SaaS Bootstrapper - Smart SaaS Business - New emerging markets for SaaS

SaaS Bootstrapper - Smart SaaS Business - New emerging markets for SaaS

Two decades ago, we could barely imagine a term called SaaS in the technology industry. Moreover, who would have imagined that within just a few years since the world's introduction to Software as a Service there would be 11,288 SaaS companies. Purely an outcome of mastery-orientation in technologies and the emerging need for process automation across industries, SaaS applications have come a long way in solving business problems. The growth, therefore, is expected to be tremendous in the years to come. This is precisely why most businesses are beginning to opt into this model, and why there is a higher scope for investment in the industry for entrepreneurs and business developers.

What is SaaS?

SaaS is a cloud-based technology that allows users to use an application over the internet through a subscription-based model. Emails are a very basic form of SaaS. Any tool that is available over the web and runs through the internet can be broadly placed under the category of SaaS. It is a complete software solution that seeks payments on the go. It works on a tenant basis. All of the data in this model is sourced at the data center of the service provider.

Some of the greatest advantages of building SaaS is the utilization of resources and the high scope for Return on Investment. SaaS also allows a high amount of scalability along with a multi-tenant feature.

Some other benefits of using SaaS for businesses include – mobility of the workforce and automation of task allocation, tracking, and monitoring, tailored pricing for specific features and modules, sophisticated process automation and a better employee experience. Another huge advantage of SaaS is access to data from across the world.

Effective SaaS Bootstrapping

There are various considerations when deciding if and how to bootstrap your SaaS business.

Consider the following:

1. Look at your architecture, check what business problem are you actually solving and how far are you going to go with it. Ask yourself and a viable small group of potential customers -- is there a market need for it?
2. Instead of launching the entire product in one go, start with an MVP – a Minimum Viable Product. Any shortcomings and redundancies can easily be covered up in later releases.
3. Even after a complete launch, do not confine the feedback from a select few people. Widen the size of your audience and take all criticism head-on. This will help you improve your standing in the marketplace.
4. Market your SaaS well. This starts with an effective content marketing strategy, which entails a thorough persona study. Once you know the precise pain points, you can position yourself appropriately and expect a better inflow of leads.
5. Ensure a well designed and tested application. The user interface and experience will play a crucial role in ensuring better conversions for you.

Emerging Markets in SaaS

As more and more industry verticals are moving toward Data Analytics, SaaS can reimagine these businesses' strategies to offer Data as a Service and a regulator of business Intelligence. Keeping control of Data in a cloud-based server is a critical thing, especially, when there are so many tenants operating through it. A combination of data in the software can help bring insights into customer problems and pain points. This data can be repurposed to devise business strategies that are based on informed analytics, sentiments and patterns.

Moreover, according to a leading IT research firm Gartner Inc., the demand for SaaS is going to grow in the sector of supply chain management. As such, this sector is expected to see a rise to $19 billion growth in SaaS deployments in the next one year.

The growth for SaaS in the markets will be largely driven by two factors – the number of vendors proving the same category of the solution and the procurements that are leading up to SCP trailing.

Gartner also predicts the overall deployment of SaaS in the supply chain industry to increase by 35% by the year 2021.

The current composition of the SaaS market includes CRM (31.6%), Collaboration (6.3%), Procurement (6.3%), Human Resources (14.7%), ERP and Operations (8.4%).

In the near future, Analytics, Content Management, and Product lifecycles are going to be the game changers for SaaS application providers, as a major demand will be generated in these verticals. Cloud subscriptions are already on the rise and many SaaS providers are shaking hands with competitors to beat the larger players.

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In Summery

The effectiveness and sustained subscription of a SaaS application is governed by its user-friendly interface and its features that help solve tangible business problems. Anything that automates and enhances a mundane process can fuel the demand from enterprises and individuals.

However, building a successful SaaS application may involve a huge amount of initial investment and a thorough strategy to meet the competition. The markets are already captured by leading players in the market. So, you need to offer something extra valuable and market it pretty well.

If you would like to add anything, your comments and suggestions are welcome. And, if you have any questions, we’d be happy to address them. Connect with us through the comments section below.