The real benefits of SaaS

There are two main reasons a business will adopt Software as a Service. Firstly, adopting a SaaS application means businesses don't have to manage the application or the infrastructure themselves, and can save time and money. A common task can be optimised using techniques they don't know and on servers they don't have. These are the basic dynamics of cloud computing and the most compelling benefits for any business.
The second reason a business will likely adopt SaaS is that, from a big data perspective, a SaaS application can provide you with a clear picture of what's happening in your organisation. For example, if a company wanted to address search engine optimisation it wouldn't build a store and fill it with data from thousands of companies as well as content from the entire web. Instead it would simply deploy a SaaS service that’s dedicated to that specific task.

Marrying BYOD with SaaS
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is fast becoming commonplace in offices around the world as companies increasingly allow workers to complete tasks using personal smartphones, tablets or devices. With the number of people owning smart devices continuing to rise, this work model has enabled companies numerous benefits including a substantial saving on infrastructure costs.

SaaS apps are ideal for businesses offering BYOD initiatives to employees. With software running on the cloud, employees are spared the risk of holding sensitive company information on their devices, which would otherwise be left exposed should a device get misplaced or stolen. Additionally, when employees are using devices they are comfortable with, the margin of error can be significantly reduced.

GigaOm further highlighted the benefit of SaaS to a BYOD company, when it published an article recently which pointed to the fundamental shift in the business application market where entrepreneurs are building ‘mobile first’ applications. This shift applies to vertical apps which benefit ‘on the go’ employees, such as those in the real estate or health care industries who need access to information at anytime and from anywhere.

Additionally, a growth in horizontal apps includes those for industries reliant on location-based services. A good example of this is Hailo, which enables taxi drivers to find potential passengers through a GPS enabled marketplace.

Gaining competitive advantage with robust hosting
When it comes to SaaS websites and apps, the hosting architecture and support behind the app – which can play a pivotal role in the online performance of an application – is often overlooked. Performance alone can often be the key differentiator between your app and that of a competitor; your customers’ online experience can largely determine the success of your product.

Downtime, latency and non-responsive or lacklustre technical support for your application are typically SaaS killers and simply non-negotiable for any business looking to get ahead. Whether you are a seasoned SaaS provider or an independent software vendor making the move to an Internet distribution model, all of these potential issues must be factored into the solution.

Some of PEER 1 Hosting’s largest customers started out as small SaaS ventures; therefore we focused our attention on understanding the architecture and support needs for that industry. Robust hosting is so critical to these companies that we’ve made smart, reliable and fast app delivery second nature to us. End users should experience the SaaS application the way a business intended and hosting infrastructure can be your competitive differentiator. Here are the key features to look out for when searching for a hosting provider for your SaaS solution:
· A fast fibre network: Slow page loads and downtime are common factors that can plague your competitors’ applications. Smart technology can reroute traffic to avoid latencies and a network that spans the globe and is professionally maintained will ensure that your app is fast, efficient and reliable
· Customisable SLA’s: Any decent hosting provider should offer a comprehensive range of service level agreements to cover every business scenario. Having a high level, customisable agreement allows SaaS companies to set the standards that they expect a hosting provider to deliver, based on what they believe is most important to the delivery of their application
· Performance scaling: The ability to scale a SaaS environment is a key requirement of any provider, and therefore also its hosting partner. Your provider should offer a full suite of performance services to make scaling as painless and unobtrusive as possible, from AnyCast DNS to Global Load Balancing
· Storage: With SaaS success comes growth and that calls for more complex storage strategies and solutions. A solution that provides onsite, offsite and even mixed options means all you have to determine is your recovery point, recovery time and the criticality of your data
For any business the instant accessibility and ease of use of SaaS applications can provide very realistic benefits. It means that finally businesses can move from the capital-heavy expense of installing, maintaining and upgrading on premises IT infrastructure to the simple operational cost of a SaaS subscription business model.

In addition, the scalability aspect means that as your business grows and you need to add more users, rather than investing in additional server capacity in house, you can simply adjust your SaaS subscription. Usually a browser and an Internet connection are all that is required, making it much more accessible from any device, and hardware and software updates are somebody else's responsibility.

For many companies, risks in adopting a SaaS application can include possible outages and performance issues. Any downtime is irritating and a lengthy outage of a mission critical app could be fatal. Further to that, many companies may have concerns about using a browser-based applications hosted in a remote datacentre and accessed via an internet connection as it could cause performance issues when compared to running software locally.

A reliable, service driven hosting provider with global reach and strong SLA’s can combat these fears and offer companies complete peace of mind when growing their business with SaaS solutions.