Businesses all suffer similar issues, regardless of size or geographical distribution, so what benefits will they achieve from deploying Software as a Service (SaaS) opposed to conventional Client Server systems?
Firstly, in today’s highly competitive market place, businesses must be flexible and quick to respond to changes just to survive, be that in a particular marketplace or within a larger organisation. This continual pressure forces the stake holders to constantly invest in improvements and enhance performance on increasingly tight budgets. Furthermore, businesses are also being forced into regulatory compliance with ever changing legislation and regulations.
This all puts tremendous pressure on the management and the business itself, which often distracts the organisation from its true goals, forcing Investment into heavy infrastructure costs and equipment. This then draws financial resources and burdens the business with an unsustainable cost base, making it less competitive.
Added to this, managing growth also has a major impact on the business, as you grow, office based systems need to be upgraded, equipment purchased and supported and expensive licensing issues need to be dealt with.
What is a good time to look at Software as a Service (SaaS)?
Having discussed this at length with our clients, here are the most common compelling conditions:
- Moving offices
- Recruiting more staff
- Opening new satellite offices
- Sudden business growth and demand
- Downsizing and reducing costs
- Governance and regulatory pressures
- More Competition
- Demands from Customers for more and better services
- Approaching a new market
- Tighter control on the business
- Monitoring performance
Any or all of the above will bring into question your current IT infrastructure and systems, so this is an ideal time to take advantage of new emerging systems and technology like Software as a Service (SaaS) delivered via Cloud Computing services.
What are the benefits of Software as a Service?
Listed below and some of the key advantages and benefits that SaaS can offer your organisation:
- Financial – Software is provided at a per seat cost – i.e. per user per month, so adding or removing seats is a painless exercise. You only pay for what you use.
- Equipment – there is no need to buy any expensive servers or back up devices – this is all handled by the provider
- Support Costs – no licensing issues or software support agreements to deal with
- Staff – you have no need for IT staff as support is all provided as part of the service. With no servers in the building, you do not need to support them
- Back up and DR – this adds a new dimension to your business, all this is done for you, so if you do have a problem, you business can relocate and keep working with ease.
- Client software – there is no footprint to load on any machine. SaaS uses simple browser technology, so any device can be used – even mobile phones etc
- Upgrades – all this is done on an ongoing basis – you always are running the latest proven released versions.
- Compliance and regulations – The software will be designed to cater for this as required.
- Geographical independence – you can connect from anywhere via Cloud Computing with an internet connection, removing business constraints.
Affordability of Software as a Service
The real key benefit to Software as a Service is affordability. We all know companies just limp along with what they can afford at the time, often finding the choices made at the start of the business ends up costing them dearly as the business moves forward as they have to keep changing and upgrading to meet more demand. With SaaS, you get more than you need from day one – no expensive upfront costs or expensive equipment to worry about, making it an ideal solution for start up organisations, businesses in rapid growth or businesses with a mobile work force and remote offices.
Not sure if Software as a Service is right for your business? Contact Pulse Business Software now to see if SaaS can change your business and free you from the constraints of legacy systems
