Seven Reasons to SaaSify Your Software

The digital transformation is going full speed ahead and there’s no better time than now to consider transforming your business to a full SaaS model.

Thanks to the developments of Cloud technologies, the way software is distributed has changed drastically in the last ten years. As software increasingly enters the Cloud, traditional software development companies will have to assess how to navigate the path to providing Cloud applications. Given the requirements of customers with regards to application security, availability and support, it is paramount that software vendors will also benefit from making their applications available through a Cloud service such as Microsoft Azure.

Statistics in business technology research are proving that SaaSified software is here to stay:

• The total SaaS market is worth an estimated $37.7B according to Gartner and continuing to grow at 20.3% per year.
• Cloud operated software delivery is growing five times faster than the traditional software market which means every day a software is not available through SaaS delivery providers are missing out. 

Here are mine six top reasons to start SaaSifying your application, if you haven’t started yet:

1. Meet Customer Demands:

Today’s software buyers expect the flexibility and scalability from vendors that are really only achievable through SaaS deployment. Studies show that software companies who adopted SaaS were able to reduce the overall cost of software use for their customer, because it eliminates the need for customers to build out and maintain a supporting infrastructure. And as customers increasingly shift their IT spending from CAPEX to OPEX, another benefit is that Cloud applications are pay as you go and utility based.

2. Expand Your Business:

When software is in the cloud, location is no longer a limitation, so software development companies can think beyond geography and expand their business, even globally. This way, software companies can seize the opportunity to provide their solution to a much bigger market. Thanks to lower deployment and operating costs, SaaS is now less expensive which has the potential to open new customer segments as more businesses can afford to use it.

3. Decrease Time to Market (TTM):

What is the best thing a software vendor can offer? Most would probably say, “Try Before You Buy”. Because of the ease of SaaS software deployment, customers can access trials of SaaS software and explore the potential added value for their business before they formally decide. This makes conversions quicker and easier for sales teams when customers can seamlessly transition into a paid subscription model after a successful trial run.

4. Increase the Value of Your Business:

More statistics to back up how SaaS can add value to your business? I'll can deliver them. Valuations for SaaS ISVs reflect the SaaS opportunity. While public legacy vendors are valued at 3.5x annual revenue on average, public SaaS ISVs are valued at 4.9x and private SaaS vendors at 11.2x annual revenue*. 

5. Speed Up Product Development:

Software companies who have already switched to the SaaS model are reporting benefits in product development: the speed of it is increased by 33%, because insights generated through application data collection allows product development efforts to focus on the features that are most important to customers.

6. Lower Your Operational Costs:

Due to unification in Software Development (see previous benefit), software companies report significant increase of engineering efficiency (+26% according to Microsoft Whitepaper). Also leading to lower operational costs are the shorter sales cycles and the limited technical support that is needed to make the actual sale because of the fact that SaaS applications can easily be tested in a trial.

Let’s create success out of your digital transformation!

* Bessemer Venture Partners, “State of the Cloud Report 2016”, September 7, 2016