Are you in-between decisions on whether to choose SaaS products or Custom software for your business? Do you want to be clarified on which of the options will best meet your business needs? Is it going to be more profitable for your company to buy an already made solution that meets business needs or rather build a solution that is uniquely designed to meet your business needs? We’ll guide you through making the right choice for your business with this article.
There are two main types of software used by businesses for running their processes, they are – “the SaaS product and custom software”. Before choosing which of the options to use, there are so many factors to consider. The difference between the two is much like renting a car versus buying a car. The choice of the one to use for your company depends on the purpose that it will be used for. Another factor to consider is the financial capacity of the company or the company’s budget. We will mention more as we proceed in the article below.
The following attempts to give a brief overview of both the basic understanding of SaaS products vs custom software and their pros and cons. This article will help you to make the right choice for your company, whether you are a small start-up or an already established business venture.
SAAS PRODUCT VS CUSTOM SOFTWARE- THE DIFFERENCES
To distinguish SaaS product and custom software effectively, let’s start by understanding the meaning of the terms:
SAAS PRODUCT
Software as a service (or SaaS) is software that is “rented” and hosted “in the cloud” and accessed via the internet. It is any software that is found on the cloud platform and is run on a provider’s servers. Its users have to subscribe to make use of its services.
It can also be called web-based software, on-demand software, or hosted software.
SaaS customers don’t have to buy, install, maintain, or update any software or manage the infrastructure needed to host the service unlike in customized software development where the applications need to be upgraded to meet the needs and changes. It is the providers who manage the access to the application. This, including security, availability, and performance. All you just need as a customer is an internet connection.
SaaS software services are multi-tenant offerings. This means that many companies can be working on the same database.
Examples of SaaS applications are BigCommerce, Google Apps, Microsoft Office 365, Amazon web services, Concur, Salesforce.com, DocuSign, Dropbox, MailChimp, ZenDesk, DocuSign, Slack, Hubspot, DropBox, or Canva.
CUSTOM SOFTWARE
Another way to refer to Custom software is bespoke software or tailor-made software.
If something is tailor-made, it has been specially designed to suit a particular purpose or need.
From this understanding, we can then define custom software as software specially designed, created, and deployed for a specific set of users, functions, or organizations. The software is developed with the company’s details and needs in mind. These details include the infrastructure, branding, and implementation need.
It addresses a specific need/ set of needs of a company, such as:
- Developing an online mobile banking app to meet the outlined needs of a bank and its customers.
- Developing an app for a hospital for the keeping of patient records.
In other words, the customized application can only be utilized by the company and the department for which it was created:
Some of the examples of common enterprise applications that can be customized are:
- Content management systems (CMS)
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- A business process automation system
- Automated billing machine
- Payment process
- Asset management systems
- Company-facing / Customer-facing web portals
- E-commerce software solutions
- Bug tracking software
The pros and cons of SaaS and custom software
Pros of SaaS software
- SaaS Products are affordable, reliable, and easy to Integrate
- SaaS companies provide IT maintenance for their applications at their expenses
- SaaS products have more robust customer service because of their multiple users
- SaaS products have multiple users which creates a large learning platform for users.
- SaaS companies are modifying their services to create an opportunity for customers to create industry-specific features from their various templates
- The providers are responsible for updates of the software and hardware
- Starting up a SaaS software can take zero to a few days depending on the user training required
Cons of SaaS software
- There could be security issues such as data leakage of users. This could be as a result of weak passwords or a phishing attack
- There is a limit to customization of the applications by users, this is because they do not have access to the core code.
- Companies data is stored in the provider-controlled database
- There could be a transfer of provider ownership through purchase or it can be completely shut down
Pros of custom software
- They are tailored around the goals of an organization to suit their needs. This leads to an increased level of productivity.
- It provides higher security for your organization as the security required by your business can be built into the software
- Your company has full ownership of the software and can design or customized and updated to suit your needs
- The applications are easy to operate and have the needed features for your operations
- It can be developed to contain unique features that your competition may not have. This can give you an advantage over your competitors.
- The software and data is fully owned by the company
- It is easier to integrate with third-party software than SAAS products
Cons of custom software
- It is expensive to execute. It requires a huge capital investment.
- It takes a longer time to develop than SAAS products. It may take months or years to effectively deliver custom software.
SAAS product VS custom software: which should you choose?
If you’ve gotten up to this point and you are still confused about the software option to choose for your business, you need to understand that there are no universal solutions that fit any business. There is no best software solution because every business has its own unique needs.
In other words, the best option to choose will be determined by your organization’s unique needs. Also, it is important to determine the goal you wish the software to achieve.
The following questions will be in order when you are considering designing a customized software for your business.
- Do you want to stand out?
- Do you want to provide a unique solution to your business problems?
- Do you want to create a competitive brand while at the same time increasing productivity and profitability?
- Do you want your brand to be associated with a unique feature or formula that your competitors cannot offer?
If your answer is Yes to the questions above, then it’s time to take your business to the next level by creating a customized business solution that will offer you a high ROI.
TheCodingBuddha is here to help you achieve your customised software solutions.
