What Is SaaS and How Will It Help My Business?

SaaS is short for Software as a Service, but what does that actually mean to a real consumer or business owner? In essence, it is a “radical shift in how software is architected, delivered and purchased.” That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t really answer the question, so we need to delve just a bit deeper.

In most cases, software is currently delivered under an unlimited “right to use license. This allows the owner of the software to install the software on a particular computer, repeatedly if need be, whilst also granting them the right to use that software on a permanent basis.

SaaS doesn’t work like that. Instead, it offers a hosted delivery model in which the software itself is hosted at an external data centre. The customer will then access the software using their internet connection of a private IP network.

The architecture offers all the benefits that a hosting solution implies, with company overheads being cut dramatically thanks to the fact that administration overheads are driven right down and the company network’s infrastructure undergoes minimal changing when compared to a mass software install.

Additionally, general IT maintenance issues no longer become the problem of the business purchasing the software. Many a company has spent a ton of money trying to fix bugs and issues with their systems, but SaaS takes all of those issues away as the hosts of the software handle all of that for the client. Issues such as scaling, performance, uptime, general maintenance and disaster recovery are all handled by the provider, meaning that the business no longer needs to spend money ensuring that they have all of their bases covered with the software.

There is also a radical shift in the license agreement, with the single pay model currently employed being replaced with a subscription service, ranging from monthly models through to usage-sensitive models, that don’t leave the business stranded if their new software doesn’t work as intended. Instead, an SaaS model ensures that, for the subscription fee, businesses are offered a model that typically includes support, configuration, hosting and maintenance.

As such, under the SaaS model software is no longer considered to be a packaged product and has instead morphed into a fully fledged service. The trend is becoming increasingly common in the telecommunication's industry, where hosted VoIP solutions that operate on a similar principle are becoming increasingly widespread.

If nothing else, the SaaS model provides an alternative to the existing model in which businesses can often struggle to get the support they need for software. Thus, many software giants are looking to integrate the structure into their own offerings, with many now providing a range of options varying for the one-off purchase through to fully hosted software that includes all the benefits implied by that.

Similar models have become prevalent in the gaming industry, with the Steam platform especially utilising a system wherein the user purchases a license to a game (software) which they then play through the online platform provided. Again all hosting is handled by Valve, who owns the system, meaning that patches and updates are automatically applied rather than a user having to find them for themselves.

Hosted dialling systems work on a similar model, with telecoms companies offering VoIP models wherein they host all the call traffic that a company generates, thus drastically reducing the overheads of the clients and ensuring that a minimal amount of time and money is spent on maintenance.

All in all, the SaaS delivery model has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially as technologies becoming increasingly complex and companies look for ways to make things as simple, efficient and cost-effective as possible. It would appear that the model is here to stay and is likely to become the dominant software model in the coming years.