SaaS is one of the most popular and commonly used software distribution models, that allows users to run applications over the internet without requiring any custom installation. It provides access to software on a subscription basis, with the software located in-house.
SaaS is one of the three main groups of cloud computing, besides IaaS (Infrastructure As A Service) and PaaS (Platform As A Service). Unlike both groups, SaaS-developed products are often marketed to both B2B and B2C end users. SaaS is at the very top of the IT stack and has the highest level of abstraction.
| Adobe’s revenue from the creative cloud: | $9.55million |
| Microsoft 365 revenue increase: | $7.5 billion (16%) |
| Google cloud revenue increase: | $4.63 billion (54%) |
| Proton VPN increase in traffic: | 100 times |
| Salesforce annual revenue: | $26 billion |
| Semrush raw website data size: | 500 TB |
| Mailchimp annual revenue: | $800 million |
| Zoom quarterly revenue: | $1 billion |
| Atlassian annual revenue: | $2 billion |
| Grammarly annual revenue: | $200 million |
SaaS is used in a wide variety of business operations such as communication and collaboration tools, customer relationship management, billing, sales management, and human resource management, financial management, enterprise resource planning, and others. Some key examples would be email clients like Gmail, the application and tools on devices like Microsoft Office 365 or Adobe Creative Cloud, or even music streaming services. These are all SaaS products providing productivity apps over the internet.
SaaS-based solutions have a high potential over conventional software to improve your business.
The following are the top benefits of using SaaS.
High affordability - With SaaS, cloud service providers would be maintaining and managing the application. Hence, no IT overhead costs are applied to the application. Also, SaaS application is typically consumed on a subscription model that can be either on an annual basis or a monthly basis that generally includes support.
Scalability -As mentioned earlier, cloud service providers maintain everything. Thus, if you need more databases or need more computing power, everything is taken care of by the cloud service provider allowing you for horizontal or vertical scaling on demand.
Data integrity and recovery - Unlike conventional methods with persistent licensing, SaaS enables automated diligent backups without any user involvement.
Anywhere access capability - SaaS solutions require no installation and there are typically no plugins involved. You just need the internet and browser to work, and you can operate it from anywhere.
Ready-to-go - In general, conventional software takes weeks or months to implement or deploy whereas SaaS solutions only require a web browser and internet access to have a straight-off start for your software.
Faster & Regular updates - SaaS solutions do not require manual updates for a license or the new version of the software as it is automatically upgraded.
“Organizations are advancing their timelines on digital business initiatives and moving rapidly to the cloud in an effort to modernize environments,improve sysstem reliability, support hybrid work models and address other new relities compelled byt the pandemic”
SaaS is just one of the constituents of cloud computing, along with IaaS and PaaS.
It may seem that cloud-based services and SaaS services are all same, as all SaaS services can be considered cloud-based however, not all cloud-based services are SaaS.
Let us meticulously look for the differences!| Sass | VS | Cloud-Computing |
|---|---|---|
| A service model to deliver and license software online by subscription instead of purchase installation on individual computers | Definition | A procedure to provide computer services, especially storage management using a network of remote servers using theinternet. |
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Packaged Software Collaborative Software Management Tools |
Types |
Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud |
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Collaboration/Communication Tools Customer Relationship Management Business Intelligence ERP/ Manufacturing/ Supply Chain |
Major Applications |
Online File Storage Photo Editing Software Antivirus web application Finding a way on the map |
The basic work mode for traditional IT services involves the organization dissipating IT resources - hardware, system software, development tools, and applications by installing, managing, and maintaining them at their own-premises data center by themselves.
In that comparison, various cloud ‘as-a-service’ solutions are highly economic, as customer utilizes IT resources via the internet and remunerate on a pay-as-you-go (subscription) basis.
| Iass-Build | Pass-Deploy | Saas-Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud Infrastructure Services | Cloud Platform Services | Cloud Software Services |
| Provides building blocks for cloud infrastructure | Provides tools vias internet | Provides access to a web app via internet |
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It is critical for any business to formulate an easy-to-use solution for the problems faced by users. For that, excellent and thorough research on the targeted customers’ inconvenience is important. HubSpot shows how a small idea can take to miles!
