Our organisations are trailblazers in today’s business world, and our services and products will continue to energise the public. It’s a win-win situation – we continue making our customers’ lives easier, and their support will help us scale up.
But scaling an organisation includes more than money. It also involves the specific tools we use to run our business and the way in which we use them. What are we talking about here? The ever-trusty software as a service (SaaS) product or Cloud solutions, that’s what!
What is software as a service (SaaS)?
SaaS is a term used for software products that are hosted, managed, and provided to customers via cloud computing. It’s similar to the on-site software we install directly onto our computers, but it’s available to be accessed through the internet. SaaS products can be used on various devices, from desktop computers to tablets and mobile phones.
What is an example of a SaaS product?
The SaaS industry is a far-reaching space that “is projected to reach $700 billion by 2030”. We didn’t throw that statistic in there to make it sound epic. We chose it because it indicates that our organisations have been been using SaaS solutions for a while – we just may not have thought about it! Take Microsoft 365.
Microsoft 365 (or M365) is a cloud-based productivity kit “used by over a million companies worldwide”. Each solution in the suite (PowerPoint, Excel, etc) can be utilised on any device with an internet connection. It’s a classic example of a SaaS product (and it’s a great one at that).
4 ways SaaS products help businesses grow
Our organisation’s growth plan is the roadmap we follow. It’s the recipe for our success, and it includes several components, including business goals, products, services, etc. From here on out, businesses can also add SaaS and Cloud solutions to the list.
These helpful programs can do a lot, but specifically, there are 4 ways they directly contribute to a business’s growth plan and result in enhanced scalability.
1. Cost savings
Businesses can save a lot of resources by leveraging SaaS applications. Since these solutions are hosted remotely, they don’t require companies to invest in additional hardware for the sole purpose of running the program. This is music to our ears for two reasons:
- We can save space in our offices.
- Any energy or time that we would have to spend on maintaining on-premise software is outsourced.
There’s also a third reason (one that deserves its own paragraph). SaaS products typically follow a predictable payment model. This can appear in a variety of forms, from a per-user basis to a monthly commitment.
We all know that managing the company budget can be a pain, but when we build our information technology (IT) infrastructures around SaaS products, we make it easier for ourselves to budget and invest the right amount of resources into solutions that will help us satisfy our return on investment (ROI) goals.
2. Improve the employee experience
Our team members are the gift that keeps on giving; in return, we ought to support them with the tools they need to enhance their productivity within the workplace. Turns out, just “21% of employees are engaged at work”, and as business leaders, we need to ensure that our staff are ready, willing, and able to walk into the office with their heads held high.
SaaS solutions combine convenience with innovation, allowing our employees to get their work done from locations (and at times) that suit them. This means that they can focus on their day-to-day tasks without having to worry about being unable to meet their employer’s or client’s expectations – we know they will.
3. Patch operational weaknesses
Unlike when deciding if pineapple belongs on pizza, one thing that all business leaders can agree on is that technology is meant to be one of the batteries that keep businesses running. Company processes are just like people. They grow over time, and they need to be updated to ensure that their steps and tools are optimised for the demands of the moment.
From human resources (HR) to customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, SaaS solutions can streamline our company’s operations, taking advantage of technical innovations to automate steps or address weaknesses. In other words, using SaaS products to solve pain points can prepare us for digital transformations and make us more competitive.
4. Enhance the customer experience
The company growth plan doesn’t solely focus on the organisation and its people. It also prioritises customers and their relationship with the business. In this case, the state of the backend impacts the frontend. SaaS products that provide a smooth, intuitive user experience transform internal procedures into holistic operations that can be felt by customers.
For example, apart from the uses we’ve listed above, SaaS solutions can support the following workplace traits:
- Team collaboration
- Cyber security
- Organisational flexibility and scalability
- Responsiveness
If we take the aforementioned and turn them up to an eleven, our businesses become agile organisations capable of managing and executing processes more efficiently and effectively, which will translate into a better customer experience and positive work environment.
Let's create a growth plan and take off together
Scaling up is the dream for all businesses. With the right technical solutions in place, it’s possible to grow a company without compromising on the quality of services and the experiences of customers and employees. Software as a service can help with this.
The modern workplace solutions at Atarix are designed to help businesses adopt the cloud and grow into innovative enterprises. We can do it all – SaaS procurement, IT support, developing a growth plan, and more – to create a productive work culture that never loses sight of company goals.