Software as a Service is a constantly evolving, immensely exciting industry to be involved within recent years. Big Data has become big business with an estimated 90% of the web being created in the last two years alone.
A stand-out idea and brilliant marketing and sales teams are essential to your business. However, if your base SaaS application wasn’t built with evolution, transformation, and scalability in mind this could greatly decrease your companies chances of longevity…
SaaS development is an extremely profitable and lucrative business area in 2021. Those in the industry will be well aware of the rise of SaaS over the past decade, however, it is only in recent years has SaaS become known to the average man of the street as SaaS applications begin to take a foothold in our day to day lives. Even though the industry is exponentially evolving it can be argued that we are yet to reach the apex of wide mass adoption, making it a very attractive venture for new start-ups.
All aspects of a successful business need to be derived from a well-thought-out, calculated business plan.
This post takes a look at some keys areas of consideration when preparing for SaaS application development. These best practices and methods are recommended by our experts here at Ingenio will set you on the path towards start-up success…
Preparing For SaaS Development
Those who have become well-versed in SaaS expect a certain level of quality from their product.
The vast majority of (Successful) SaaS applications provide their users with ready-made solutions, technology that is consistently upgraded and maintained, 24-hour access as well as 24/7 customer support.
There are certain areas of technical specifics which you will need to meet if you want to live up to this level of expected quality.
Naturally, your budget and business goals will influence this to a certain extent but it’s wise to pre-prepare:
- Single- or multi-tenancy architecture (multi-tenancy is cheaper but less secure)
- Security level (higher security levels are more expensive and may limit a partners’ scalability options)
- Application Feature set
- Frequency of service upgrades
- Integration with other SaaS solutions using APIs (up to 90% of SaaS solutions integrate with other services)
- Monetization concept (subscription, one-off payment, custom packages)
Understanding Your SaaS Development Tech Stack
In SaaS product development be it web or mobile, a tech stack encompasses the programming languages, tools, libraries, frameworks, and software that will be in use. It is an essential part of the development process and one of the first steps in creating your SaaS application.
A Tech stack is divided into two parts; the front end, and the back end. Having a strong knowledge of front-end and back-end development will be key tools in maintaining a high functioning website.
The front end is everything the end-user sees and interacts with on the screen, including the app’s layout and design. Among the front-end technologies are HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and UI frameworks and libraries.
The back end is the portion that cannot be seen by users. It is composed of frameworks, programming languages, servers, and operating systems. Our next post will touch on the intrinsic details of front-end and back-end technology development. In the meantime check sure to check out this excellent resource on Choosing a Tech Stack for Full-Cycle Web Application Development.
Common Challenges Facing SaaS Development
You knew SaaS application development wasn’t going to be easy. Any great project will face its challenges; The old quote springs to mind “Failing To Prepare Is Preparing To Fail”. With proper preparation, you can overcome the common challenges and pitfalls facing SaaS organizations today.
Scalability:
Without scalable technology, your business can’t grow. Both start-ups and clients can benefit from scalability. Start-ups may show slower performance as customer numbers grow and clients might find their business ceasing to operate if the cloud service shuts down due to overload. For these reasons, scalability needs to be a priority for long-term business planning.
Security:
It’s your responsibility to ensure the privacy of your customers. Because of inadequate cloud service security, banking and personal information, as well as commercial secrets, may leak. Besides losing your business, you’ll have to pay an enormous fine in these cases as well.
Monetisation Model:
SaaS products are used because they are cost-effective. Many businesses and private users do not have (or are unable to spend) the resources to develop their own custom digital services.
The provider’s service must not be too expensive, otherwise, no one would be able to afford it. Learn how much money your target audience is willing to spend on your product by studying them carefully. In addition, you need to create a sustainable model where maintenance and upgrades are periodically included in users’ fees.
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Since 2015, Ingenio has been providing SaaS staffing for top technology companies. Our experts at Ingenio are passionate about finding and placing Saas staff, so we remain at the forefront of innovative recruiting approaches.
Written by James Coffey