As fellow graduate students at MIT in 2004, Brian and Dharmesh noticed a shift in the way people shop and buy. Consumers were no longer tolerting interruptive bids for their attention-in face, they’d gotten really good at ignoring them.
From this shift, a company was born: Hubspot. It was founded on “inbound”, the notion that people don’t want to be interrupted by marketers or harassed by salespeople- they want to be helped.
Today, the inbound movement continues to empower business around the world to stop interrupting,start helping, and return their focus to the customer.
Avoiding market analysis before your SaaS product development is the biggest mistake any business can make. Taking insights from the prevailing market can wisely predict the growth and development of any business.
Do your own market research; ask your last ten custombers exactly why they bought from you.
- Brain TracyROI is an integral part of analytics that serves as a touchstone for shaping marketing strategies for the future. The most successful SaaS companies in the world spend 40-50% of their annual revenue on marketing.
Have a dedicated technology parter on board to draft minimum viable product (MVP) and look after devlopmwnt process without any obnoxious surprises along the way.
The right usage of technologies determines the functionality and appearance of your SaaS product. A set of technologies also referred to as a technology stack includes a combination of programming languages, frameworks, libraries, cloud computing services, and databases.
Developers are classified based on their expertise in technology and their availability. Assembling an in-house team for SaaS development can sound easy but it is equally difficult to compete in the fast-paced business market. The straightaway solution for this is to hire an expert developer or hire a SaaS development company to get the work done.
A Minimum Viable Product will describe the early version of your SaaS product with the core features. The concept of your product can be validated by gathering customers’ feedback on the generated MVP. Facebook MVP provided a simpler approach to reconnect with college students that began with users being able to share messages on board. This concept was well embraced by the community and hence evolved with the more complex features we see today.
A successful SaaS development should have three important features: security, compatibility, and performance. The process of testing and debugging can assure the quality of the developed SaaS product.
It is a process to analyze the software functionality by finding any software bug.
Selenium, TestingWhiz, Ranorex, Sahi, Tosca, TestSuite.
It is a process to fix the errors and bugs found in the software.
Radare 2, Windbg, Valgrind
The development process needs a wise conclusion by launching it attractively to the users. There are various launching options for your SaaS product with email and social media marketing as the primary methods.
The successful development and launch of the product will also require fair enough maintenance as well. The upgrades and new features and other performance parameters will be tackled by maintaining the product well.
The essence of a successful SaaS product dwells in its ability to reach the market as fast as possible. Hence speed along with accuracy is very crucial in the development of SaaS product. Here are the tools that aid the SaaS development process along the way.
Ruby on rails is one of the efficient backend frameworks for SaaS software development. It has the toolset and capabilities to fabricate all kinds of applications. The eminent examples of its users are Shopify, Basecamp, GitHub, Zendesk, and Uservoice.
Postgre SQL is an open-source object-relational database with profound attributes for reliability, feature robustness, and performance. Some well-known agencies utilizing this database include Uber, Netflix, Instagram, Instacart, and Spotify.
Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform that aids to market your business specifically in email marketing. The well-known companies utilizing its services include the World Health Organization, Federation of American Scientists, The World Bank, WNYC, and PNAS.
Angular is one of the most popular front-end development tools. It provides some most relished features like high speed and optimum performance, less code framework, and cross-platform development. The version history comes from Angular 2 to Angular 14 with every bit of performance enhancements. Many popular companies use it like Samsung, Upwork, Gmail, Paypal, and Forbes.
Node JS is used for SaaS development as one of the most popular back-end technology. Being quiet easy to start with, Node JS becomes one go-to choice for SaaS development. It also provides more than a million packages in the ecosystem to make working with it effortless. Node JS is also popular for real-time application development.
Although SaaS-based solutions are providing a cost-effective alternative to the conventional methods of web development, it is equally important to deal with the pitfalls associated with it. Here are the most crucial challenges along with a quick fix that a SaaS development team can face while developing a SaaS product.
