Contact us anytime to know more — Abhishek P., Founder & CFO CISIN
It is a service that is based on a cloud computing platform and with it, the users can use software directly on the cloud without having to download them on their personal computers.
The software in the SaaS can be of any type, an office suite or a unified communication. There is a wide range of business-related applications/software that are being used with the help of SaaS on the cloud.
Just like everything else, SaaS also has some advantages as well as disadvantages. Some advantages of SaaS are accessibility, operational management, and compatibility.
The SaaS helps small business very much as it is very much convenient and comes with a reasonable cost, way less than that of downloading and using traditional business software.
The companies don’t have to worry about the security of the data as most of the cloud platforms offer backup and security features that are very good. There are some disadvantages of SaaS as well, the biggest is that they generally require an internet connection to work.
But nowadays the internet is not such a big problem even for small scale companies.
There are some SaaS applications that have an offline mode too, the users can access the basic functions in the offline mode.
SaaS application development is not as easy as using them, it demands efforts, hard work and a lot of time. One thing that is really important while developing a Software as a Service for a cloud is deciding which platform to use for its development.
Choosing the right platform is as important as the development process, a good platform has many benefits that can make the SaaS Product Development process effective and easy.
There are many different vendors platforms that can be chosen by a SaaS development company.
Business as well as technical requirements for building SaaS solutions:
All programming languages, irrespective of their features and functionalities have some specific problems that are unavoidable.
But on the other hand, they are manufactured with the aim of solving all possible sets of problems given to them with the help of tools and all of the required platforms that include image processing libraries, database systems, scientific frameworks and so on.
The business and technical requirements change on the basis of the business application made and its demands. The type of application decides what kind of technical stacks are the most suitable according to needs.
Additionally, one can ramp up their MVP easier with the help of given libraries. These libraries are already well tested and thus saves a huge amount of time and money.
Sustainability of building an MVP to a Solid Foundation
Several approaches exist when it comes to building a SaaS Development Services.
This approach can be started with a Minimum Viable Product. This is one of the most popular approaches that most organizations opt for. It consists of the development of SaaS.
The company then develops a limited version of the software solution in order to provide solutions to the problems.
After the validation of the solution, other processes start such as innovation and further expansion. There are other approaches too from which the companies can select.
Also, MVP must have a clear concept and scalability. This process is followed by the choice of platform, stacks, and tools according to the requirements of the company.
Choosing the right Language for the development purpose
Choosing the right Language to develop the SaaS is very important, the SaaS development should choose the language with which their employees are comfortable with.
The developers have specialization in some language and the company that is developing a SaaS should choose the language that is understood and used by most of its coders. The framework that can complement the type of software that has to be made should be chosen, there are many different frameworks and sometimes some frameworks work negatively.
The companies should hire developers who have knowledge about most of the programming languages and frameworks because it is not compulsory to use the same language in all the development projects.
A good and skilled developer will save the custom software development company a lot of time and effort and will give an effective software that will be helpful to many businesses around the world.
Scalability Check
The companies should be aware of how scalable their development team is and how scalable is their SaaS solution.
The companies that are into the field of developing Saas can easily maintain a SaaS solution with one of the conservative languages that can offer them safety nets, automated frameworks, environments that are integrated, and more. There are some other languages that require a team that has some experience even if they are scalable.
The platform chosen by the development team should be easily scalable, it will make it easy to scale the solution as time passes.
One of the most important tasks is to select the right team members while hiring, it affects the scalability a lot, if all the employees/developers are skilled and efficient then the development team and the solution created by the will also be scalable. Choosing the right programming language can also affect scalability a lot.
Steps involved in building a SaaS solution
After the proper knowledge of factors to be considered while choosing a platform for SaaS solution, it is necessary to know the mandatory steps involved in it.
Therefore, the actions required included in the development of a SaaS solution are as follows:
1. Market testing:
Market testing helps the developer to have knowledge of the viability of their solution. This process can be explained as the estimation of the probability of whether the solution will be acceptable by the market and buyers or not.
The idea behind the SaaS solution may be good but there is no surety that anyone will pay a good price for it. Market testing eliminates the risk of financial loss and thus is extremely important for any organization.
Read the blog- 10 Predictions For The Next Big Thing In SaaS Software Development
This can be done using the creation of a landing page for the dedicated website with the help of HTML pages that display all the features of the software and problems that will be solved by it.
For this process as well as for promotional purposes, Multiple social media platforms can also be used. An excellent medium to get knowledge of the type of visitors getting attracted to the site as well as their geographical locations.
2. Definition of the pricing model:
Indeed this is one of the most tricky parts that are generally tricky and difficult to deal with.
3. Building the SaaS solution:
Once a technology stack is decided for the purpose of SaaS development, the next step is the development of the solution.
Once the platform or the SaaS has been built the company can deploy it, and after successful deployment, it can use the email list that was built during the market testing phase to make their potential users aware of their product.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can also be used for the promotion of the cloud solution. One more important thing is to track the user engagement of the solution after it has been deployed and promoted, it is essential because it will let the developers understand the progress of their product in the market.
