Unless you have been living under a rock on the far side of the Mars, you have probably heard of the Cloud along with the “as a Service” market. For those of you who have no heard about the Cloud, we direct you our “Foundations of the Cloud” article. That article will teach what the Cloud is and how the Cloud is constructed.
One of the elements of the Cloud is SaaS. SaaS, or Software as a Service (sometimes written as Software-as-a-Service) refers to the ability of companies and consumers to rent particular software from a company which is hosted, maintained and upgraded in a data center the world away.
As a consumer or a company, why should you invest in SaaS solutions over simply purchasing needed software?
Adoption Rates
SaaS is a Cloud solution based on Internet access. In this day and age, when the Internet has a hand in just about every sector of commerce and daily life, mostly everyone knows how to use the Internet. This societal integration of the Internet means most people know how to use the Internet and what to use it for. Being that SaaS provides applications and programs over an Internet interface, employees and consumers show a quick up time in utilizing those programs and applications.
Upgrades
For the sake of this article, let’s assume your favorite piece of software is Microsoft Office. Now, being that Microsoft office is your favorite piece of software, whenever Microsoft releases a new version of the software, you are compelled to buy it. With Microsoft Office being renewed every other year or so, this habit is expensive.
Well, with SaaS solutions, your provider, not you upgrades your copy of Microsoft Office and they do it as part of the monthly price you pay. No more upgrading that costs you an arm and a leg. Your provider does it for you.
Lower Costs
As just stated, buying new software is an expensive pain in the butt. Moreover, if you run a company you have to purchase multiple copies of your needed software on a per seat basis. This can get very expensive, very quickly. On the other side of the coin, utilizing SaaS solutions means you pay a monthly fee to rent the programs and applications you need. By paying one low monthly fee, you lower your application and program IT spend.
Uptime
Remember that time your business had to close for three days because a storm ripped through your neighborhood zapping all electricity? Remember how much money and productivity that cost you? Well, with SaaS programs and applications, uptime is central to use. Being a Cloud based solution; SaaS applications are stored in a redundant data center facility with backup power supplies and backup cooling supplies. This means even when you can’t turn on the lights in your office, your SaaS applications are always up and running.
Global Accessibility
One of the worst aspects of hard disk bases software is it only works on one – three machines. Sure, for the personal consumer this might not seem like a bad thing however for a business with 50 employees, software restrictions cause a major problem. SaaS fixes this by allowing users to utilize rented applications and programs across multiple devices and machines, all at the same time. No longer is your copy of Microsoft Word bound to your work desktop. As long as you have an Internet connection, you can access your SaaS application from any device, anywhere in the world.
By no means is this list a full list of SaaS benefits. Off the top of our heads, additional SaaS benefits are:
– Defined Monthly SaaS Spend
– Scalability of Applications
– Integration
– Ease of Use
Due to these benefits, before your write Cloud based SaaS applications off, due your homework and invest wisely. You never know, SaaS might be the best avenue for your business.