Unlocking the Potential of SaaS: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) providers offer a convenient solution for businesses looking to outsource the operations and maintenance of their internal software without incurring the overhead or risk of developing or supporting custom software. The SaaS industry is expanding rapidly, with new providers and services emerging daily.

However, before any business moves forward, it’s important to know the potential pitfalls of SaaS adoption.

SaaS as a Technology Decision

Adopting SaaS is not just a technology decision, but also a business decision. Before making the switch, we must consider how it will help us grow our business, develop innovative ideas faster, and engage with customers better. We must also be prepared to change how we define agility, launch new features, and respond to customer requests.

Loss of Control

One potential downside of SaaS is that we may lose some control over our software and data. In addition, SaaS providers typically serve multiple customers, often using a multi-tenant setup. Therefore, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate the criticality of the service for our business and individual offerings, as well as the provider’s capabilities.

Integration Challenges

Another potential issue is that not all integrations the provider offers may work as desired. For example, when connecting to apps in our local data center, we might have trouble syncing data or dealing with latency, which could mean we need to pay extra for third-party plug-ins.

Multiple Providers, Increased Costs

Having more than one SaaS provider could lead to a lack of optimization, which could cause us to spend more than we want to. Make sure we choose the right product for the right job by researching and figuring out the total cost of ownership over the selected period. Periodic reviews of contracts and licenses can uncover overlaps and redundancies.

Failing to Periodically Review the SLA Against the Usage

Carefully reviewing the SLA is essential to avoid confusion in the future. Otherwise, it might not meet expectations when we least expect it to fall short. So, it’s crucial to get into the details and ensure we know who is responsible and what to do if something goes wrong.

Conclusion

In summary, adopting SaaS should be treated as a business undertaking. Therefore, we should carefully evaluate the benefits and potential drawbacks from every angle to ensure they align with our business goals and objectives.