Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based software delivery model for which the user pays a “rental” fee, usually in the form of a regular subscription fee. The service provider on its side develops and maintains the cloud application software, licenses it, and is responsible for hosting and making it available to customers via the Internet.
SaaS businesses are mostly B2B solutions. Customer businesses purchase complex software on pay-as-you-go recurring basis to address various needs of their company, such as billing and subscription management , SRM systems, cloud storage, cybersecurity services and so on.
SaaS allows customers to eliminate the cost of developing and maintaining their own systems, and accelerate the scaling and development of business solutions.
History of SaaS
SaaS as a concept has been around since the 1960s, when computers were bulky and very expensive. Back then, companies used monitors and keyboards without CPU and were connected to the mainframe network. Now that same system has evolved into cloud storage.
In the 80s-90s, computers became more affordable and organizations moved to individual ownership of personal computers, using on-premise software, but faced difficulties due to the constant maintenance of the software and hardware of individual computers. During this period there was a forerunner of SaaS – ASP – the application service provider, which, however, had many technical limitations. In the early 2000s the system evolved significantly due to the absence of the need for local installation and multi-tenant architecture.
Today, SaaS continues to evolve, and by 2023 the market has already reached $164 billion. Today’s SaaS packages leverage the experience of previous generations combined with the latest technology, constantly evolving.
The purpose of SaaS
The purpose of SaaS businesses is to help businesses that choose them as service and product providers. They help reduce the cost and deployment time associated with installing and using the necessary business software. SaaS takes care of the technical aspects of software development and maintenance.
Types of SaaS Products
The variety of SaaS products can be unified into the following three categories:
Packaged SaaS are designed to manage specific work processes in an organization, such as subscription management and billing.
Collaborative SaaS are intended to optimize collaboration between company employees, both in terms of team communication and documentation work.
Technical SaaS, as the name suggests, includes a category of SaaS businesses that provide their customers with tools to manage or improve various technical processes.
Advantages of SaaS
- Fast app development and access to innovations
- Wide global reach
- Ease of deployment, upgrades and debugging
- Customization
- Integrations with third-party services to improve the business customer experience
- Cost efficiency and return on investment
- Ease of scaling as the customer’s business grows
- Data portability
- Security and continuous updates
Disadvantages of SaaS
- Dependence of performance quality on the quality of the Internet, especially if cloud servers are accessed from long distances
- Limited control over data and regulation of data updates
- Unpredictability of client updates
- Possibility of data security breach
- Possible complex and costly integration
- Limitations of customization options due to multi-tenant architecture
- Incompatibility of the selected SaaS solution with the client’s business hardware
Key takeaways
- SaaS provides customers with a software platform and applications to access data through a subscription model.
- The SaaS product is accessed over the Internet.
- SaaS products are diverse and designed to help other businesses close their workloads
- SaaS is easy to implement, update and debug
- Subscribing to SaaS can be a much more cost-effective investment than buying multiple software licenses for multiple computers
- The software is managed by the SaaS provider
Getting started with SaaS
In most cases, no installation is required to get started with SaaS. The software as a service is hosted in the cloud and the first step is simply to go to the website of the selected software and register for an account. This process always includes mandatory steps such as using an email address and requesting or creating a password. Voila, your login credentials for the online platform, dextop version or app are ready. Once you have completed this step, depending on your chosen terms of interaction with the selected SaaS, you have access to the software’s suite of tools and features.
Introducing Rainex
Software as a Service has significantly changed the way businesses of all sizes operate today. Cloud services have provided businesses from various fields with extensive access to the technology they need to grow, eliminating the cost of maintaining their own server.
Such an important business helper may also need its own helper. Rainex is designed to help SaaS businesses manage subscriptions and billing.
Rainex is a billing and subscription management platform which offers you:
- Fast and easy integration, which allows you to access the system in the shortest possible time and immediately start accepting payments from customers;
- Extensive platform functionality, including a flexible rate builder with any frequency and currency, attachment of addons and charges, automatic invoice generation, credit note creation, and more.
- Ability to integrate with multiple payment gateways, including creation of integrations at your request.
- Dedicated support team that won’t make you wait more than 12 hours for an answer, providing assistance in setting up the system and if you have any difficulties working with the platform.
- Personalized approach to you and your business needs.
