Software as a Service (SaaS) Business Solutions

Most business owners, while being concerned about the economic recession and how it will impact on their business, are also quite optimistic about the future and Australia’s ability to weather the economic storm.  As a nation we must continue to have economic growth in the market place and where possible support small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses in their attempt to continue to grow and increase sales demand. It was not that long ago that we were in a state of almost full employment and as a consequence the business community looked towards online software as a service (now known as SaaS) to deliver solutions to a growing economy. Now, whilst the economy has somewhat slowed, it seems that the interest in SaaS has not and the requirement to invest in SaaS is even more important than ever before.

Gone are the days where websites were simply online brochures and, as a business, you needed to budget to build a fresh website every 3 to 5 years. The two major and obvious advantages of new and emerging technologies in online development is the sustainability of the technology and the ability to build on a framework over a longer term of your business. This means that your website can now grow as your business does and have a much longer life cycle online. Applications can now be added that develop as your business does, making your online operation more flexible than ever before. It’s now cheaper to develop these applications and you can put in place initiatives that are low management, in some cases completely automated, and high in return on investment.

But the real savings can be felt on the bottom line of your business as you negate the need to operate, maintain and pay an IT professional to manage your in house server. Applications can be hosted online in a secure server environment that can save you big dollars over the term of the financial year. It can be, in some instances, a case of set and forget. When applications need to be upgraded or new applications need to be created, they can be hosted and tested in a non-live environment, allowing your team full access before the application goes live. When testing is complete the application can be up and running the next day. There is simply no down time as your business continues to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking orders and earning you money while you sleep.

Off the shelf items such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs rarely suit each and every business model in the way that they are intended too. This is simply due to the fact that all businesses structures, personnel, marketing, internal processes and ideas are different. While there will always be some similarities they will always be far outweighed by the differences. With SaaS, you only pay for applications that your business needs. Applications can be fully customized and as flexible as your business needs them to be. This means you will never pay for applications that you will never use as you do with ‘off the shelf’ solutions.

Another fantastic advantage to using online platforms is that as a body corporate you negate the need for staff to have to come back into the office to complete lengthy paperwork orders and hold daily team sales meetings. The new online applications have on-the-road advantages for your sales team, again saving you time. Your team can have the ability to provide a quote then and there to the customer at the initial appointment, and enter the data once with the knowledge that the information is now in the office database, safe and secure. This is all possible when you have a well developed and secure SaaS application, a good laptop, an internet connection, a user name/password and good training. There are also many savings to be had in the office environment. For example, if all staff are using and working off the same application in your office, there is no longer the need to purchase and update several different product licenses at every single workstation every year. 

Making an investment in SaaS will not only result in you being able to automate the parts of your business model that you require, but you will ease the pressures on day to day client and general business management. As the economy bounces back and recovers from the current recessionary pressures, the value of your online SaaS applications will continue to grow and adapt to the new environment as your business does.  Protect yourself from future economic fluctuations and consider what SaaS applications can offer your business today, tomorrow and in 10 years time.  

 Author: Linda Ross

Business: Star 3 Media

Phone: 1300 100 333

Website: www.star3media.com.au