If you’re researching any new software tools to help your organization, chances are it’s a Software as a Service or SaaS platform. SaaS is a software licensing and delivery model allowing businesses to “subscribe” to a software license. In a SaaS scenario, the software is hosted in a central location in the cloud instead of on-premises, i.e. on a server at the organization’s location.
According to the “2017 State of the SaaS-Powered Workplace Survey,” 73 percent of organizations indicated that nearly all their apps will be SaaS by 2020. Cloud-based deployments are gaining popularity because they allow organizations to focus more on business priorities and less on infrastructure and application delivery. As a result, 38 percent of companies are currently running almost entirely on SaaS. There are many more benefits to adopting a SaaS-based platform or application. Let’s explore a few.
1. Scalability. Is your business growing? If you’re anticipating growth or even some downsizing, you don’t have to worry about how this will affect your servers or your IT department. Your subscription can grow or shrink depending on usage.
2. Easier integration. Usually, a SaaS platform or application can support some amount of customization geared toward your unique business and user needs. SaaS vendors usually create APIs to connect to other internal applications like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or even other SaaS providers.
3. Efficiency. Once the application is configured, users have access whenever they’re online. Since there aren’t any hardware upgrades, there’s no time wasted on set-up. Your IT department has time to focus on furthering your organization’s technological strategy since they aren’t responsible for updates or fixes to the application.
4. Higher adoption rate. Since you can access a SaaS platform or application via the internet, users are able to connect through their browser of choice. Also, since these applications tend to be simple to use, employees don’t need to take time off to learn the software. These advantages mean a much higher user adoption rate.
5. Cost-friendliness. A SaaS platform or application allows you to “pay as you go”. Your organization’s initial setup costs are a fraction of what they could be compared to an on-premises environment. This helps you optimize resources and gives you a better idea of future costs for budgeting.
As for security? Some industries might still struggle with the idea of using SaaS instead of software that’s on-premises due to security and privacy concerns, but SaaS has evolved in those areas. For example, Forrester’s Software as a Service in Banking report stated that “Concerns regarding the security, privacy, and risk of SaaS deployments for financial services should be a thing of the past. The new, state-of-the-art SaaS solutions are just as capable of protecting customer information, corporate intellectual property, and other business secrets as traditional hosted solutions.”
In Europe, where privacy standards are extremely high, SaaS applications are becoming more and more in demand. According to a Bitkom study, the proportion of German cloud users rose from 54% to 65% last year. Additionally, 57% of the managers surveyed expressed a belief that their company’s data was “very secure” or “more secure” in the cloud.
Vendors offering a SaaS platform or application usually have a higher level of security than the organization considering a SaaS offering. Since the data is automatically backed up by the vendor, this option provides organizations with additional security and disaster recovery coverage.
When choosing a SaaS platform or application, your organization has many options to choose from, including the KnowledgeLake Cloud. Built on the highly secure Microsoft Azure, the KnowledgeLake Cloud platform is a cloud-native, full-stack solution. For more information about the platform, reach out to our experts!