In order to meet new demands more quickly, tools, and services related to cloud computing have gained relevance over time.
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a service provider hosts applications for its customers and makes them available to them over the internet.
The use of a SaaS model can bring many benefits to the business, but it is also important to analyze the counterpoints.
In this article, we’ll address the advantages & disadvantages of the SaaS model to help you make the best possible decision.
The ease of access and implementation of SaaS is one of the things that fascinate decision-makers.
SaaS solutions are pre-existing, the deployment time is extremely low. In addition, they are generally very flexible and therefore make it possible to stick as closely as possible to user needs and to implement solutions on demand.
The use of a SaaS allows the reduction of costs with servers, which in addition to the cost still requires hours of maintenance and care by your IT staff.
The exchange of the physical infrastructure required to maintain a product for a cloud service, whether public or private, saves physical space in addition to financial savings.
Thus, you are no longer concerned with hardware upgrades, the costs of software licenses, maintenance, and especially infrastructure since this is managed by the service provider.
SaaS allows you to multiply access according to the needs of the business rather than investing in software licenses and server capacities internally.
The pay-as-you-go model allows organizations to transfer costs to an ongoing operating expense to facilitate budget management.
One of the basic principles of SaaS is that it is accessible anytime and anywhere.
Through a browser and an internet connection, its users have easy access at any time, making this an important differential that allows more mobility, agility, and practicality for all employees inside and outside the business environment.
In SaaS, the update in question happens on the provider side, and you don't have to worry about endless patch downloads and time-consuming installations.
This can be particularly beneficial for organizations with limited IT staff to handle these tasks.
Also Read: How are SaaS and PaaS Different?
The data related to the client company is generally kept on the provider's servers, which can, therefore, generate confidentiality concerns.
The risk of having your data exposed to a public network is one of the key disadvantages, especially when dealing with more traditional corporations.
To prevent this, it is necessary to know the accounts that cloud technology provides and make a prior agreement with the service provider listing everything that could happen in the event of disasters.
SaaS is an online service that inevitably requires a good internet connection. Hence connectivity is a con as you always need to have a stable internet connection for the system to work in a complete way.
Network problems can cause very annoying download delays, which can lead to loss of productivity.
The biggest drawback due to which some of the companies are still resistant to SaaS is a lack of transparency and security.
Some SaaS owners have some reservations about the procedures adopted, guaranteeing only that data protection is intrinsic to the service.
In the event of service interruption, changes in the offer, security breach or any problem, the consequences for the customer can be dramatic.
Conclusion:
The growing popularity of SaaS is well justified owing to the benefits that it can provide. But at the same organizations should be mindful of some of its drawbacks.
Then again this is true for any technology (or anything else for that matter), which is that everything comes with its own share of pros and cons.
You May Also Like to Read: An Interesting Comparison of IaaS and SaaS
