What does SAAS mean?
In the blog I will try to explain what the acronym SAAS means.
Acronyms don't you just love them! You will find them in every industry and no matter what after enough time you end up speaking that language.
So in this case SAAS is a cloud computing acronym and its stands for "Software as a Service". If that's all you wanted to know, thanks for stopping by. If you would like to know what SAAS is then keep reading.
Still here? Great. Traditionally software was installed on computers via DVD's, CD's and back in the day disks.
You would have to install the software on each and every PC or Apple. This would take time which often meant money. There would also be a version of the software running on a local server (that large and noisy PC in the corner that nobody touched) The server side held the database and all the PC's connected to it. This model of computing and delivering of software worked well for many years.
Today we access software in many different ways and most of the time it is over the internet right? This method of delivery is Software as a Service.
If you have been using Twitter and Facebook over the last few years then you have been using SAAS.
Today most software packages are delivered in this way. Accounting, CRM, Project Management, Social Media tools and Management all delivered over the internet.
The revenue model is very different as well. As the service requires no install or setup the traditionally associated costs are no longer there. Often these services offer free trials so you can try before you buy and some even offer freemium models where there is no cost at all.
The payment model for SAAS is more then often pay per month with little or no contracts. This keeps the software company on their toes. Most often discounts for annual contracts. However some of the bigger companies only do annual payments in order to lock you in. Always read the pricing as these guys still list the monthly price and then in the small print list payable annually in advance.
This has changed the software industry forever and now offers us so much choice, more than ever before.
Keeping users active and engaged in their products is the name of the game for these people as there is always something else to try.
There is often very little down time and upgrades are delivered in a split second. There are so many products to try and find and you can literally run a small company off free tools if you really wanted.
So there you have it what is SAAS and what its all about. I hope you have enjoyed this blog? Please feel free to comment and to subscribe to my blog list to get these straight into you inbox for free. You can do this at the bottom of my website on the left hand side.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Author- Speaker - Consultant. Passionate about all things digital.