Software as a service (SaaS) as one of cloud computing services is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet. SaaS removes the need for organizations to install and run applications on their own computers or in their own data centers. This eliminates the expense of hardware acquisition, provisioning and maintenance, software licensing, installation and support.
SaaS promised easier, speedier and cheaper implementations for businesses, triggering the high number of worldwide spending on the service which is predicted to reach nearly two thirds of all public cloud spending in 2018 amounted $160 billion (IDC, 2018). This fact cannot be denied by seeing the benefits that SaaS has offered for companies, such as flexible payments by using a pay-as-you-go model and scalable usage which allows customers to access more services or features. SaaS also provides automatic updates and patch management, as well as mobility in which users can access them from any Internet-enabled device and location.
Despite all the enthusiasm for SaaS and its benefits, companies should also prepare for the challenges of SaaS implementation, which according to Tech Target consist of:
- Not knowing what they are agreeing to
A SaaS service provider will provide their terms and condition clauses to their potential customers, however most of the time, people cannot be bothered to read these long and drawn out clauses and usually end up clicking agree, without actually thinking about what they are agreeing to. A business that is not properly controlled and does not allow information to be easily passed on between departments, could end up agreeing to something that would affect them negatively in the future.
- Paying more than they should be
Although the monthly option seems like the best option, a business can actually end up paying more in the long term, because there are various hidden costs that a SaaS service provider could charge their clients, which may not immediately be obvious to a business. To avoid this pitfall, businesses should make sure that they carefully research what their needs are. If a business knows that they are going to be using a software application for a long time (a year or longer) and have the budget to pay for their software services annually, then they should select this payment option because they can save up to 15% per year.
- Not having a service level agreement
If a software vendor does not initially provide a Service Level Agreement, then it is up to a business to request a Service Level Agreement from their software vendor. Once again, if it is necessary, a business should modify this Service Level Agreement so that it better meets their specific needs.
- Not knowing how their SaaS service provider performs and what state they are in
Clients should request information about their SaaS service providers past levels of performance and uptime. They should also try to find out what state their SaaS service provider will be in, both in the short term and in the long term. Therefore, a business should ensure that their SaaS service provider can meet their needs by fixing any service delivery problems within a few hours, rather than a few days.
- Not knowing what their data rights are
Customers should ensure that the rights to access their own data still remains with them and they should also make sure that their data can still be recovered or restored, if their SaaS service provider went out of business. A SaaS service provider’s clients should also confirm how their data will be secured by their service provider, from a privacy standpoint and a disaster recovery standpoint.
In this fast-paced of advance technology era we are in now, SaaS is something in the digital corporate world should not miss. As your IT solution partner, CTI Group through its subsidiaries, namely Helios Informatika Nusantara, Blue Power Technology and Virtus Technology Indonesia, will provide you the leading SaaS service to help you reap its full potentials and improve your business’s productivity.
