Be it an enterprise or small businesses (SMBs), everyone is rapidly adopting the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. But the before adopting it in your business, you need to consider what all factors makes for a good SaaS solution. What are the key elements that will deliver the most return on an investment in terms of time, effort, and money? Which factors will determine success? In this post, we have decided to answer the questions by looking at the cloud computing trends and some of the top SaaS solutions that are currently trending in the market. However, the solutions serve different for different industries, but they tend to have some basic commonalities. Let’s take a look at them:
- Flexibility
Flexibility always relates to infrastructure and architecture. And, people often think in investing in SaaS because they are required to be responsive to their customers demand. Always remember that a flexible solution meets the need of customers and can keep customers satisfied. And, as we design SaaS solutions for right identity and access management (IAM), we need to consider flexibility. Will people who are using the product or planning to use should be able to meet the demands of the growing workforce and its users? So, will it help people grow their companies on a global level? Or will it meet the data demands efficiently that are placed upon it as users use their desktops, smart devices and connected “things”?
- Engaging and User-friendly
Today UX is not just a challenge that is found with the web and mobile development. It has become a concern for us, too. Being a user, if our SaaS solution doesn’t feature easy-to-navigate dashboards, people would not be using them. They are looking for a ground-breaking tool that can make their lives simpler and efficient. And, if we can design the solutions that have the capability to feed the users with the information they are looking for, then our solutions are more likely to be adopted.
- Security and control
SaaS solutions without having the right security protocols and service level agreements (SLA) would not be used. And, people who are looking to know their data as secure as it possibly can. They also need to know what can happen to that data. Who has access to that data? How can they control the access? Our created solutions need to not only secure the data but can also keep control to users in transmitting that data.
- Smart devices
A SaaS based solution without a mobile element will diminish. And, our customers are part of that anytime, anywhere workforce. Similarly the solutions have to be, too. The key reason may be one of the convenience and consumer expectations. A mobile application enables people to easily respond to the situations in real- time. Why not empower them so that they can keep the employees and customers safe and secure?
- Centralization is the key
All sized businesses are trying to limit the number of vendors and applications they use for the day-to-day management. They just don’t want any another solution. They want solution that can replace the existing three or can atleast integrate with those other three into it. To leverage an open API, other solutions and systems can be easily added to it. However, the end user need not visit to all the pieces; but what can be done is they must visit our application and make an update that can be shared with all others.
- Analytics
A well-versed SaaS solution that doesn’t account for the data it creates is a not a wise solution. And, most of the solutions that are listed as the top ones either focus entirely on precise analytics or should feature it as a key competency. So, if you want our solutions to be on the next year’s “top ten” list, then we must incorporate analytics well. If we add more to the point, we need to deliver the analytics with right and actionable insights. Our customers want data that can be easily and immediately used and that can effect positive change.
Hope the above mentioned points will help you in understanding the essentials for a successful SaaS solution Let us know, if you know more factors that can contribute to essentials for a successful SaaS solution?
Sahil Gupta
With roll up the sleeves, dive in and get the job done approach, it was year in the year 2010 when Sahil started Parangat Technologies. Emphasizing on a healthy work culture and technology driven company, he has successfully created a workplace where people love to work and live. He is a software engineer and a passionate blockchain enthusiast.