in 2019 to US$216 billion in 2020.
Another Cisco report shows that many IT organizations are rapidly adopting a "Cloud-First" attitude. Indeed, it is estimated that 80% of enterprises currently use at least one form of SaaS application, and 73% of them indicate that almost all applications will be SaaS by 2020.
Top 5 Benefits of Implementing SaaS for Businesses
SaaS deviates from the practice of buying software, but it can provide significant advantages to businesses that use it. Nowadays, as the adoption of cloud computing is gaining momentum, global software providers are adding SaaS capabilities to their product portfolios, thereby bringing huge benefits to companies that adopt the service.
For business managers who are looking for a scalable and cost-effective technology with the latest capabilities for the purposes of optimizing and growing your business, a SaaS solution is a good bet.
1. Impressive Features
Ensuring that your business application has great features is one of the best ways to optimize the efficiency of your business model and improve the productivity of your resources.
By continuously optimizing information and introducing new innovative features, both internal and external users can easily start using new features immediately. Nonetheless, SaaS updates are automatically completed and implemented immediately after release, which helps to fix bugs. Therefore, your system can run more efficiently, allowing you to find the right solution that meets your business needs.
This allows your employees to focus more on their core tasks without having to waste time figuring out how the system works. This is one area where SaaS manages to go beyond proprietary software applications.
2. Optimize Revenue Flow
As an SME entrepreneur, a constant revenue flow is the lifeblood of your business. Having said that, most entrepreneurs find it difficult to come up with the right combination of tactics and analysis to maximize their revenue growth.
Using SaaS, SMEs can accumulate large amounts of key customer information to better understand their behavior and product interactions without having to invest in expensive hardware. In addition, compared to using a local ERP system, it makes more sense to adopt a cloud solution because it can scale up or down in the future without compromising cash flow.
Overall, SaaS solutions help businesses tremendously in minimizing operational costs, which provides them with the opportunity to optimize their revenue flow.
3. High Scalability And Accessibility
SaaS solutions are business-friendly and highly scalable for small businesses with tight budgets. With SaaS, you do not need to invest in a complete software suite, but to pay a monthly fee based on usage. Updates will be implemented automatically, allowing you to subscribe to new features based on your business needs. Furthermore, to ensure the businesses aren’t stuck with the same old software features, SaaS solutions allow for easy migration of business data.
SaaS helps small businesses in interfacing their cloud software with their back-office systems and processes too. By capturing important business data and inserting it into the CRM automatically, it becomes easy to create and customize new functionalities that match specific business requirements and digital solutions.
4. Facilitates Business Collaboration
Some licensed software products provide limited accessibility and require special devices to work. This can be counterproductive for agile development teams because it hinders effective collaboration. Using SaaS solutions, team members can collaborate in real-time under the same software suite, thereby increasing their productivity.
Moreover, SaaS is smart and secure which allows employees to intelligently store data in a centralized location without losing it. This eliminates the need for multiple review emails, master documents, or system folders. In addition, it becomes possible for employees to work remotely.
Finally, most business leaders rely heavily on reports and insights to maintain a competitive advantage. Using SaaS solutions, they can access real-time insights and data which could aid them in making a more strategic move.
5. Superior Customer Service
Based on a survey conducted by American Express and Harris, U.S. companies incur a cost of at least US$62 billion annually due to poor customer service. According to the same report, it showed that 80% of customers have scrapped a purchase plan as a result of poor customer service, and 67% hanging up due to no real customer service.
These figures clearly indicate that using automated software to delegate telephonic assistance does not relate well with customers. With the implementation of the SaaS CRM system, customers can easily find solutions and respond to their own queries faster. This is particularly important for a small business as 100% customer satisfaction can result in repeat customers.
Final Thoughts
Benefits like impressive features, optimize revenue flow, high scalability and accessibility, facilitate business collaboration, and superior customer service are just some of the top benefits of implementing SaaS for businesses. Today, many SMEs are looking to subscribe to software services rather than purchasing hardware and traditional software licenses. With SaaS, businesses no longer need to worry about upgrades, patches, and complicated implementation. Cloud technology is the future, and in particular, SaaS provides growth opportunities to businesses. If SaaS implementation is being done right, it can help companies achieve success.