SaaS is one of the best-known technologies that give you the flexibility and scalability to run a global business. Technology makes it easy for you to ensure the security of your users and bring in all the technology tools to run your business seamlessly.
Custom software development services allow business enterprises, big or small, to hustle with the constantly-growing challenges. It helps you manage the data, ensure user security, gives tools to operate the business. Modern solutions such as AI and ML can easily be integrated into the software application that helps you get the necessary insights to grow your business.
A large segment of cloud services is centralized to provide amazing opportunities to businesses. You can use customized solutions to meet your business needs, respective of the business size, clientele, security needs, and more.
Every big enterprise is moving on to cloud platforms to meet their different business goals. From security to scalability to the flexibility of the operations, if you have any concerns related to data, a SaaS application might be a solution for your need. Here are a few things you must know about SaaS before we jump on to find the right vendor for SaaS development services.
Introduction
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a solution that allows you to implement commercial services. It helps you provide your services online to the users. It requires you to create a SaaS application and host it over the internet.
These are efficient software; they are built for multiple users that share a single instance of an application and a single-user database among all customer services. It helps you sell your services, which make makes it more cost-effective. Maintenance, upgrades, updates become fairly easy. It improves your return on investment.
The advancement in technology allows SaaS providers to gain unlimited users without any performance issues. User-interfaces customization, functionality, and even data structure make it a superior solution to the traditional solutions.
It provides a personalized experience to each user by accessing the database. It also helps you determine which features to apply. SaaS solutions also allow customization in the internal installation of the complex software package. The personalized experience is one of the hottest featuresfor enterprises.
Characteristics
SaaS is a great alternative to internal operations and outsourcing that companies can and should incorporate to provide better services. It also makes their IT infrastructure a good investment.
You get to provide high-end services at a lower cost than any other alternative. Responsive software solutions make it easy for you to provide your services over mobile phones, PCs, and tablets. A business with a decentralized user base is most benefitted by this solution.
You can build a SaaS application for any operations you need to be put online. Be it employees, teleworkers, customers, or business partners; SaaS applications can be accessed easily using any web browser.
Customization is limited, as the SaaS solutions do not generally provide full customization. It would be available with the internal installation of a complex software package.
Security
There are two approaches to setting up a SaaS infrastructure which are single tenancy and multi-tenancy. Depending on the choice of architecture, data security varies. A single tenancy is high-secure and provides you maximum customization possibilities. But they are expensive, and it is a more appropriate solution for large enterprises. Multi-tenancy provides security, but not as great as single tenancy. It is because multiple organizations are sharing the database, which puts you at risk of losing some data. But that happens rarely, and they are secure too.
The security solutions offered by SaaS vendors are amazing. And the dangers of corporate espionage are very rare. SaaS providers even give you the option of safeguarding the data with firewalls for those clients that require it.
Price of SaaS providers
SaaS providers' charges are usually pay-per-use subscription services. The price per user per month is the most common model. The price per transaction is another. The pricing model is adjustable and flexible, as per the use of the solution.
The charges of SaaS providers differ from company to company. You can go with the Google cloud platform; the google cloud platform costs around $300, which is a good investment as it provides you 20+ tools you can use to improve your business operations.
It allows an organization to try a solution with little risk, and there is not a fixed-rate contract; you can make changes to the services and package anytime you feel like making an upgrade. It is a large initial investment in hardware and software licenses.
A SaaS product development company can help you in developing an efficient solution, allowing you to implement solutions that ensure your growth through an efficient IT infrastructure.
What types of services do SaaS providers provide, and how do they provide the services?
There are many service providers available in the market. Reliable service providers such as Salesforce, Taleo, RightNow technologies, NetSuite are very reliable for CRM, human resources, SMB Suite, and other services. They provide you a wide variety of services that cover customization, network security, email and company collaboration, functionality, and more.
The latest trend in SaaS product development services is of providing a complete set of IT services over a unified platform. The services are provided through the internet over a browser from a computer or mobile phone. They have amazing customer support and well-trained sales representatives to help you guide through the process.
They have very good support for any type of smartphone or mobile device. There are different interfaces for mobile works and desktop workers. Since they are sent over the internet, this makes them ideal for decentralized, geographically distributed, and virtual organizations.
Is it the right time for SaaS development?
SaaS technology is new, but it has passed the point where it was costly and typical. With continuous technological advancement, it has become easier and easier for businesses to provide turnkey solutions to their customers.
Brands such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and IBM are using SaaS-based products to improve the experience of their business partners. It helps them reach millions of small and large enterprises to meet their business goals. Irrespective of the size of the business, SaaS can help businesses grow their business reach.
