Accelerate Time to Market and Business Growth with an Automated Software-as-a-Service Platform

The promise of software delivered seamlessly over the internet once seemed like a distant dream. Yet today, companies large and small rely on cloud-based apps for everything from collaboration, to project management to finance, and more. But transitioning from traditional software site licensing to a modern delivery model poses complex challenges. How can software vendors automate operations while providing excellent service? This blog post explores the technology and business considerations software companies need to thrive in the era of digitization.

Why transition from on-premises to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery?

Many companies want to use modern B2B software delivered over the internet (known as SaaS) instead of traditional software that is installed on-premises. However, delivering B2B software this way requires significant customer management complexities as well as cloud computing power and servers. Managing all these customer complexities and cloud servers also creates challenges for the software companies themselves—they need automated tools and processes to keep track of and manage their customers, budgets, and cloud environments. If these companies identify as small or medium businesses (SMBs), resource constraints can be even more challenging.

What are experts saying about software delivery?

In IDC’s 2023 SaaS Path Survey, they underscored the administrative burden of SaaS for B2B software companies using legacy tools and processes:

“To the provider, the responsibilities can be overwhelming, especially without the required skills and a platform to help manage the commercial aspects of SaaS, including subscription plans, payments, and tenant management. The critical question is how efficiently and cost-effectively a SaaS provider can deliver its next-gen SaaS offerings. The key metric to aim for is a marginal cost of onboarding and managing a new tenant that approach zero.”

Corent, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, took this a step further and worked with IDC to commission research about ways in which they can help independent software vendors (ISVs) modernize operations. They learned 84 percent of buyers are willing to spend more on next-generation SaaS applications. Additionally, they learned it takes over three years (on average) for each ISV to develop their own efficient, fully-automated SaaS delivery and operations platform.

Re-thinking existing business models

Confronted with these statistics, ISVs can clearly see the necessary investments needed to transition to the SaaS business model. However, these investments quickly start to consume too much of the budget, both in terms of the engineering effort and time and inevitably delays on their time to market.

Introducing a platform that automates the transformation of existing software applications into highly efficient SaaS offerings, allows ISVs to accelerate their transition to a cost-efficient, next-gen SaaS model. By utilizing a SaaS automation platform, the ISVs also naturally align their investment with the new operational expense model itself—a key advantage of the SaaS business model.

Three important SaaS concepts to know

There are several key concepts that a modern, next-gen SaaS platform should be expected to provide. However, three critical highlights include tenancy, operations, and commercial management:

1. Tenancy management refers to how SaaS applications are architected and delivered to users. There are several types of SaaS tenancy models depending on your company’s needs. We typically recommend multi-tenancy (multiple users sharing the same instance) since that capability does the most to lower the cost-of-service delivery on a per tenant basis.
2. The operational management capabilities of a SaaS platform need to offer self-service onboarding processes for new tenants, as well as all the lifecycle events such as upgrading, unsubscribing and even account deletion.
3. For commercial management, you will need to define a set of subscription levels, set pricing tiers, manage those billings and usage-based micro billings for all the tenancy models. A flexible pricing model allows you to both measure tenant usage and configure tiered billing on any attribute you wish to monetize.

SaaS app distribution and usage considerations

As SaaS usage has grown, IT consultants and teams have come to rely more on digital marketplaces (or app stores) for their software needs. Modern SaaS providers can increase adoption and revenue by making their software available on places such as AWS Marketplace. It’s a curated digital catalog where businesses can find software and expert guidance to power your business.

Taking it a step further, your SaaS application should also provide the following:

• Easily-accessible web interface from any device (such as smartphone, tablet, laptop/desktop)
• Strong security features
• Reliable uptime (even during peak usage)
• Innovative tools and features that evolve to take advantage of new cloud capabilities

When you host your SaaS app on AWS Cloud, there are 43 percent fewer monthly security incidents, a 69 percent reduction in unplanned downtime, and access to innovative solutions that help your business grow.

Working with Corent Tech to create a modern SaaS solution

Altogether, the capabilities needed in a next-gen SaaS platform are extensive and would require a lot of work for any ISV (or SaaS 1.0 provider) to create. It’s easy to see why IDC is advising potential SaaS providers to consider a SaaS delivery and operations automation platform.

Elevate your software or SaaS to AWS Cloud with efficiency and precision, while freeing up your resources to innovate and drive your business forward. For a free assessment of your SaaS or software or a complementary upgrade of your SaaS to SaaS 2.0 contact Corent here. For more information, read about Corent Tech’s SaaS Automation Platform—SaaSOps—on AWS Marketplace.