These days, software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology is improving the quality of business for nearly all startup businesses, across all industries.
In fact, the IDC reports that “by 2020, 67 percent of enterprise infrastructure and software will be for cloud-based offerings.”
There are numerous benefits to implementing SaaS products into your startup’s preexisting routines, but how can you get the most out of each of these tools?
Here’s what you should know in order to maximize the value of SaaS technology
Implement SaaS technology in place of old habits
Software-as-a-service products are meant to redesign the way you work, making you more efficient. Each new piece of SaaS technology should cause some amount of change in your workplace routines.
For example, if your company has purchased access to an app that analyzes the impact of marketing campaigns, be sure the analytics provided are influencing the way you market your products or services. If the data isn’t used for any purpose, it’s easy to forget why you purchased the product in the first place.
Similarly, let’s say you are trying to implement a new project management SaaS product but continue holding just as many face-to-face meetings with your team that function the same as they always have. Use your new technology to get more productivity out of team meetings.
With each purchase of a new piece of SaaS technology, be aware of how it will change the way your business functions. Each employee who is affected by the changes should receive training on the new processes.
Related: Why Adding SaaS is Essential to Scaling Your Service Business
Prioritize the management of SaaS apps
SaaS technology is highly useful, but when mismanaged, it can cost you both time and resources. Subscriptions to SaaS products require awareness of payment schedules, licensing agreements and onboarding processes.
It is highly important to manage your company’s SaaS applications, and luckily, a SaaS management tool can take a lot of that burden for you! These are tools that can help you track spending and payment schedules, and will also help you uncover underutilized services that may have been purchased by your company, but later forgotten.
Keep in mind that SaaS applications also come with certain risks.
“Using SaaS creates a big challenge around security and compliance. How can you be sure if you are still compliant when using dozens of SaaS tools, all handling sensitive data? How can you guarantee your data security when the data is spread among all those tools?,” Uri Nativ, co-founder and VP of engineering at Torii, said.
A management tool will help you control who has access to your data and how that access is granted. Implementing such a tool is a simple step toward significantly increasing your protection.
Use SaaS products to their full potential
In order to get the full worth out of a new SaaS purchase, be sure your entire team is aware of the full range of a product’s potential. To ensure any SaaS purchases made by your company are being used to their full potential, give all of your employees who will engage with the software on a regular basis sufficient training.
In addition to proper training, there should also be someone within your company who is an expert in this new product. This person can also be responsible for training any new employees in the use of the service.
Failure to train new employees could lead to a product being forgotten over time as employees are replaced, which causes a potentially beneficial service to go to waste. This is why it is important for someone at your company to understand a new product well enough that they can train new people in its use.
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Take advantage of increased flexibility
There are a variety of SaaS products out there to help entrepreneurs work smarter, but the thing they all have in common is the use of the cloud. This allows for increased flexibility, which can help you with a variety of issues.
Using SaaS technology to allow for working from home can also help you attract talent: according to a survey done by Deloitte, more than half of millennials say they would like more opportunities to work remotely.
The increased mobility and minimized cost of communication related to SaaS services could be a game-changer for your business.
Originally published Feb. 16, 2020.
