If you’re evaluating various solutions, one of the most common questions is the key benefits of a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution vs. On-Premise options, particularly when it comes to capabilities like order capture and management.

In today’s post we’ll cover 8 core reasons SaaS solutions outshine their on-premises counterparts:

1. Lower Overall Cost
2. Costs Are Over Time, Not Upfront
3. One Bill, Many Services Included
   • Hardware
   • Uptime
   • Feature Updates
   • Bug Fixes
   • Security Patches
4. Get Live Faster for a Quicker Return on Investment
5. Web-Based Systems are More Accessible
6. Easier to Integrate and Connect
   • Open APIs
   • First-Party Integrations
   • Third-Party Integrations
7. Scale With More Ease
8. Higher Stakeholder Satisfaction and Adoption

But first, let’s review what each of them are, if you’re not 100 percent sure.

Software as a Service (SaaS) Solutions are sometimes also called cloud solutions. They’re web-based, and are software managed and hosted by the developer on a business’ behalf, with all the features and management incorporated into a single fee. This means that the software is the same for all customers, and has a certain amount of supported configuration. However it is not infinitely customizable.

On-Premise Solutions are hosted and managed on hardware within and/or by the business. This tends to allow for more direct control and customization, but the trade off is more direct ownership of all hardware, software and data requirements and issues. Third parties can be involved in management of these solutions, but would be paid for above/beyond the cost of the solutions themselves.

The Key Benefits of SaaS: Lower Cost, Less Effort, More Flexibility

With that in mind, let’s review the key benefits of SaaS and Cloud solutions vs. On-Premise software:

1. Lower Overall Cost

Cloud solutions can streamline and aggregate costs in a way a single on-premise solution implementation cannot, and that cost savings is often passed along to the end customers of the software. SaaS software is deployed universally to all customers, whereas on-premise solutions are managed individually. That management will come up later as another critical difference, but at the very basic level it’s a lower cost requirement to leverage a SaaS solution and use it.

2. Costs Are Over Time, Not Upfront

One challenge with on-premise software is the requirement to make various purchases upfront, from the hardware and software to setting things up. While SaaS software can have set-up fees in certain more complex implementations, the initial license fee (whether it be the first month or year) is the only other major cost involved, other than the time to set it up, which would be invested in either case.

Spreading the cost out without having to do things like financing is another cost saving benefit of a SaaS solution selection over on-premise software.

3. One Bill, Many Services Included

One of the most attractive aspects to a SaaS solution is that for your one monthly subscription price, many aspects are covered, taking the pressure off your internal resources or paying for third-party support. This includes:

• Hardware: All hardware is managed and maintained by the SaaS solution, or they will tap mature and reliable solutions Like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.
• Uptime:  Similarly, the SaaS company is responsible for keeping the solution and services up and running. If an issue occurs, their team will get on it and resolve it.
• Feature Updates: SaaS solutions, particularly ones in active development, will see regular updates released to the entire customer base as a matter of course.
• Bug Fixes: If an issue occurs that’s causing things to not work as intended, the SaaS development team will handle it, and issue a fix to resolve.
• Security Patches: If a security issue is identified, the SaaS solution’s development team will investigate and neutralize the problem.

All of the above are managed in a SaaS subscription in a single fee; for On-Premises solutions this would simply be additional things to have to manage in some form, whether by internal resources or a third-party that is paid to keep these up to date.

4. Get Live Faster for a Quicker Return on Investment

Since SaaS solutions are hosted in the cloud, the hardware and software are already ready to get rolling the moment you’re ready to make an investment. With On-Premises solutions, this all has to be ordered and spun up, which immediately puts you behind the curve on getting things going.

SaaS software tends to also be more streamlined, with an eye towards making setup quicker and easier than On-Premises options, without technical resources many times even being required.

Many larger businesses have leveraged SaaS solutions to test ideas because things can be spun up fast and relatively inexpensively, allowing for data to be collected faster because it’s simply the quickest way to get up and running. And smaller businesses can simply start generating income faster.

5. Web-Based Systems are More Accessible

Because SaaS solutions are hosted on the web, they tend to be more accessible than their On-Premises counterparts, which may have various security rules in place to keep the hardware safe. With the ability to access the solutions on mobile devices, as well as tablets and desktops, and be able to do so with relative ease, regardless of location, makes a SaaS solution much more flexible for today’s times, with the workforce more mobile than ever.

And, with many employees now working remotely because of the pandemic, it makes On-Premises as an option even more unattractive, given many employees are staying out of the office with increasing frequency.

6. Easier to Integrate and Connect

Because SaaS solutions are designed with the open web in mind, they tend to have more web-first thinking in design and accessibility. So above and beyond the ability to pull the software up on a modern web browser, other types of more mature capabilities to make connections easier exist, including:

• Open APIs: At its core, most SaaS solutions have an open and documented API structure that makes it easy for solutions to be linked. This reduces data entry duplication and errors, while also ensuring accelerating the availability of data in various systems for management of customers, products and orders. On-Premise solutions may have these capabilities, but they tend to be less robust and some businesses may even disable them.
• First-Party Integrations: Most SaaS solutions will have homegrown integrations with the solutions their customers most frequently want or need to interoperate with, ensuring that the most common use cases are supported directly and in house.
• Third-Party Integrations: Because of open APIs and documentation, there are also third party companies that are designed to make integrating two systems simpler. These will often times require an additional fee, but are maintained independently without the need of a developer in house or for hire.

On-Premise Solutions may offer some of these capabilities, but the availability and support tends to be more patchy.

7. Scale With More Ease

SaaS solutions are able to use a variety of web-driven solutions to make scaling possible, and you can generally know what the additional cost will be to step up a plan or add additional features. Unless you happen to be their largest customer by a large margin, you’ll also have confidence knowing they’ve helped others grow to where you’re headed.

This internal knowledge is helpful and incorporated into the subscription price, whereas with On-Premises options you have to hire that knowledge if your team isn’t sure what to do.

8. Higher Stakeholder Satisfaction and Adoption

SaaS solutions tend to be more user friendly, and because they’re in a web browser less intimidating. That makes it easier to get more of your team to use them, and it’s more likely they’ll like them, over more controlled On-Premises solutions that require a tech team to accomplish certain tasks.

For instance, Zoey has a Net Promoter Score with its small business customers of +72, with 100 percent likely to renew, a testament to how our solutions help our businesses be productive – they’re happy and are planning to stick with us.

See the Key Benefits of Zoey’s SaaS Solutions with a Demo

Our Success Team can walk you through Zoey’s key features and identify how you can best deploy Zoey quickly and effectively to capture and manage orders, building your account base and driving more volume. Click the button below to request your conversation:

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