SaaS applications are widely proclaimed for their virtual accessibility from any device. Hence, their usage via various web browsers reveals a large amount of sensitive information that can be easy to hack. For that reason, it becomes mandatory to follow the standard security protocols provided by the database service providers. The basic properties that any security protocol like SSL should offer are:
Deploying a new version of the SaaS application is one of the most critical stages of the SaaS product cycle. It is because the users desire to have an uninterrupted service from a SaaS application. So if things muddle up while the new version is being deployed, users get frustrated. To combat this situation, maintenance teams embrace a no-downstream strategy. Among various such, the blue-green approach is well observed.
SaaS products can be surely created from scratch, but there is a prominent feature of the payment system in the application that requires third-party integration. The main obstacle lies in integrating third-party services as it necessitates complex technical requirements. Although the payment platforms provide their own API document to guide the implementation process, it is yet advisable to consult a team of pro-QAs, to make it easier and less cumbersome. A well-groomed QA follows the required practices to achieve greater success in third-party integration as mentioned here:
It is critical to select the right SaaS development company for a successful product outcome. Here are key points to keep in mind while pursuing a SaaS development company.
The cost of developing SaaS products can range from $20,000 t0 $1,00,000. There is no one fixed price. Also, determining the cost of building a SaaS product is not quite easy to estimate. However, many factors help in determining the cost of SaaS development. Hence, it is ideal to consider these aspects of SaaS development as each factor adds an impact on cost building.
The usage of SaaS applications in various sectors has classified them into various categories based on their development need. And this is very crucial for determining the cost of development. As of now, the categories include:
Customer Relationship Management Software - CRM manages customer data and also tracks customer interactions while compiling business information and automating sales. Popular examples include HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, and EngageBay The average cost for building CRM software is $60000.
Enterprise Resource Planning Software - ERP integrates different tasks into one complete system that can improve efficiency and delegate information sharing. Popular examples include Oracle NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics 365 The average cost for building ERP software is $1,20,000.
Accounting Software - This efficiently tracks and organizes the finances to ensure sustainable business growth. Popular examples include FreshBooks, Zoho Books, and Wave Accounting The average cost for building accounting software is $80,000.
Email Marketing Software - This is an efficient tool to market and spread your business by the top content channel, email. Popular examples include HubSpot Email marketing and Mailchimp. The average cost for building email marketing software is $70,000.
A simple SaaS development can work with the basic features, but developing complex platforms requires the incorporation of extended attributes. Here is a list of several such attributes that aid in building SaaS applications.
Application Programming Interface allows negotiations between apps. This can be compensated by building back-end functionality from Scratch. Although, most SaaS products prefer API generation as it is much more cost-effective. On average, a single API integration can cost $10,000 which will help to integrate data with the party and in-house.
It is wiser to choose the platform for your SaaS product primarily. Determining whether your users are prone to utilize your product on mobile or web will also make a critical difference in estimating the cost of your SaaS product development. Here developers change some UX-UI components to fit the required platform. The cost for building for both platforms can be comparatively more for a single platform.
On average, for a typical SaaS development project the cost range for a UX designer can be $3600 - $6000, for a front-end developer can be $5300 - $21000, and for back-end development, it can be $13,600 - $69,800. Any SaaS product will also require the maintenance cost that will add to the overall cost of the SaaS product development.
SaaS product is a virtual, ready-to-use cloud-based internet software product, designed with a flexible and engaging UI that can be accessed without installing it on your device.
SaaS is a sub-category in cloud computing along with Iaas (Infrastructure-as-a-service) and PaaS (Platform-as-a-service).
The current areas that incorporate SaaS solutions are customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting, project management, e-mail marketing, e-commerce, communications, and human resource management.
For a SaaS product with basic features, the cost ranges from $30,000 - $200,000. However, various factors including the complexity and geographical location of the developers will contribute to these numbers.
A general time range to develop an effective SaaS product can be from three months to one year. This time period is divided into various working hours of UI/UX designing, back-end development, and front-end development with some post-release expenses.
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