Most of the businesses use SaaS applications in their daily work for emailing, customer management, coding, task scheduling, accounting, among others. It is expected that by 2022, SaaS apps will substitute for 80% of all apps used by companies.
No wonder that there is a boom of SaaS startups now. Unlike custom web apps built specifically for the needs of one company, SaaS is created for many different organizations. The development of SaaS applications has its peculiarities and challenges that you should consider before starting the development. Let’s revise some of them!
1. Multi-Tenancy
The notion of multi-tenancy is important for SaaS creation as it allows to drastically cut the expenses for development. Before SaaS architecture was single-tenant, i.e. divided into separate instances and databases for different organizations (tenants). Today, developers use multi-tenant SaaS approaches in which each organization has separate databases but use one common application that can be easily updated.
2. Data Security
Modern SaaS uses cloud services like AWS for data storage as the most reliable and secure way. Each organization is authorized to access their data only even if the data of all SaaS users are stored on the same server.
3. Customization for Different Users
The SaaS concept implies that the app features should be equally valuable for different users or companies. But, in reality, everyone has their unique needs and SaaS should be flexible to fit as many users' needs as possible.
4. API Integration
A small organization uses on average 70 different apps, while large companies may use up to 200 apps. Without automatic data synchronization, it can be a nightmare. So, make sure that your SaaS provides an API for integration with third-party software and web portals.
5. Easy Updates
Luckily, the times when we needed to buy each new version of the software on a CD have gone. One of the advantages of today’s SaaS is that it can be easily updated online. It's cheap and easy for users.
6. Various Payment Methods
Giving users a selection of payment methods and a variety of tariffs makes them more eager to try the app. It's a good practice to give users a free trial period or propose to use a freemium way of payment.
Though there are many ways to build a SaaS application depending on each team's individual processes, the above-mentioned challenges are similar for all and should be well-thought-out in the requirements in advance.
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