When is it Time to Move to SaaS?
Know if SaaS is Right for Your Business

 
A relatively new concept, known as Software as a service (SaaS), allows organizations to take advantage of critical technical functionality and services without building, expanding, operating, or managing underlying systems.  At its most basic level, SaaS allows a small and medium business to take full advantage of leading edge technology, software, and business processes without having to own or operate it.  You get the advantages that have been largely the domain of large businesses, without the investment.
 
While the benefits are many, SaaS may not be right for your business.  To help you evaluate whether or not SaaS is right for your company, we’ve put together a specific list of things to consider.  The more you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these, the more you need to consider SaaS for your business.

1. IT systems management and optimization are not core competencies central to your business:  Unless one or more of the terms “IT,” “computer”, or “systems” are in the name of your company, it’s unlikely that IT infrastructure management and optimization are your core corporate competencies.

2. IT capital and/or staffing expenditures are rising/continuing to rise at your organization company. If one of the reasons you invest in IT is to increase organizational efficiency, shouldn’t IT costs go down, not up, as the business becomes more IT-dependent?  If your technology costs keep going up, then it may be time to consider SaaS.

3. There are physical limits to your organization’s ability to grow and/or improve its IT resources: Even companies with well-designed, incredibly efficient server closets or data centers are increasingly running out of space, or requiring more power and cooling, or are seeing increased utility bills.  SaaS can eliminate all three of these problems.

4. User demands for IT systems and support are growing faster than your company’s ability to meet them: Rapid growth in demand for IT resources has many causes. Examples include new or expanded web commerce, employee turnover, new customers or partners requirements, added support for mobile-networked device users, mergers, acquisitions, or organic organizational growth.

5. Licensing and/or support costs for business-critical software applications are exceeding available budgets in your company: This is a pervasive issue that just doesn’t seem to go away.  The more technology a business procures, the more budget is consumed on renewing licenses and keeping the systems running.  On average, 63% of all IT budget is spent on maintenance (Gartner & Forrester).  SaaS can eliminate these license maintenance and support costs.

6. IT support requirements are draining limited resources away from your company’s core business activities: You need to spend your $$ on core business activities, not on buying, implementing, upgrading, managing, and optimizing technology.  SaaS can solve this problem, quickly and effectively.

7. Your organization needs to deploy new applications or services quickly, without operational disruption, and with limited or no capex budgets: Business responsiveness and competitive advantage demand a flexible and quickly adaptable business infrastructure. If your systems take weeks or months to adapt, you’re not at an advantage. SaaS-based solutions can be up and running much faster than traditionally licensed options.

8. You need to move critical IT resources to fewer, more modern platforms to improve business performance and reduce dependency on increasingly scarce and expensive support resources: How about getting rid of all your platforms and support resources in one decision?  If you’re at a point where its time to consolidate, upgrade, or if you’re just challenged at attracting and keeping key IT resources, consider SaaS alternatives.  You can solve all three of these challenges, right away.

9. The business needs do not require extensive or frequent customization of critical software or services: If your business requirements don’t require many modifications of technology or if your business needs to take advantage of ‘best practices’, SaaS is the ticket.  SaaS solutions can easily accommodate your general business requirements without the need of significant modification and associated costs.  And, the best SaaS environments automatically build in the best practices you need – right out of the box!  You get the best-of-both-worlds, all without capex expense.

10. You understand and have, or seek to acquire, expertise in process management necessary for business success: Business and IT processes form the backbone of a company.  SaaS doesn’t eliminate the need for such.  However, the very best SaaS providers also have the expertise you need to prepare, adapt, roll-out, and support your critical business and IT processes within your company.  They take on the ‘heavy lifting’ of making sure your business has what it needs while you concentrate on running your business and investing in your core competencies.

Is your business ready to move to SaaS? You can make theTransition easily and quickly.  Get back to managing your business and not technology.  Take full advantage of functionality and benefit that is ‘beyond your budget.’  All with one call.  Accomplish all this with the SMB Suite.  A full solution set bringing you all the outsourced technology advantages you need to lead. The SMBSuite is your answer to technology confusion, lowering It costs, and delivering the tools you need to run the business. Visit: http://www.getsmb.com or call 1-800-525-6398.

So, what are you going to do now?  Maintain the status quo and continue to grow your internal IT budgets? Or, learn more about how to get off the ‘technology train?