Can a SaaS be developed in WordPress?
Yes, SaaS can be built with WordPress, it might be a bit different than the traditional development process but it can be made.
For the SaaS that revolves mostly around content, user management, payment options, etc. WordPress is a great solution. Everyone knows that WordPress occupies almost 27% of the internet and it has been proven in terms of security and scalability.
It also provides the option to integrate with third-parties who want to go for wider adoption, by supporting commonly used platforms.
If the companies are able to build a single site that can cater to all the needs of their users then they can easily extend it to a SaaS by giving it different roles, capabilities and subscription-based payment plans that offer different capabilities to the users(depending on the subscription plan).
The companies should focus on creating a website/SaaS that can provide the same set of features to everyone who uses it and also provide them with good security and backup options. The users should feel safe while using the SaaS that has been built on the base of WordPress, it is not a traditional SaaS but is a fair option for those who want to use WordPress.
As known to everyone, before developing any kind of software program, be it a desktop application or a mobile application or a SaaS, the first thing that is needed is the requirements.
The requirements of a SaaS depends on the business that will be using it. Most of the Software as a Service Solutions are made on the same template that can cater to almost all the basic and some advanced needs of businesses around the world.
Read the blog- What are the SaaS business metrics that matter most and why?
And for that, they charge a fixed recurring amount that gives them access to all the features in it. These programs can only be used online, of course, because they are cloud-based applications.
There is some Software as a Service solution that can run as standalone software but some are mere extensions for the existing solutions, there are some hybrid solutions too.
Subscription Plans for a SaaS
A SaaS membership can be looked at as an eCommerce solution that is on steroids. The SaaS has premium users and some other users who choose the lower plans. Every subscription plan comes with a set of features that can be used along with it, the premium plan offers all the features to a user and as the users decrease the price of the plan, the no. features will decrease too, most often the most important and usable features are in the premium plan so most of the users opt for it and that way the SaaS company will make the maximum profit.
If we look at it from the WordPress point of view then there are some platforms like WooCommerce or LearnDash that develop an eCommerce or a platform for Membership for the SaaS websites. The management of users or say the user management can be tricky as security is an important part, all the users want the security of their data and this can be a bit difficult when there a single website.
To handle this corresponding load, what companies can do is, having different payment scenarios and one-off offers.
They should be able to migrate an enterprise plan to a server that is separate from the main server, which will make things more manageable. This is one of the most important reasons why some companies which provide software development services opt for WordPress Multisite for building their SaaS solutions on top of WordPress.
Privacy Policies of a SaaS
One of the most important factors that need to be very strong is the privacy policy of the SaaS solutions platform.
The users and businesses are very much concerned about their privacy whenever they have to use any kind of online software or service.
The data is very important and any online service need to have a rock-solid privacy policy to ensure their users that their data will not be misused and will not be made public without their permission.
There have been some cases in the past where the companies compromised users’ data with other companies just for the purpose of providing them the list of their potential users and customers and that is not acceptable at all.
The data of all the users that use the SaaS should be protected from all kinds of hacking attacks. There should be a strong security measure that should make sure that all the data in the solution is safe and will only be used if the user permits.
Software development services have become advanced with the passing time and the demand for SaaS is also increasing.
For people who want custom business solution applications developed for themselves, they can search for a custom software development company that can make business software that is based on their requirements. A personal business solution application is costly and that is why most businesses prefer to use cloud-based SaaS solutions.
They are very helpful for almost all types of businesses and come with easy subscription plans.
The SaaS development services have evolved through time and now provide many advanced features that can help grow and manage the businesses.
Most businesses need a CRM solution and for that also there are some CRM development services that can make SaaS solutions for the cloud. It is very important for the SaaS development companies to choose the platform that suits their type of SaaS, if the right platform is not chosen then there might be difficulties in the development phase.
The product might not be developed in the way the companies want it to be or the development process will take more time than expected.
The developers might have to put in extra efforts than needed, and all of that will have a negative impact on the overall project. The best platforms are those that can make a specific type of SaaS development smooth and can add efficiency to the development process.
Final words
The companies should do proper research about all the available SaaS building platforms and then they should choose the one that can easily be used for SaaS product development.
Most of the factors that companies should look at have been discussing above and the process of developing a SaaS tool. The companies should keep in mind that the team they hire for the purpose of development need to be highly skilled and aware of all the latest innovations in cloud service development.
The technology is changing very fast and that is why a developer who is not aware might miss out on some very important aspects of a cloud solution development.
All these things should be kept in mind while they hire anyone for SaaS application development. It is the duty of the companies to provide their users with the best in the class SaaS solution that can be used by them as long as they want.
The future demands should be kept in mind while developing it, the companies can not afford to build a solution that works only for a few months or years and the process of updating is also important.
WordPress Multisite is a great option but the companies should analyze if their software is of the kind that can be built over it.
The functionality of WordPress and other traditional cloud solutions are not exactly the same and that is why before the option for WordPress Multisite, companies should be aware of their requirements. Without proper requirements and plans, the process of development will become a haphazard and it may be possible that they have to shut the project down in between because of these things.
