Saas is one of the forms of using applications when the software is not on a physical medium but in the cloud. In the article, we will consider the advantages of such a model and the principle of operation, as well as popular SaaS solutions for your business.
What is the SaaS model?
The active development of the field of information technology, especially with the beginning of the mass use of global networks, gave impetus to the development of various concepts for the provision of certain services or the use of software products.
One of the most common types of so-called cloud computing today is the SaaS model, or Software as a Service, which can be viewed as a progressive business-oriented concept that involves the provision of services for the provision of certain software on a remote basis (via the Internet).
Software as a service is provided not on the terms of purchase by the customer, but the terms of use for a certain fee. On the one hand, the SaaS model has similarities with rental, but on the other hand, it differs from software rental. This is just providing access as a user. All hardware and software equipment is from the supplier. This imposes on the supplier the corresponding obligations for the maintenance of servers and software (technical and preventive maintenance, programming, error elimination, regular updates, protection against attacks, etc.).
Nowadays this business model creates so many benefits for both developers and users that the global SaaS market has grown by 30% annually in recent years to over $100 billion a year.
Examples of popular SaaS applications for business
The SaaS model is widely used by business application developers, providing subscription email, team collaboration services, customer relationship management, accounting software, sales management, finance, human resources, document management, and many others.
The most popular applications for business:
- Microsoft 365 Office Application Service;
- business applications Google Workplace;
- CRM systems – Bitrix, Microsoft Dynamics, amoCRM;
- teamwork services – Teams, Slack;
- virtual data rooms – Intralinks, iDeals, Merill, Securedocs;
- mailing list services – Unisender, Mailchimp;
- website builders – Tilda, Wix, Sitepro.
Virtual data room – SaaS solution for efficient business management
Data room is a digital platform based on the SaaS model that ensures a secure data room repository and collaborative workspace for running business transactions. VDR gives access to corporate information to all employees. But due to the distribution of access rights, the necessary level of confidentiality is maintained, and each participant receives the information to which he has rights. So the data is protected from prying eyes, while the functionality of the VDR system remains complete for each participant.
Data room as a SaaS solution has the following benefits for business management:
- The the possibility of collective work on documents (which is impossible with paper office work);
- Significant acceleration of search and selection of documents (by various attributes);
- Increasing the safety of documents and the convenience of their storage, as they are stored electronically on the server;
- Improved control over the execution of documents.
- labor costs are reduced: work with content is optimized, this speeds up all the company’s business processes;
- business processes become transparent: at any stage of the task, you can track the progress of its execution and compliance with deadlines;
- the safety and confidentiality of information are guaranteed: access to data in the system is regulated by special rights, and all actions on documents are strictly recorded. This helps prevent information leakage.