We’ve been over the many benefits of SaaS solutions before, but never as a primary topic. It’s time to illustrate this clearly, as one of the bigger hurdles for SaaS now isn’t technological limits or practicality. No, the biggest problem now is a lack of understanding what SaaS is all about, and how adopting this model over traditional software (in specific areas) is beneficial.
This apprehension of SaaS is both on part of customers unsure of adopting it, and of potentially great developers who are unsure if the annoyance of moving to web development will pay off, when their comfortable work in traditional development (which admittedly is far less annoying to program within) is making them bank. So, let’s look at the benefits of SaaS solutions from both perspectives, and maybe lay to rest some apprehensions that both parties are still unable to process at this point.
#1 – Affordability
Software in its traditional form, is expensive to create, and expensive to buy and deploy to any reasonable scale. Between the costly licensing to deploy it to multiple machines, the cost of fabricating discs, the expenses of covering a multitude of platforms, and of course, the expense of staying current as versions quickly fade into obsolescence, it’s a costly ordeal for all involved.
In order for software creators to offset the expenses brought to them above, they have to raise the cost for the users yet more. There’s no place else to pass the expenses on to.
With SaaS, the centrality, and lack of multiple target platforms, as well as the elimination of version repurchases, as well as a lack of need for physical media makes the process much cheaper for the creators. This passes on to the customer, along with the prescription “pay only for the use you need” model, saving everyone a lot of money.
#2 – Platform Independence
As alluded to above, one of the other issues with software is the diversity of platforms, especially these days, that have to be targeted traditionally. Between the various PC operating systems, a ton of mobile devices and the immerging set top box architectures, that’s a lot of software builds with a traditional model.
However, with SaaS, being served over universal web-based formats from central locations, the platform variance issue is not an issue at all. In fact, in most cases, pretty much any device with a browser capable of supporting modern web technologies is more than capable of accessing SaaS.
This means that a single version needs to be developed, and a single version needs to be adopted. This reduces the hassle of supporting various devices simultaneously.
#3 – Always Up to Date
Finally, when using SaaS, software is always up to date. Since it’s handled from a central, remote location, whenever a bug fix needs to be made, or new functionality is invented, it’s automatically there once implemented into that centralized location.
This means less expense for developers, since they don’t have to distribute patches or new versions, and it means no new purchases or logistical nightmares for users. On-site SaaS doesn’t quite take full advantage of this particular aspect, though many developers offering onsite are now also working in functionality for it to auto-update since it has to validate frequently anyhow for license purposes.
These are just some of the many benefits of SaaS. There are so many reasons this is a great innovation that they simply won’t fit in one literary piece, or heck, even in a bunch, really.