This was all basic what you need to know about SaaS applications. Once we are clear about it, let's proceed to SaaS application development.
What is SaaS application development?
SaaS or Software-as-a-Service is a software delivery model which works through licensing. A service provider would distribute the software application ona subscription basis. A provider has to grant access to their SaaS application on a pay-as-you-go basis.
A SaaS application can be of various types. The most popular of which are CRM, ERP, HR, Accounting and Invoicing, Ecommerce, Email marketing, data and project management, and more. Depending on your vision for the project, you must start your search for a SaaS development company.
One of the important things you must know about SaaS development is that the product should be compatible with different platforms. Also,itgest auto-updated. This means the user would always have access to the newest version of the app on any device that he/ she uses to access the product.
Challenges in the development process
There are various challenges awaiting you at each stage of the development process. But you can easily mitigate them by planning the work well. Keep a good idea about what you want. The better you know what you want, the better are the chance that you would achieve it.
Furthermore, stay practical about the budget and timeline of the project. A lot of companies find many surprise expenses or delay in product delivery because they have underestimated the development work. The best way to ensure it doesn't happen to you, talk with the development company.
The development and launching of the product are not the ends of the product journey. There would always be the need for maintenance of the product or the development of more futuristic features as you grow your business.
Tool integrations such as third-party payment integrations, cloud integration, and other tools will help you ensure a better experience with the product. But, experts integration is important. Any fault in the integration process might leave your product vulnerable to security issues, bad performance, hindered experiences, etc.
Read the blog- Software As A Service (SaaS) To Fuel The Growth Of The Lease Management Companies
SaaS application development stage
Making yourself known about the development process and the different stages would help you find any challenges you must prepare yourself for. It would add to your understanding of your product. Here are five main stages of development explained:
- Research and discovery
Once you have contacted a reliable SaaS development company, they would understand the product requirement from you. They would use the information that you have gathered from the market and would do their own research to understand the product well.
It is necessary for the customer software services provider to understand your industry market and target audience to ensure better experience and achievability of the business goals.
- Product design
In the second stage of the development, the product designing work starts. The development team would create a prototype and get your approval on it before starting any development work.
- Product Development
Every SaaS product starts first with the development of a minimum viable product. Once the team gets satisfiedwith the functionality of the product, and you get to validate it, further development work starts.
- Optimization and Testing
Product optimization helps in detecting and removing any issues and bugs found in the application.
- Deploy, monitor and support
The final stage of the development process is deploying the application, after which comes monitoring the app for any issues and solving them. SaaS development companies also provide you with customer support to reach out to them in case you need any assistance.
How to select the SaaS application development company?
Here are a few things you need to look into while hiring a SaaS development company.
- Initial Search
- Expertise in SaaS development
Software as a service product aim at solving some of the biggest challenges faced by businesses. At the core of the technology innovation lies the need to connect the business operations, internal and external, to an application allowing more flexibility in the system.
This not only diversifies the market but also segregates the skillsets you require to achieve your goals. The current market offers you a wide range of SaaS development services. Thus when you are seeking any specific solution for your domain, search in respective areas of competence is important to ensure your objectives are met with the tech solutions.
Aim for a SaaS development company that has the right team that has expertise in the right type of project. Look for experienced companies, and consider your preference and requirements. Work on your business model and convey the correct details to the companies you are considering hiring for the development. Check their technology toolset.
- Portfolio
A portfolio has been voted the best way to evaluate a companies skillset time and time again. It allows you to check their previously built products and finalize them. It helps you check if the company is good at translating your vision into a fullyfunctioning product.
Look for any case study overview. You need to explore the vendor sites and their account and check the functionality of the product. Look for the functionality of the overall product, complexities, usability, and the UI and UX design.
See if the company had any shortcomings and how they aim to resolve those. You would find this way of selecting the right custom software development services very useful.
- Client Reviews
Client reviews are another useful option. The internet has made it very easy for you to find what people are speaking about the company that you look forward to working with. There are many independent review sites, or you can simply google the company name and find reviews left by their previous clients.
This method would help you know the credibility and reliability of the customers. See how people rate their services worldwide, check factors on which they fall short and determine if that is going to affect your project in any way.
Some of the most trusted sites to find genuine reviews for an IT firm are Clutch.co and GoodFirms. People leave honest feedback on these sites, and you can use these platforms also for finding high-rated IT companies. They use a variety of factors to determine the quality of work. They give the rating to the companies on the basis of their client reviews, experience, industry recognition, market presence, etc.
- Digital Presence
Digital presence can be determined through the online activities of a company. A company that has a strong digital presence would allow you to see them in the light of a brand. See what type of content they push on their social media account, what kind of blogs they right, check their website, and analyze their content, design, and usability.
