What is SaaS?

SaaS (Software as a Service) is a software deployment model , applications are built and accessed by the customer on the internet.SaaS is a on Demand software as it has the flexibility to scale as per Change in Business Needs. SaaS Solutions can be customized and integrated with other Programs .

SaaS software is purchased in subscription Model and the Customer doesn’t have to bother about patching and Upgrades as it is taken care by the provider.MSOffice,Gmail,DropBox,Netflix are few examples of SaaS services we use very often.

Out there in Market there are many SaaS providers who develop SaaS software for Many Core Business Functions. Companies either Choose to Build their own SaaS application or Buy from the market based on the Business Needs and Constraints like fastness, time and Cost. SaaS products are created for various Business Solutions for CRM,ERP,Project Management, eCommerce , Billing System, Online Medical help app etc.. It allows users to access products and services any time and from anywhere. However the Data security lies with Customer on Cloud shared responsibility Model.

Building  SaaS Product

Companies Prefer to Build their own SaaS Application if product has more Custom Design  and Complexity or existing product in Market doesn’t meet their Needs. The time taken for development depends on the selection of technical stack and the no of developers in the Team. There are many technologies available that make building SaaS applications easier. ASP .Net Core  is one of the  ideal choice to build a SaaS application. To Build SaaS application there are many open Source Library available for Quick Development.

In Cloud , Azure SaaS Development Kit uses prebuilt resources and templates . It helps to build application based on Business using Azure Capabilities and Tools. This Model is easy to move to Azure Marketplace.

SaaS Products can also be built quickly using Open source starters or Boilerplates. The Common functionality  like, Login Page , Authentication, Pricing Model is built using Boilerplate thereby developer time and cost very much reduced.

 

Steps to build a SaaS application from scratch

• • • Conduct market Analysis
    • Identify Competitors and Demand in the Market.
    • Design Data Security and Integration Model
    • Planning  API  Integration
    • Choose the Technology for Development
    • Build, Test and Market

SaaS solutions are hosted and maintained by a third-party provider like  Google, Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle, BigCommerce, Workspace, Salesforce, Dropbox, SAP, and Workday.

SaaS Development frameworks

SaaS Framework helps to build application based on the Business needs . As mentioned earlier the software is available on subscription Model as one time payment or monthly subscription Model.

B2B SaaS applications

B2B SaaS refers to companies who provide cloud based  software  to other businesses . The  purpose of B2B SaaS is to provide solution of the  businesses problems and help them operate more efficiently and effectively. B2B SaaS products are exclusively meant for businesses. Its main purpose is to cut down cost. B2B SaaS Marketing is challenging in attracting  B2B buyers.

B2C SaaS applications

B2C SaaS is a software as a service that is targeted at consumers. It is delivered over the internet and allows customers to access and use the software from anywhere in the world. For example, Canva  is B2C SaaS it is a cloud-based design platform that allows users to create logo,graphics,flyers etc

Benefits of SaaS Application

• • • Secure, scalable and reliable
    • Improved user and customer experience
    • API Integration & increased user adoption.

Multi-tenant Architecture for SaaS

multi-tenancy SaaS architecture has more advantage compared to single Tenancy. Multi-tenancy means that a single instance of SaaS  software serves multiple customers. Here each tenants data is isolated and secured. In multi-tenant mode the cost is very less as the Infrastructure  is shared with multiple customer.

Challenge of SaaS management

• • • Data Security
    • High Integration Cost
    • Marketing

SaaS Pricing

The SaaS Pricing Model help you identify the optimum way to market, sell and grow your SaaS business. There are different Types of Pricing Model. The Subscription based pricing Model for Monthly or Annual. Usage based pricing Model is used for API Transactions or based on amount of data Transfer. Tiered pricing Model is used by packaging the features and sold as Basic, standard and premium model among this Per user pricing model is most popular one.

Cost of goods sold (COGS) in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company refers to the direct costs you incur in building and running . COGS include People cost, Hosting Cost and cost in creating the Product. Your SaaS gross margin is calculated as total cost of revenue minus cost of goods sold (COGS).

Conclusion

Compared to traditional Software Development SaaS Development cost is Less. SaaS provides greater opportunity for Growth ,expansion, value addition to the Customers.