Most businesses these days would be pretty stumped without software to help them manage what they do and to help them operate in the most productive and efficient ways.
In the past, this would mean choosing a software package that did what you needed to do and buying licenses that allowed you to install and use it on your company machines.
Now, in the age of reliable, fast broadband and cloud computing, it is possible to use more flexible methods of accessing software, without having to install it on your machine. This is typically called ‘software as a service’ and is known by the abbreviation SaaS.
Less Strain on Your IT People
When you use SaaS products rather than installing software, you don’t have to worry about patches and upgrades or about rolling out new versions to all the computers used in your company. Instead, all of this is managed on the server side, so when you access your software, you always have the latest version running and access to any new features, without any hassle for your IT team or any downtime for your users while new things are being installed.
Easy to Scale
There are all kinds of software products you can use on a SaaS basis, from HR and accounting software to standard office software and niche industry specific tools. You can find out about some of the best options for cloud-based SaaS products at cloudstoragebuzz.com.
Often, with more niche products, you may at first only have a small team or even just one member of staff who needs to use them. However, as your business grows, it can be a hassle to buy more licenses and get new computers set up with the product.
With SaaS, you can add new users very easily and then they can simply access the software and your company’s area of it from anything with a browser.
Easier to Budget
SaaS products are typically paid for either annually or monthly (you usually get a choice between the two and there are often discounts for choosing the annual option). This can make it a lot easier to plan your IT spending, rather than buying new licenses for products outright.
You can also cancel the subscription when you no longer need that product or decide to use something else instead, so you really are only paying for what you need. With conventional licenses, you may be paying for permanent use of a product you know you only need for a three-month long project.
Add to these benefits the fact security is all handled for you, cloud technology means you don’t have to worry about redundancy and back-ups, and that it makes working remotely from computers other than your work PC simple. It is clear to see why SaaS is really taking over in the business software world.
Next time you are evaluating software for your company, make sure to take SaaS options into consideration for all these benefits!