Software as a Service is among the types of cloud computing technologies. The term ‘SaaS’ refers to a business model where a company hosts its programs and makes these available to users over the internet. SaaS enables connecting to programs and using these via a web browser. SaaS is currently booming right now but it originated from the 1960’s. In the era of early computers, this technology was known as time sharing system.
Users only need to go online, launch their internet browser and enter the software program’s address. On signing into their cloud account, users get access to every single feature and data stored on the cloud.
Software as a Service keeps helping people and companies streamline their workflows, so this technology has caught on. It’s not surprising that SaaS has shown to be very popular among the tech-savvy people. In three years, the Software as a Service market, on the whole, will hit $164.29 billion, as per the Transparency Market Research company. The fact that up-and-coming businesses provide funds for Software as a Service is a sign of the quickly evolving market for this technology. It has become a popular technology due to the following factors.
Accessibility
Software as a Service makes it possible to access data from anywhere over the internet, so one does not need to buy or download and use a program they would otherwise not afford. A user will able to access the complete suite of features in that cloud-based program any time he or she needs. Businessmen, women, and regular people can work together through that program in a more convenient way than with the previous technology. As long as everyone has internet access, they’ll be able to work at their leisure.
Updated Software
Those who provide Software as a Service keep their programs in good condition, so a user does not need to bother about updating these any more. Several businesses did this by rolling out newer versions of the software products they offer once in a while. Today, everybody receives software updates simultaneously so they are able to utilize these soon after.
Ease-of-Use
Software as a Service is intuitive, and that is the biggest advantage it gives to the user. For a wide range of users to adopt Software as a Service, it shouldn’t have a steep learning curve and its user interface should be well designed. In other words, the UI features and every other element of SaaS should be designed in such a way that new users can become skilled at these by themselves or by reading how-to blogs.
Employee-Centered
Cloud computing presents a way to improve communications management, training management, and project management in an usual company. Managers at the highest level of a company are able to handle projects transparently and communicate with in-house and remote workers in a more efficient way than before. That enables businesses to search for talented people in areas other than the ones nearest to them.
Marketing
This technology helped increase automated marketing software in numbers. The tiniest of new businesses can try out SaaS software for free for a limited period of time. These startups can use these free software trials in a bid to make their marketing campaigns as good as possible. With SaaS, companies are able to automate these campaigns and plan, implement, and monitor these through an interface which they can access.
Software as a Service versus Platform as a Service
Software as a service gives fully evolved programs for people to employ through a third-party provider. On the other hand, Platform as a Service providers deliver hardware as well as software tools for developers. With Platform as a Service, they’re able to make use of the tools at their disposal for developing software. The vendor hosts the software and hardware on their or a third-party’s infrastructure so a software developer does not need to set up both to perform their tasks.
Software developers can change programs to suit their needs without starting over from the beginning and writing code. Both Platform as a Service and Software as a Service can be accessed over the internet, but those who provide the former service presents software developing professionals with access to the platform for that purpose. Conversely, those who use Software as a Service get access to every feature of the software over the internet.
Software as a Service keeps growing, and is expected to keep affecting the way usual companies run their business. When Software as a Service providers start solving fragmentation issues and integration complexities, more and more people will be interested to invest in these tools and they will have a wider effect on how we work.
