SoftElegance has several projects of the development ‘Software as a Service‘ platforms for wild range of industries e.g. drilling, retail, manufacturing, and so on. Latest months we started to receive RFP’s (Request for Proposal) which contains the requirements: “software architecture should be SaaS model.” or similar to this. So what are the business benefits using SaaS?
Today we tries do discover what other people think about SaaS architecture. And we would like to represent you Richard Thurston’s, business technology journalist who specialises in networks and telecommunications, “The benefits of SaaS” whiteparer.
The benefits of SaaS
SaaS brings flexibility and choice to SMBs (Small and Medium Business). It allows them to choose the software they need for the number of users they need it for. Businesses can add or remove users wherever they are working -in the office, on the road or at home – with the minimum of effort as their business grows or shrinks. Because usage is on a per-person basis, it also allows costs to be charged accurately across departments according to usage.
Because SaaS is paid for on a subscription basis, usually per month, the risk of adopting new software is substantially reduced and ROI is reached much quicker. Indeed, many SaaS providers offer a no-obligation 30-day trial, so businesses can assess the benefits without commitment. The total cost of ownership is often lower, too. Contrastingly, on-site software is paid for upfront, which means there is no turning back once the software has been deployed: a huge cost is sunk immediately.
SaaS also offers economies of scale. Because SaaS providers provide the same application to multiple businesses, they can benefit from cost savings which are passed on to customers. They can also procure related services like storage at a fraction of the cost an SMB would have to pay on its own.
Because SaaS providers already have the software and delivery infrastructure already in place, businesses can be up-and-running with their chosen application almost immediately. Because access to the application is purely through a web browser, no additional on-site software or hardware is required.
As well as the lower risk, SaaS brings huge productivity benefits. Unlike on-site software, all operations are handled by the SaaS provider. This includes essential product and security updates, which are applied immediately by the provider, eliminating any possible operational and security headaches for the customer.
Most providers also monitor the delivery of the application and can provide statistics to show response times and latency, for example. Many providers own the delivery infrastructure and so can optimise delivery of the application and offer excellent service levels – typically with availability of 99.5% or more. All these factors remove a huge IT workload from the business concerned.
SaaS provides an obvious upgrade opportunity for SMBs faced with an ageing infrastructure. For example, there are considerable feature and productivity benefits for a business using POP3 email to migrate to Microsoft Exchange. To buy the requisite hardware and software licences upfront could make Exchange too costly for the business concerned. But with SaaS, no upfront fees would be payable, which could make the migration affordable.
Special thanks to Richard Thurston. More information at THE IMPACT OF SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE (SaaS).