The health pandemic brought important changes to the world. For instance, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the cloud revolution and changed working habits. The adoption of a remote workforce forced organizations to reconsider their IT infrastructures in order to enhance accessibility and flexibility.
Indeed, these changes convinced previously skeptical software vendors to switch to SaaS. Still, a handful of companies are yet to make the big jump and are still wondering whether this is the right time.
Software as a Service (SaaS) Explained
Software as a Service refers to the method of delivering digital products to your target audience online without them installing the actual program on their hardware. In other words, SaaS is provided on a subscription basis and with lower or no up-front costs. In fact, customers can upgrade or downgrade their own subscription on a pay-as-you-use basis.
Jumping into SaaS has many benefits. Aside from making your customer’s life easier, SaaS vendors enjoy countless advantages.
Reasons Why Software Vendors Should Switch to SaaS
1. You Can Predict Your Income
Companies that license their on-premise software rely on the deals that their sales team sign. That means they have no way of determining the amount of income they will generate at any given time. They are also required to deploy new upgrades and convince their customers to buy their latest version, which they might fail to purchase, especially if they were dissatisfied with the previous version’s performance.
However, a subscription-based business model and monthly recurring revenue bring in a lot of differences and joys. This is especially so as more companies adopt SaaS for their day to day business operations as well as SaaS marketing . For instance, you can easily predict your monthly and yearly revenues as long as you keep your churn rates under control.
2. It’s Easier to Close a Sale
Generally, managing change is hard, especially in an established organization. For instance, acquiring a new on-premise software can be an incredibly long process filled with many hurdles. This one-time investment requires serious consideration before making any payment.
On the other hand, SaaS is a flexible option. In fact, you can give your potential customers free trials or special offers in order to persuade them to consider your software in a shorter period. The software vendor doesn’t need to invest in an extra infrastructure to support every new customer. So every incremental customer means higher ROI.
3. Existing Accounts Generate Income Continually
Software vendors continuously release additional features and new upgrades to their existing accounts, which helps them generate income from their customer base. Put simply, switching to SaaS enables you to improve your software easily and monetize these improvements.
Further, SaaS gives you some flexibility to accompany your customers as they grow, which translates to higher income because their account grows with them. You can spot potential dissatisfactions faster when delivering SaaS than on-premise software. This affords you an opportunity to solve it before it becomes a problem. It also helps you fight churn more effectively, enhance customer loyalty, and have more frequent upsells, resulting in more income.
4. A Broader Customer Base
SaaS allows you to distribute your software through the cloud, which means that your company travels across borders instead of on-premise software. You can consider an international market with SaaS instead of a specific area because you don’t need to travel to your customers’ premises to install the software on their physical hardware.
Further, you can target organizations that prioritize mobility, such as pharmaceutical companies together with their sales representatives and companies that have adopted remote workplaces. These companies rely on SaaS software because they can be assessed from any device and location.
5. Happier Customers
SaaS companies focus on the service side of things. They’re dedicated to giving their customers the support they require as they use their solution. Ideally, these customers actually pay for a long-term relationship instead of the right to use the software.
They know that they’re entitled to continuous upgrades and support from the support team. In fact, SaaS customers don’t worry about the technical aspect of things because the vendor eliminates the need for infrastructure. This gives them more flexibility and a solution that is easy to install as well as scale up and down as they want.
Verdict
Software vendors still hesitant about switching to a SaaS should get off the fence and dive into this universe. This will help them grow their customer base beyond a specific area and generate more income by monetizing their features and upgrades.
