Today, lots of enterprise IT managers deal with outdated softwares. Why? Because the world of business and profits has gone far beyond the approaches. This means the hardware that runs this softwares along with this softwares needs an upgrade.
Because big IT companies often work with older software versions. These software do not run on hardware that isn’t supportive. So the question arises: Why use softwares on outdated hardware? It can lead to downtime and type up money in specialized contracts.
As a matter of fact, outdated softwares may also be using a specific programming code that’s really hard to understand and open to upgradation.
Big enterprise IT companies understand the investment plans where the cost of time and money in old software. As we all know, your biggest commodity is not the money; it’s the time.
However, they’re hesitant to switch to upgraded softwares that provides security and cloud-based operations. Why?
“THE FEAR OF HAVING NO SUPPORT IN CASE OF AN OUTAGE.”
But this reminds us of Sarah Parish’s splendid quotation:
“LIVING WITH FEAR STOPS US FROM TAKING RISKS, AND IF YOU DON’T GO OUT ON THE BRANCH, YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO GET THE BEST FRUIT – SARAH PARISH”
This fruitful quote explains taking the risk can pay off if you choose the right service provider. SaaS decision-making processing applications give the authority to IT companies to let the provider take care of the problem and software maintenance along with its upgradation. Confusing? Let’s look into the 2020 SaaS industry market report with authentic proof.
We trust you enjoyed the read. Let’s continue this article and talk about those applications to solve IT issues.
What are those apps, and how can they solve IT issues? The answer is that these applications turn your issues into strengths. How? With full customization and automation. Plus, they can make developers more productive by reducing the need for specialized skills. For example, there’s a SaaS used to maintain a yoga business called the yoga studio software.
But getting the green light from business tycoons to switch towards SaaS. You need a checklist for evaluating SaaS. Let’s find out how to find a quality software solution according to your customer or merchant:
- Prioritizing the safeguarding of data: Security, privacy, and compliance
- Enhancing the system’s dependability: Reliability and performance
- High level of Assistance: Support
- Proactively addressing challenges: Vendor lock-in
- Facilitating easy compatibility: Integrations
- Strategic vendor roadmap and financial stability
Prioritizing the safeguarding of data: Security, privacy, and compliance
Rules and security differ by industry. Ensure that HIPAA is observed if dealing with health records.
American government contractors should adhere to the FedRAMP guidelines. Find out the applicable regulations relating to IT in your industry before tweaking it.
Choose a SaaS supplier who is guided by common regulations and approaches, such as Cloud Security Alliance’s cloud controls matrix. A number of other good standards also exist in NIST and ISO, like ISO/IEC 27001 for information security management. These options suit anything.
Ensure that you raise the standards of cloud providers as well as the certification process when you are responding to the RFP of the cloud. Ascertain whether they have any relevant industry certificates, seeking copies in order to verify them.
You should also review the SaaS vendor’s SOC reports. Certified Public Accounting audits/assessments. Request information about auditions from your company in your RFP. Soc reports will give information on the controls that SaaS vendors take up to ensure the safety of customers’ finances as well as their internal data.
In case your company’s data is global, inquire about suppliers and whether they adhere to the EU’s GDPR and the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks, respectively. End users are protected by these rules and also by the U.S.’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Users have a right to erase data or download data under GDPR and CCPA. Individuals can erase information that is not accurate under the Privacy Shield.
Before entrusting your company data to a SaaS provider, be absolutely sure that you know all you need to know regarding their privacy policy. Therefore, it is prudent only to risk if one would share this information with them.
Enhancing the system’s dependability: Reliability and performance
Your SaaS checklist should be precise enough and provide detailed information as far as the reliability and speed of the service are concerned. This builds up a strong SLAA for the cloud service that is tailored according to the company’s requirements.
SLAs come in various forms. Develop both a performance SLA and an uptime SLA whenever you work with a SaaS provider. For example, a performance SLA breach would occur if your system is up and functioning; however, it takes longer than five minutes to receive access to your information. You can verify by asking for a performance SLA.
There is also a tool known as an uptime calculator, which allows the conversion of guaranteed uptime into understandable time frames. For example, a working hour of 99.5% equalizes to the following disruptions:
- Twelve seconds and eleven minutes are spent daily.
- In a week, this is 50 min and 24 sec.
- A person spends an average of 3 hours, 39 minutes, and 8 seconds every month.
- It is equal to 1 day, 19 hours, 49 minutes, and 44 seconds per year.
In case uptime is essential for your business and you cannot afford to take in too much downtime, tell the provider to give you a better uptime SLA agreement.
For that reason, make sure to find out about the guaranteed uptime prior to closing the deal in order to discuss the licensing agreement or the contract.
High level of Assistance: Support
Getting a new application is good, but one also has to provide good support.
You should emphasize the support aspect while examining a SaaS alternative and use it as one of the items for your assessment list. Look at factors such as how fast they respond and whether it is a more serious problem, then decide how soon they will call you back. Ascertain whether the vendor also has another company that provides backup for them. For this purpose you can use AI to deliver greatest impact.
One can also check into the kind of support provided by SaaS live chat software that helps you get more leads and increase sales.
Proactively addressing challenges: Vendor lock-in
Switching from one cloud provider to another may be difficult in some instances, such that it is expensive, and most times, these companies do not allow this.
In your RFP, you should ask the correct questions to help yourself stay away from being trapped. Is Sava open or closed? Enquire if the vendors have an open API that can be accessed. Give you a link for your team to see the movement of data into and out of your system.
You need to have a way of retrieving your data in case your company decides to terminate that contract. When departing the vendor, check how long it takes for your data to be returned by the vendor and what form the data will be in. Know the available backup and recovery technologies, APIs, and techniques for moving your data. Also you need to update your email marketing services for better communication because email marketing is great for
Saas.
Facilitating easy compatibility: Integrations
Partners may build integrations on open APIs of the cloud system in case it has one. This is the strategy that big tech companies such as Salesforce, Twitter, and Google are using.
However, SaaS marketers use various practices, as shared in this guide: SaaS Lead Generation Best Practices. The trick is to find what works best for you. Keep an eye on the results (ROI) and keep tweaking things to make your conversion rate even better.
It is a good approach for an open API because the cloud service provider can grow its ecosystem without having to deal with specific frameworks. Their business will also offer them the open API, and then they will choose how their businesses will use that open API.
One important question to ask is: “What do you do in case of modifications to open API?” Of course, updates should occur version by version instead of unexpected ones, which may break integrations.
Strategic vendor roadmap and financial stability
Using one’s vendor’s license implies that your organization relies on that particular vendor, as a matter of fact. Know how many dollars per year they spend improving the product. Do they have a future plan or vision that fits your needs? Are they making money?
For a public SaaS vendor, insist on getting their latest 10-K in view of inclusion in your SaaS checklist. This is a more thorough financial statement submitted to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission annually. A 10-K provides an insight into the healthiness of the vendor. For more updated data, read their 10-Q, which they filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission every quarter.
Conclusion
Carefully consider all that will be needed by your organization for an easy transition and optimal performance when making decisions on SaaS. As you choose the right software, keep these key points in mind:
- Assess how trustworthy and reliable the SaaS vendor is in terms of efficiency.
- Ensure that strong support systems are in place.
- Be keen on the possibility of being tied down by a single supplier and focus on interoperability via Open APIs.
- Use 10-k and 10-q reports to examine the vendor’s financial health and strategic plans for the near future.
Customizing your approach, monitoring results, and constantly searching for improvements are essential elements of your SaaS solution.
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