Software as a Service (SaaS) allows users to connect to and use cloud-based applications over the Internet. SaaS is a subscription software license model. The user gets access to the service through a browser or API. At the same time, the service provider is entirely engaged in its support. Simply put, the SaaS model is when a client works with a turnkey solution online. It pays for access and as quickly as possible gets a finished tool in hand.

The simplest example of SaaS is Google Docs, a free document management service. No media, drivers, or installations. Create a Google Account, follow the link and work with texts, tables, and presentations right in your browser. And in documents, other colleagues can work simultaneously with you. Having left on a business trip, you can log into your account from any device and continue to print the desired document. In this case, you only need to save the settings, the rest of the data is saved automatically.

In fact, SaaS service is a single software core that is provided for use by customers. They get access to the system through the network and can change the settings at their discretion. The service provider is entirely engaged in servicing the service, and the user only works in it. The popularity of this model is growing every year. Last year alone, the SaaS market increased by 21.7%. According to experts, this trend will continue in the coming years. This is not surprising, because in this way users get modern technologies at their disposal almost without any effort on their part.

Today, with such decisions, most people come across daily. A common occurrence when SaaS services are used for accounting, communication with customers, image editing, CRM, analytics, ERP. In a word, for almost everything.

Work through the web interface

When using SaaS, you will not have anything that you can “touch” on your hands: installation files, folders, and documents on your computer. All data is placed on the servers of the service provider — in the so-called “cloud” storage on the network. You get remote access to the program and you can work with it in a browser from anywhere on the planet where there is Internet access. At the same time, there are SaaS that you can buy and install on your server.

Access fee

SaaS payment schemes are quite diverse. First, consider the most popular. In this case, the user does not acquire an expensive software license as a whole, as when buying a disk or downloading installation files. And does not pay a significant development cost, as when ordering an individual solution. He kind of takes the service for rent, paying an analog of the monthly fee for access to the functionality for a month or longer.

According to the standard scheme, the payment will be renewable, therefore it is also called a subscription. The client pays for using the service during the period, for the number of users, for the number of certain actions in the system, etc. For example, in the case of CRM, the fee depends on the number of employees who will simultaneously work with the program. As a rule, it is more profitable to pay for such services in advance — in this case, the user receives a tangible discount and bonuses.

Some SaaS provide a limited set of functions for free, and you will have to pay a subscription for access to advanced ones — this is a freemium model. But more often SaaS provides several tariffs with a different set of functions.

The global trend of digitisation in business is now one of the most critical features in SaaS and Subscription Business strategy. Business models form the basis by which to evaluate customer requirements, how to manage costs while adding or creating items to improve business. Traditional Business Models and online shopping platforms providing a linear structure to customers have evolved, shifting to Hybrid Business Models using Financial Technology to incorporate crypto decentralised payments on the blockchain.