In the last decade, we have witnessed a race towards digital transformation involving businesses across all sizes and industries looking to update their processes and introduce new ways of working.
Whether you are a big corporation or a small company, unless you've lived under a rock the last couple of years, you've probably also found yourself exploring the market for alternative tools to improve your work.
Finding the right software for your needs and to retire old tools is often a difficult task. The market has plenty of options and it is easy to get confused. In addition, who has never indulged in thinking of compiling a list of requirements to have bespoke software built to cater to them all?
Well, that sounds good on paper, but soon the reality hits you with a long development process, high maintenance fees and before you realise, you've spent a good chunk of your budget before anything tangible is delivered, let alone usable.
Even though bespoke software is still a good option for big enterprise with very complex business rules and a substantial IT budget, SaaS technologies definitely represent a better alternative thanks to their limited downsides and their immediate availability.
Research demonstrates that SaaS technologies will keep growing strongly [1]
and, as predicted by Intuit, around 85% of small businesses will invest in SaaS solutions by 2020. [2]
So, if you are still unsure if SaaS would suit your business and whether or not you should join the rest of the world in the digital transformation craze, just keep reading this article and we will explain why you should consider SaaS too.
But first of all, what's SaaS?
SaaS stands for Software as a Service and it is often also referred to as software on-demand, Cloud service or, less commonly, ASP (Application Service Provider).
In other words, SaaS products are tools offered via a subscription and built on shared infrastructure in the cloud. SaaS software is made available over the Internet, rather than purchased, downloaded and installed locally, meaning it is always accessible from anywhere via a web browser.
Benefits
1. Purpose-built
SaaS providers usually focus on building tools to solve a specific problem, so their products are designed to help you perform a particular job or task.
SaaS providers invest the majority of their resources in building an all-in-one solution specifically resolving 1 or more business need. So, when adopting SaaS you can rest assured there are experts working behind the scenes to bring you the latest technology to solve the problem at hand.
2. Accessibility
One of the disadvantages of licensed software is that they are designed to be only used in the workplace and therefore limited to specific devices.
Cloud-based apps can be accessed from anywhere and at any time only requiring an internet connection and a browser. This will increase not only your team's flexibility at work but also facilitate the collaboration between colleagues, even remotely.
3. Cost
The cost of implementing a SaaS application is a very small compared with bespoke software, often orders of magnitude cheaper.
SaaS applications are usually easy to implement and do not require any complicated configuration, bringing down substantially the cost of setup and customisation, often to zero.
As with Claimable, most SaaS products can be bought on a monthly subscription and do not require any setup fee, meaning you can avoid large investments upfront, spread the cost and reduce risk.
Furthermore, there are often incentives if you're willing to make a longer commitment. So if you decide to pay annually, you can save even more!
Altogether, adopting SaaS will definitely bring down your overall IT spend, compared with the alternatives.
4. Risk-Free
Adopting cloud-based software is, most of the time, a little-or-no-risk activity. Typically, you will not be charged an upfront fee and paying a monthly subscription also provides a predictable recurring expense, rather than large capital expenditure. In addition, most SaaS companies do not lock you in with long contracts meaning that you will be able to cancel at any time or change your price plan if needed.
But, one of the most appealing aspects SaaS can offer is the free trial.
At Claimable we always encourage having a free trial and making the most of it. A free trial is a great opportunity to understand if and how a product can support your business operations. Also, it can serve as a way to train your team before fully adopting the new software. In this way, when you come to implement the product, your team will already know how to make the most of it, reducing the need for training.
5. Flexibility
SaaS not only offers flexibility in terms of payment and accessibility but also in term of adoption and usage.
Most SaaS applications do not enforce a limit on the data that can be stored or the number of users that can be added. SaaS products scale with you and you won't need to make any changes in your infrastructure or grow your IT department just because your team is getting bigger. In addition, SaaS products often offer different subscription plans according to the functionality needed, so if your position has changed you may just want to upgrade or downgrade.
6. Maintenance
Your company won't need to worry at all about maintenance or bug fixes, because the provider of cloud-based software is responsible to support that remotely.
These companies adopt the latest technologies to monitor usage and performance being able to deploy patches and revisions securely in real-time.
7. Updated Features
Businesses with legacy systems and traditional software often have to spend small fortunes for upgrades and changes, and they feel obliged to install updates to make sure they run the latest version.
Thanks to quicker code deploy and continuous improvements and enhancements Saas' users will benefit from automatic updates and new features.
Also, with increasing competition on all fronts, SaaS providers monitor performance and use cases regularly in order to continuously refine and enhance their offering.
8. Performance
As mentioned in the point above, SaaS providers monitor performance regularly and dedicate significant resources to ensure high standards are maintained.
Most SaaS providers, in addition, guarantee a 99.9% uptime (or higher). And, the fact that Cloud-based applications' performance is not dependant on your in-house servers represents a positive advantage for your business.
9. Security
In adopting a SaaS application you shouldn't need to worry about security as much. Most providers will take on that burden and implement industry-standard solutions.
Reputable SaaS vendors provide potentially more robust data security than the customer would itself. Usually, these providers have a strong and dedicated security team that is solidly up-to-date with the latest in the security industry.
This means that companies with limited IT resources will get access to industry-standard security solutions. And, on the other end, bigger companies will have a good portion of the IT budget freed up to be used for their main operations.
Claimable is a cloud-based SaaS offering a claims management software. If you are managing claims and struggling with messy spreadsheets or slow old software, request a trial of Claimable or have a chat with us and benefit from a headache free claims management process.