What is SaaS and How to Use it for Your Startup

Just because you are starting your journey with limited resources doesn’t mean you have to hitchhike. SaaS is low-cost aviation in the field of software – with business class comfort though. It provides companies of any size with cheap and highly efficient cloud solutions which make business processes smarter and smoother.

Software as a Service (SaaS) model has elevated technologies related to application delivery to a whole new level never seen before. By literally moving it to the clouds. Let’s briefly clarify what actually happened.

It used to be the norm for companies to buy licensed apps, install them on devices, hire a support team to keep them running properly and regularly update them. All calculations associated with this application were performed on local devices and you could only access the app through the device on which it was installed.

SaaS companies host the software on their own cloud servers and give access to it via the internet on a subscription basis. This gave a number of benefits to users.

The main advantages of the SaaS model

No need for installation

SaaS tools work totally in the cloud. They don’t require installation which saves not only your time but also storage on your computer.

Support and regular updates

SaaS companies are responsible for the proper functioning of the app you are subscribed to. Moreover, they can provide the highest level of software support which is normally beyond the power of internal IT departments. Also, there is no need to constantly update applications – you always have access to the latest version of the product.

Flexible pricing

You don’t have to buy a software product like in the old days. Actually, you rent it paying monthly or yearly which is also extremely important for startupers who usually are not ready to invest much at the very beginning. The free trial gives you the possibility to test a product before paying anything.

Given all these benefits it’s no wonder that the demand for software as a service is growing dramatically. Developers have switched to subscription-based products. More and more startups are building stunning applications for businesses using SaaS model. And this niche is far from being filled. According to Technavio report, by 2023, the SaaS market is estimated to be worth $60.36 billion.

SaaS tool that will make your workflow smarter

Over the past decade, a huge number of cloud-based tools have emerged. You probably already use some of them. To give a clearer understanding of how these tools can help you in your business, we have divided them into categories.

Document management tools

The main purpose of these tools is to make collaboration on documents and files as convenient as possible. As you understand, all files are stored in the cloud, any employee can access them from any device. In addition to storing documents, you can edit them online, save version history, and automatically highlight edits. Among the most famous products are Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, etc.

Team communication

The coherence of the teamwork largely depends on communication, especially when it comes to remote interaction. Therefore, a good functional communication tool will certainly help your startup achieve the desired goals faster. Choose among a variety of cloud-based platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Workplace by Facebook or many others.

Project Management

This is one of the key tools for organizing team work. It allows you to easily control all tasks on one platform. Users can create projects and subtasks, invite other team members to work on them, set deadlines, indicate the status and close them when completed. Consider trying Trello, Asana or Wrike and choose the one that best fits your goals.

Customer Relationship Management

The sales team will be much more productive if the entire process is monitored, controlled and visualized. Tools like Salesflare, Freshsales or Pipedrive let you set up all of your sales pipelines, break them down into stages and track how your leads move through them. You will also be able to evaluate the effectiveness of sales latters, track the actions of your customers and plan your further actions.

Marketing Tools

Mailchimp, Autopilot, Marketo – there are lots of marketing automation tools to choose from. They help create campaigns, set up emails and messages, evaluate their results based on such indicators as open rate, click rate and others. Usually, such platforms offer you to choose among ready-made letter templates or to create a customized one.

These are not all categories of existing SaaS instruments. Video call services, online planners, accounting platforms, social media tools can be added here. It is hard to list all the existing ones. But it is important to realize that now there are cloud solutions for almost any request. So if you’re looking for a way to make your business processes more efficient, it is certainly time to look to the clouds.

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