The company website is most important to look into. Check if you like the design and functionality of the website. Is it modern? Do you like the userinterface? How is the navigation of the website? Similarly, you can check their expertise through their blog to know the depth of their knowledge and solutions.
- Finalizing the company
Once you have short-listed the companies or teams you want to work with for your SaaS product development, it is time to narrowing down your evaluation criteria. Here are some tips you can use.
- Development Approach
- Methodology
Different software development companies use different development methodology to develop software. Depending on various factors such as the complexity in the project, client budget, timeline, it is decided what approach they want to take for developing custom software.
Development methodologies help in dividing the work in various ways to reach their development goals efficiently. It allows them to understand the team working and how to scale the team for adjusting to the growth.
As a business owner, you know what approach the software development company wants to take for the project development. And why is it so? It would help you convey your concerns, expectations, and requirements efficiently to the development partners.
Some of the most common development approaches are the Agile development method and the waterfall development method. For SaaS application development, agile methodology is very effective as it allows developers to build efficient products in lesser time. It also brings more flexibility in the development process and allows them to make changes at any stage of development without affecting the work for others.
While going for an agile development methodology, make sure the developers have a total focus on the end product and have seamless communication within the team. It would help you ensure the quality of development.
- Communication
Communication is very important for the development team. It is important that different teams working on different areas of development work cohesively to bring out a fine product. Streamlining communication helps you constantly guide the developers in the right direction.
When choosing the right development company tool for a modern facility that allows you to get connected with the development team through emails, chats, video calls, calls, etc., it would help you mitigate any risks found in the development process and would make the investment more valuable.
- Code review
Code review is another way to ensure the quality of development. It is important to validate the design of the product and make improvements in the code to relish outstanding experiences on the product. Code review thus helps you in patch management, validation of UI / UX, bug-free experience on the product, etc., to make your product secure, robust, and consistent.
- MVP Creation
Minimum viable product development helps you in building a basic product with functionality and features to validate your product and seek investment. It is a very common practice now, and there are many companies today that use the method to seek potential investors and attain a user base.
But to develop a SaaS minimum viable product, you would be required to find some expert developers and designer teams. It is important that they understand the technology well and are well-versed with the principal reason why the MVP is being built.
Use MVP to start building a SaaS application; this would help you in validating the features and would cost you less. Furthermore, you can expand the product into a full-fledged solution provider as your business starts churning up.
- Technology Stack
Not every technology is the best fit for your product. It is important that you understand the complexities of your product and consult the expert developers team while choosing the right technology stack.
Tools used in the SaaS development impact the development quality largely. The technology ensures the performance of an application, and it is as important as the skillset of developers working on your product.
Make sure the technology that you use provides application performance, security, scalability, and maintainability for the product. Just in case you are not able to come to a conclusive answer for this, talk with the development companies; they would guide you better.
- Expertise in technologies
While choosing the right SaaS development vendor, it is essential that you go with you evaluate the skillset and expertise of the development team in that technology. Not every company would have experts for all the technologies. You must narrow down your search for the developer based on their deep domain expertise.
- Define your requirements for the solution
To finalize a SaaS development company, you are required to first work on the product requirements. It would help you convey your concerns better to the development company and would help you avoid any bad surprises during the process. Also, the more accurate and precise you are about your needs, the lesser are the chances of avoiding getting overboard with your development budget.
In the process, ask yourself what features are extremely important to keep in the product. What are the features that can be developed in the second phase? What is the target audience, and what kind of UI and UX would help you shorten the learning curve on the product.
Some other crucial discussions are dependencies, security, and maintenance of the product. You can also take an example of any competitor you have in the market and know what you like about their product and what you don't.
- Team Structure
The team structure is very important and a complex part of the development process. A lot of time, a complex product has an efficient team, but the resources are very less that causesa delay in the launch.
Furthermore, what profiles you need to hire from a SaaS product development company to develop a great product. Here are a few resources which are absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of SaaS product development.
- Project Manager (they help ensure communication and coordination between you and the team and within the team, they would also provide you detailed reports on the project and would be your point of contact)
- Backend and Frontend developers
- UI & UX designers
- DevOps
- Testers
Look for a saas product development company that has these resources onboard. The right team will help you cover all the aspects of SaaS development. Also, the size of the team depends on the timeline and the budget of development.
Know More About Our Services? Talk to Our Consultants!
We hope you liked the blog. We have tried to cover everything from start to finish about SaaS development that you must know.
Consider all the key points mentioned in the blog to find the right people for SaaS application development. Going with this process, we are sure you would be able to achieve your business goals and ensure your success in the short-term and longterm.
