Evolution of SaaS

Evolution of SaaS & What It Means To Business

Our lives are growingly dependent on solutions and AI. With the rapid growth of technology, there’s nothing you can achieve now. Here is where SaaS has brought it’s A-game.  The ease of access and the limitless possibilities that SaaS provides are what make it so popular. It saves our time, resources, ensures smooth operation, and financial benefits, and whatnot. It’s been a quiet evolution but the impact of it is tremendous!

If you want to make your business or project successful now, there’s no other option than to adopt SaaS for your solutions. It has only been within the last decade and with the rise of cloud hosting, that we have seen the integration of SaaS companies into the fabric of our working day, and now more than ever, their emergence into our private lives as well.

What is Saas?

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based method of facilitating software to users who can subscribe to an application rather than purchasing it once and installing it on a desktop. Users can log into and use a SaaS application from any compatible device over the Internet that gives ease of access. The actual application runs in cloud servers that may be far removed from a user’s location which gives it scalability. Services delivered via the Internet now reduce admin in the workplace, automate tasks and allow businesses to easily outsource services to experts in their field. Services delivered via the Internet now reduce admin in the workplace, automate tasks and allow businesses to easily outsource services to experts in their field. SaaS helps to reduce workplace administration, automate tasks and allow businesses to easily outsource services to experts in their field.

These come with user guides & proper tutorials so that you don’t need an IT professional’s help to the software installed onto multiple computers throughout your office or worry about keeping the software on every computer up-to-date. It’s all taken care of in the cloud through automatic updates and one-time login.

The Beginning

While many people think of SaaS as a modern business model, it dates back to the 1960s. Early SaaS systems relied on “dumb” terminals (monitors and keyboards without a processor) connected to a mainframe. Small enterprises, academic institutions, and government organizations could use this technique. It is known as time-sharing & used to access modern computer systems without paying for hardware, maintenance, or training. It was an early forerunner to both the internet and SaaS. Computers became more accessible as time went on, and their usage in business grew as well. People started to feel the need for single solutions to save time & to collaborate with team better.

SaaS Begining

Customers used to buy a perpetual license to use their software and an annual subscription to obtain maintenance and technical support. But it came with a lot of investment on the software itself, plus the IT professionals to manage them.  With the introduction of cloud computing, SaaS gave an alternative to the “own the program, pay for the maintenance” approach. It also came with several benefits. People realized they can avoid the hassle of increasing the desktop storage for software if it is accessible online.

However, in the earliest days of the SaaS industry, business people were reluctant to use subscription-based software for enterprise business & rather go for end-to-end software suites to manage their complex organizations. Moreover, companies were hesitant to store their sensitive data in third-party systems and perceived new start-ups as security risks in the long term. However, the SaaS industry kept growing and started to gain traction by the late 90s and early 2000s. The range of services offered in SaaS industry made people rethink the necessity of it in their regular lives.

The Transformation

In 1999, Salesforce jumped in with the customer relationship management (CRM) platform as the first SaaS solution built from scratch & succeeded over time. Salesforce led the way to prove that SaaS is the future of software delivery.

Initially, the SaaS model was identified as built for startups and small businesses, just a fad or not stable enough to manage larger business applications. But over the next several years, it made a revolutionary success through a wide adoption rate. The exponential growth of SaaS and limitless functionality made it a valid option even for enterprise-level businesses. Businesses started moving away from single-use or perpetual licenses to subscription-based licenses due to low upfront costs and better scalability. SaaS customers frequently cite cost savings as one of its primary benefits. You can now see the high rate of adoption of such products for almost any business application you can think of.

According to BMC’s research:

  • The SaaS market is currently growing by 18% each year
  • By the end of 2021, 99% of organizations will be using one or more SaaS solutions
  • Nearly 78% of small businesses have already invested in SaaS options
  • SaaS adoption in the healthcare industry grows at a rate of 20% per year
  • 70% of CIOs claim that agility and scalability are two of the top motivators for using SaaS applications

The Future

In recent years, SaaS has provided a footprint in almost every aspect of life. After the emergence of COVID, remote work has become a part of life. Businesses that can’ go on with physical offices and had to rely more & more on such online solutions for tackling the rapid surge in demand for remote services and higher agility to adapt to swiftly fluctuating market circumstances. It gained worldwide momentum out of all other cloud services that include – IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. From web conferencing to people & task management – SaaS has emerged as a savior for everyone out there.

The future is a blessing for softwares. The whirlwind of SaaS evolution will not stop. Think about it, we are moving into the era where we need to work on Big data and rely on AI & softwares play a key role here.  There will be thousands of software applications in the next future for each sort of solution. Companies will be in need of dozens of tools each day to perform, improve & innovate. From administration to analytics – there will be absolutely no place where SaaS will not be needed. People will save more time & money from on-site resource management and increasingly spend on cloud-based solutions that take less effort.

future of SaaS

The SaaS industry has witnessed consistent growth over years now, which is a trend that is believed to be continued. Experts think this industry growth has not even reached its peak yet and is still in its middle age. That means what it has to offer is yet to come in full shape!

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