The 5 Key Storage Drivers for SaaS Success

Featured article by Mike Jones, Independent Technology Author

SaaS – known by its full name, “software as a service” is one of the three principal branches of cloud computing alongside IaaS (infrastructure as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service). Shortly put, it’s a form of software distribution that brings to the table a third-party willing to host the particular service. This is a good way out for certain entities, particularly companies, that would otherwise need to install the applications in their own data centers and invest in the management of the required hardware to run it.

There are many advantages to opting for SaaS.

– Flexible Budget Management: Installing an application on your own computer would also involve a lot of unpredictability and inflexibility as far as money management goes. In the case of SaaS services, all we need to do is sign up to a monthly subscription that gives us a clear idea of the budget we will need to allocate to the service.

– Scaled Usage: SaaS applications come packed with customization options that allow the user to design their most ideal plans a personalized service. We can choose to get more or fewer without actually having to physically bring in any hardware updates.

– Lessened IT Burdens: Users get automated updates and patches that immediately fix any errors or issues that might come from a particular version of the service. It takes away the burden of physically moving to acquire parts or any other necessary items that can contribute to fixing an issue. Moreover, it doesn’t require to bring into the picture any IT experts that can be rather costly and heavily contribute to the extra costs of quality management.

– Accessibility: The mobility of SaaS services is perhaps the main aspect that makes them incredibly up to date and up with the times. Pretty much all of them are provided and hosted over the Internet, making them accessible from multiple devices that allow an Internet connection.

The Few Cons

So far, so good. It sounds as if most of what we are being provided by SaaS oriented companies sounds tempting enough to get us to be on board with them. That’s true, but it’s also important to be aware of any possible downsides. One of the main cons that SaaS services come with is the complete lack of control. Most of the pros earlier mentioned do, in fact, involve being placed in the hands of the SaaS vendors.

Billing, fixing IT issues, security, business data – all of those are managed by the business vendors and depending on how willing you are to put faith in them, you might encounter some minor trust issues. What’s worse is that if the worst case scenario does end up happening, it will greatly damage the possible relationship between customers and SaaS vendors.

The 5 Keys for SaaS Success

When you’re thinking of starting up a business that involves SaaS, there are several factors that must be kept in mind if we are to talk about the success of the outcome and the influence it will all have on infrastructure and further developments. Customers need to find the best data backup, SaaS vendors need to start working on infrastructure.

– Customer Retention: It’s difficult to get started, but it’s even more difficult to keep the standards high enough to keep your customers. This is one of the main struggles of SaaS vendors. Because customers of SaaS services aren’t invested in infrastructure – in other words, they don’t need to actually worry about the costs of maintaining hardware – the “switching cost” is low enough to make a difference. If they’re not pleased by a service, it won’t take long for them to find a more appealing offer and move on. As a result, SaaS vendors need to heavily rely on the opinions of the customers, on feedback, and on extra attention to keep them enthralled.

– Dangers of Freemium: CEO’s of several important SaaS companies have spoken up about the freemium strategy that made services like DropBox so popular, informing of the dangers of diving into this scene. “Free doesn’t pay the bills,” we learned. But, as we know, what is free is more attractive. The advice here is to spend more time developing a product that will be worth paying for before developing one that can serve as bait for a freemium trial period.

– Growth: Everywhere you turn, growth is one of the main keywords for SaaS success. Everything involving these services is based around starting off small (with free trials) and expanding. It’s especially difficult when it’s trust that you most need to help bloom and flourish.

– Real Time Analytics: The age of niche data warehouse tools used for online analytic processing is being left behind us and is adapting to the fast pace of the world. Infrastructure needs to be advanced enough to be able to provide real time data processing.

– Scaling Ability: In the case for SaaS vendors, their equivalent for sold goods is the cost of application delivery infrastructure. It plays a giant role in profitability and the overall growth of the company, which in turn affects all of the other drivers. As a result, scaling the ideal cost for infrastructure is a fundamental asset.

In conclusion, plenty of these key drivers can be traced back to cloud programs and what it takes for their function ability. Infrastructure plays a major role in the life of a SaaS vendor and all it takes for its correct management is right above.

About the Author

Mike Jones is a Boston University graduate, with an MS in Mass Communication. He is now a full-time writer, passionate about everything related to business and technology.