Dynamic Business

Things to look for when choosing SaaS

• Try any SaaS application before you part with any money. Set it up and play with it.
• Speak to an existing customer and really get a feel for the relationship they have with their vendor. If you can’t find a customer then read reviews on the internet. The big difference between SaaS and packaged software is that SaaS is an ongoing relationship.
• Find, read and understand the terms of service the SaaS vendor provides. Compare them with other vendors to understand if certain terms are too lax or unusual.
• Find out about their track record of ‘uptime’. How reliable are your vendors systems? Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
• Understand their approach to user support. They should at least have a user forum where you will quickly get an idea of how involved they are with their customers and how happy those customers are.
• Find out the length of the subscription. Most will have a minimum so it is best to understand your commitment.
• Make sure you retain rights to your data and understand any termination process so you can always get your data out of their system.
• Think about your back-up strategy. Find out how easy is it to do a routine of download to archive your data stored with your SaaS vendor.
• Ensure that the SaaS you select for your business suits your business rather than having to change your business to suit a SaaS vendor.

Case Study: Mastertek scales its operations using SaaS
Mastertek’s management consulting practice is built on making strategy work for their clients through people-focused programs, so when it came to putting in place a succession planning and growth strategy for their business, the need to collaborate and share information internally became crucial.

“In growing the business to a team that’s three times as big as what it was, immediate information sharing was critical,” Mastertek senior consultant Jamie Anderson said.

“While we felt that we had the technology and systems to underpin this growth, we realised from talking to SaaS Mentor that we could spend less using online solutions to gain more reliable systems that are better suited to the way we want to work.”

Mastertek engaged SaaS Mentor to evaluate their business processes and identify a solution that would facilitate growth without adding to operating overheads.

“SaaS Mentor worked with us and mapped out our existing workflow and processes, which helped us to identify precisely how we could move across to a SaaS solution without us getting lost in the technical detail,” Mastertek founder and principal consultant, Graham Childs said.

SaaS Mentor recommended the project management and time tracking solution ‘Intervals’ from Pelago and a corporate collaboration solution from Google. Once the team at Mastertek was comfortable with the proposed strategy, SaaS Mentor configured and deployed the systems and initiated training.

SaaS Mentor’s recommended CRM solution also monitors traffic to Mastertek’s corporate web site, providing a powerful lead tracking solution.

“For a modest investment of $100 a month we have a new online IT structure that’s improved the business’s efficiency by 100 per cent – the alternative would have been to build an extremely expensive solution ourselves,” Anderson explained.

“The web-based systems were quick and easy to implement, taking about a day with SaaS Mentor’s help, and are really simple and intuitive for the team to use. They also allow us to work remotely as we have all the kit we would have in an office – this flexibility was a key attraction and fits well with our culture.

“For little outlay and no need for internal IT support, we have created a system that is giving us a meaningful and efficient way to measure our internal and business performance, without taking away from our client focus.

“As we continue to grow the business we will be looking further to SaaS to help us find better ways to share knowledge and support our staff with the best tools available.”

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