Being not that common way of purchasing and installing software, SaaS stands out by its unique advantages:
- Cost Efficiency
The most popular reason businesses move to SaaS is the ability to cut costs. It is much cheaper to rent a software from a third party service provider than buy and install it in-house. The price is based on the usage of IT infrastructure and the payment has a subscription model. You can check out Top of SaaS to learn more about the model and best choices. - Ease of Accessibility
A SaaS application is easily accessible. All you need to access and use any cloud-based software is just a computer and a stable internet connection.Thus, SaaS applications can be easily used on any remote desktop or mobile phone anytime and anywhere. - Smooth Scalability
It is natural that if your business is on the right track, you want to start adding new users. SaaS eliminates the problem of buying additional software licenses or server space for them. The process of scaling is much easier, since you just need to upgrade your existing plan or subscription for the SaaS application. This also holds in good stead if your business has strong off-seasonal trends, allowing you to cut down on subscription costs. - Straightforward Upgrades
It might be a challenging task to upgrade your existing software and hardware to the newer versions. Sometimes companies don’t have enough budget or capacity to upgrade software every subsequent year. It may result in a software vulnerability to external threats. Thus, SaaS businesses can benefit from getting rid of these issues and use their forces for other important tasks. - Highly Flexible
SaaS businesses have their IT infrastructure and data installed and stored in the cloud storage provided by the service provider in a remote location. It means that any damage or disaster to your business premises can be quickly sorted out. Whatever happens, your business can be easily backed-up and run from any other location that has an internet connection.
5 Disadvantages of SaaS
SaaS model seems to be one of the most viable and efficient option for the most of the businesses. But it has some disadvantages that need to be taken into account as well. Here are top 5 cons of SaaS:
- Poor Data Security
It remains to be one the most serious concerns for companies who are looking to opt for a SaaS-based application model. The companies should not give their sensitive data to a service provider without clarifying an identity and access management issues. When it comes to accessibility from a mobile device, strict measures need to be taken before any kind of sensitive data is disclosed to a third-party service provider. - Difficulties in Regulations Compliance
Since all the business critical data is stored in the service provider’s data center, it is difficult to comply with the government’s data protection regulations. The companies need to find out which rules apply to their business, check the service provider, and resolve any kind of disagreements in the process. - Clumsy Data Mobility
There are tons of applications in a SaaS market. Some of them are not experienced enough to survive in a highly competitive atmosphere. Some of them might fail and, thus, want to change their service provider. It may become a challenging task to transfer all the company’s critical data from one service provider to another. Thus, every company should be ready for a plan B beforehand. - Low Performance
According to a Saas products expert Maksym Babych, a browser-based application running on a remote data center may lack performance when compared to a similar application running from your employee’s desktop. Thus, to eliminate this aspect, companies need to invest in a fast and reliable internet connection, as well as use tools for management an application performance to know how their SaaS apps are performing over time. - Problematic Software Integration
When working with an external SaaS service provider to host multiple apps, there might be an integration problem with the existing in-house software. The in-house APIs and data structures might not integrate properly with the external software. Thus, to ensure positive results, you should check compatibility with all SaaS applications.
Bio
Maksym Babych, serial entrepreneur and SaaS professional.
Founder and CEO SpdLoad