If you are planning to introduce B2B digital services into your business, you will be introduced to so many established B2B digital services that it will be tough navigating through all the services.
Every business out there has its own requirements and thus needs a different set of tools, CRM, ERP, forecasts management, digital advertising, accounting software, online booking and other collaborative platforms. Simply put, we have a wide range of software and digital tools that we can apply to our businesses. It is true that these tools come in handy, can save a substantial amount of time and help run your business efficiently.
For you to acquire these digital services, you can either purchase a software, which involves installing, hosting, and operating within your system / servers, or you can get a Software as a Service, widely known as SaaS. For this article, we are more focused on getting the right SaaS software since it comes with so many advantages and saves you, as a business, a lot of the hassles involved in managing an IT team for your digital activities.
What is SaaS?
The initials stand for "Software as a Service". Saas is a software that is hosted and run by a team of IT experts (SaaS Providers) that needs to provide to the consumer to use of the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure.
The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser. It assists in improving your overall performance while your business users and partners can access it via the internet. Examples of SaaS providers: Salesforce, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MailChimp.
Choosing the right SaaS
Now that we know what SaaS is, it's a good idea to dig a little deeper into these services so that you can get to know how they'll work for your business. SaaS is run by several agencies who have multiple online software services that are customized to meet certain business needs.
It's good to keep in mind the following things before you commit yourself to a service that does not help your business.
Functionality and Availability
The first thing you need to do before introducing SaaS into your business is to list the most essential services your business needs. Once you have this list, contact your SaaS vendor and discuss if they can provide these services. Always keep in mind that no matter how you insist on a perfect SaaS service, you can only know the pros and cons after you have used it for some time. Use the trial version they provide to see how the services integrate with your business before going all in. It's wise to keep the following things in mind before you try out the demo.
- The size of your business
- The number of employees who will use the software as a service
- The type of support that you will get from the SaaS provider
- If any external partners will use the software
Security and Durability
Now that your business must link with an external SaaS provider, your data will be at risk.
The data that you share with your business partners and customers is also at risk.
Thus, it is wise to check the security of data that your SaaS provider has implemented.
Protection from sudden interruptions
Currently, the world is under constant stress and anything could happen at any time that could affect your data. Thankfully, there are a lot of online services to protect your data, software, source code and any other necessary documentation from any unexpected or permanent interruption from the software as a service vendor.
I guarantee that if you follow these guidelines, your business will not only find the right software but your business will also be secure against any kind of interruptions.