Is SaaS right for your company?

There are many well-known advantages to SaaS, from its ‘plug and play’ qualities, to minimal upfront costs – it’s a solution that’s free of the burden of constant management, in theory it ‘just works’.

SaaS – what’s the catch?

To use an incredibly simplified metaphor for a moment, think about the key differences between buying a ready-meal, and cooking from scratch for yourself. One is convenient, fast and gets the basic job done, but the other is yours – you can add more basil if you like, or maybe you have a strong preference when it comes to salt.

The point is that SaaS may be configurable, but it won’t be tailored for your individual business needs, and you don’t have much control.

This can be a good thing if it helps you to standardise an unnecessarily complicated or awkward process, but the reality is that most businesses have unique ways of doing things for a reason: it’s what makes them competitive.

Losing your edge

There is a danger then, that going full SaaS for most of your solutions can ultimately sand the edges off your USP – making your businesses, operations and approach generic for the sake of convenience.

Managing your payroll with SaaS isn’t likely to affect your identity much, but what about your SLAs, or customer strategy – does a one-size-fits-all CRM really consider your unique service, or the way in which you work?

Another way of working

An in-house application might not be viable for your company – after all there is a reason SaaS is so compelling, so what’s the alternative?

Software with a service (SwaS) can split this difference. Very few providers offer this right now, but it is possible to deliver a scalable, cloud-based application that’s not just configurable, but can easily be changed at bedrock level or turned on its head to give you a solution that fits your business.

‘With’ is the operative word here: it means that the provider has a large, dedicated configuration and support team, that can add, take-away and innovate with you to create a unique solution. This helps to ease the burden of implementation on your IT team, and the rewards are huge.

Customer first, company second

In its infancy, SaaS very much had a ‘company first’ approach: it’s up to us to give them what we think is the optimal solution. The SaaS industry has moved increasingly towards a totally customer-centric approach. Consider looking for a partner that’s willing to break the old SaaS model and offer customisation, unique structures and a full service, while still taking most of the load off your plate.