The pandemic proved customer behaviors can turn on a dime. Companies that weren’t able to keep up quickly found there was a line of competitors waiting to take up the slack.

If you’re like most businesses, that reality means your digital transformation journey has gone from a steady stroll to a dead sprint in the last 18 months. But making such a huge structural shift takes the cooperation of many moving pieces and parts, any one of which can set back your progress.

Most businesses can’t make the swift, thorough changes needed to digitizing every aspect of their operation without a little help. That’s where “Software as a Service” (SaaS) comes in.

SaaS explained

This software delivery method effectively leases programs to users. Applications for everything from email marketing and messaging platforms to photo and ridesharing are hosted by a third-party vendor, but can be accessed via the customer’s network.

The majority of SaaS providers operate on a subscription model that’s based off a customer’s usage. Most plans renew monthly or annually and can be paid for incrementally instead of being purchased outright.

“Although it is a departure from the conventional method of purchasing software, SaaS can provide extremely notable advantages in the business environment. As the integration of cloud computing increases, many software providers are adding SaaS capabilities that could lead to huge gains,” says Technology Advice.

Nowhere are those gains more apparent than the digital transformation space. It’s an adapt or perish landscape, and SaaS solutions offer companies the best chance to actively increase their agility and meet fluctuating customer demands.

The interdependence of digital transformation + SaaS

Whether the goal is to restructure operations or redesign data management, digital enablement can enhance your entire enterprise.

The most effective and always-on organizations also understand that there’s a cascade of changes set in motion by these digital transformation efforts. To help minimize disruption and react to changes in real time, they’re looking to SaaS solutions to optimize their internal processes.

SaaS is the clear frontrunner as businesses shift en masse from on-premise solutions to an increasing reliance on the cloud. It’s a move 61% of businesses made in 2020 alone, many migrating their entire workloads to the cloud.

Those who fall on the other side of the digital divide run the risk of operating an outdated, unsustainable business model. How can SaaS give them a better digital advantage?

Business benefits of SaaS solutions

Our mobile-first, cloud-connected world has helped manifest what was once impossible. SaaS solutions are the backbone of some of the biggest technological advancements of our time.

Here’s part of what businesses can expect when they aren’t restrained by legacy, on-premise systems:

1. More collaboration: Interconnected teams can communicate in real-time and instantly access large files without waiting for them to be downloaded.
2. Better mobility: SaaS makes software installation and VPN access a thing of the past. With nothing more than an internet connection, employees can work and create from anywhere.
3. Increased innovation: Sometimes known as go-live agility, with SaaS there’s no waiting on updates or hardware systems fixes to design and implement creative solutions using the latest tech.
4. Decreased costs: Dollar for dollar, the total cost of ownership for traditional software deployments far outweighs SaaS subscriptions since there are no infrastructure costs.
5. Data democratization: With SaaS, enterprise-level storage solutions are available on a small business budget. Organizations can continue scaling without worrying their data management needs will bankrupt them.
6. Faster change: COVID-19 highlighted how critical it is for businesses to stay nimble. Whether the shifts are internal or customer-driven, SaaS can help fill in the gaps with out-of-the-box capabilities.
7. Scalable solutions: Whether you hit a huge growth spurt or need to quickly cut costs during a slow season, SaaS makes it easy to scale as your situation changes.

For every digital transformation barrier your business faces, there’s a SaaS solution to help you overcome it. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll cross the digital divide and emerge future-proofed.