How to Easily Build a SaaS product – A Complete Guide

Last Updated on May 23, 2022

Do we evolve as quickly as the world around us? Will the approach on-site be postponed? Many entrepreneurs worldwide are asking the same thing for themselves. This is because cloud computing has spread like wildfire recently. Cisco’s Annual Internet Report states that by 2022, SaaS will take 75 percent of total cloud workloads and calculations.

The question then arises: how to create a SaaS product? As a SaaS application development company, our expertise in SaaS customized development will be shared.

You are therefore about to find out what SaaS technology is, how a SaaS application can be created and why it is important for companies to run and develop.

What Is SaaS?

SaaS is a cloud-based software supply technology where SaaS providers host applications remotely and they are accessible by network services to customers. You just have to rent the required application, access it through the browser, and pay not for the App itself but for permission to use it for some time.

In plain English, you no longer need to buy, install, configure and support the in-house hardware and software — you just rent the application and use it for as long as you want. The network connection is the only thing that is needed.

They are either directly distributed through the supplier or via a so-called aggregator — mediator side, which collects SaaS products from various suppliers and presents them as part of an integrated application platform. 

SaaS providers normally access their services using a subscription model if users (customers) make ongoing payments in order to obtain app permission. The prices are flexible and the payment types vary with the applications. SaaS providers may use different options for subscription models to enable customers to choose the most appropriate option.

The Scope Of SaaS

SaaS apps have become a new business-standard. This is a great option for SMEs since it is more economical than the use of traditional in-house software. It is an excellent option. There are many popular SaaS products that have become successful by adopting the SaaS business model.

SaaS applications remove substantial financial risks from the software because it needs considerable time, human and budgetary resources, while simultaneously offering the opportunity to use efficient, cost-effective software that might otherwise not have been available to smaller companies.

It is also an option, however, that encompasses many areas, including office, payroll, accounting, CRM, HRM, resource planning software, and the like. The percentage of companies preferring SaaS applications to on-site use is steadily growing, and the overall size is expected to grow rapidly in the SaaS public cloud market and is not anticipated to decrease.

SaaS applications have significant benefits for businesses as well as general users as their secret to success. Below are the most remarkable advantages of SaaS apps.

The Benefits Of Building SaaS Products

The choice of a SaaS model is full of advantages, but most remarkable of them are:

• Lower Cost

The SaaS model can save its users for several objective economic reasons. The acquisition, licencing, installation, and operating costs of maintenance and upgrades are linked to traditional software and hardware.

Unlike this, buying a SaaS product subscription means maintaining, upgrading and supporting customers and the price of the license is significantly lower; therefore, there are no significant upfront costs required. In addition, SaaS providers support infrastructure maintenance costs.

This reduces the cost of maintaining your own hardware and software. In addition, customers can temporarily try an app before purchasing, and subscriptions can be stopped at any time.

Upgrade costs are also lower than in the traditional model. Consequently, customers can only pay for their needs and usages using a SaaS model.

• Time Saving Approach

SaaS apps are already installed and configured in the cloud, as opposed to internal apps. This reduces the time it takes for software to be deployed and reduces the risk of something wrong, such as debugging and testing of its components.

The SaaS provider also performs maintenance tasks, reducing time, costs and effort required to enhance conventional software such as software updates.

SaaS products are particularly easy to use because they include best practises and samples. It means that it will not take long for the employees to introduce the new system.

• Integration Options Availability

Companies with SaaS apps usually use a lot of software on-site. This means that they often have to be integrated, and a shared set of SaaS applications’ APIs and web protocols make this possible. However, additional human and IT resources are needed to implement the integration mechanism.

SaaS products are also extremely flexible, as customers are free to change the subscription as needed. Further configurations and upgrades according to customer requirements are always possible.

And the icing on the cake is that you can use the internet connection on various desktop or mobile devices to access the SaaS app from anywhere in the world.

Of course, a SaaS model has several downsides, like any other technology solution, and it should not be ignored. But it has a lot to offer, despite everything. Because of the ease and availability it offers regular customers from everywhere in the world and from all devices and the ability to subscribe or withdraw these apps when necessary, SaaS is an attractive model.

It saves money, working hours, and human resources from a business perspective, with good use, represented by a team of highly skilled IT specialists, creating the conditions necessary for improving productivity. 

Building a service-based software application has a wide range of perspectives and because the range is still quite narrow, you still have an opportunity to build a niche for you.

Things To Consider Before Starting A SaaS Business

So you came up with a concept you want to develop about your product. But some points have to be considered before your team begins building the application. SaaS applications need multiple steps to be built:

Above all, you need a clear picture of your product idea, to choose vertical or horizontal (specialising in SaaS software for particular industries), software categories (for example marketing or sales), to understand who your audience is, and to understand whether they need your product and what it will use.

This requires the decision on your SaaS product’s main features and components. A selection of major features should be based on end-user needs and software objectives, but a successful SaaS application has several essential components:

• The most important aspect of every company is data security. The fact that data is accepted as a valuable asset has vital importance. It may lose money, so it needs to be safeguarded and secured.
• Privacy now covers a number of aspects, such as user privacy and data privacy, which must be protected. SaaS products purchased by companies must therefore ensure that customer privacy is secured in line with customer policies and government orders and that the privacy standards of each region in which it is being implemented must be complied with.

• Adjustment, Whitelabel, and extensibility include the opportunity to require certain client companies to customise certain specific business issues, white labelling, and extensibility to enhance software functionality.
• In the conditions of a large number of users accessing this software across the network, scalability and high efficiency of SaaS software are essential. It means that it needs to be available and scalable for querying data, transactions, etc with excellent performance.

• Software and data integration with other existing solutions and preferred platforms may be necessary for companies. It needs a series of APIs for on-site or SaaS integration.

8 Steps to Building a SaaS Product

1. Research & Fix Your Specifications

At this point, your objective is to collect as much information about your future customers, competitors, trends, and emerging technologies as possible.

In addition to information about the deficiencies of the applications of competitors, insights into the needs of users will help you create a truly unique SaaS product. Study the trends in the sector in which you will explore if you consider building vertical SaaS business applications.

You will create a detailed and exhaustive technical specification, with the functions of your app and the guidelines for product development, at the end of the initial phase of the app development process.

2. Define Your Revenue Strategy

How precisely will your SaaS solution be used to make money? Before you begin a comprehensive software development project, it is essential to answer this question.

This is an important step in building SaaS apps, as it will determine your software’s structure – which can’t be unfinished easily, so think carefully.

Advertising, subscription, and freemium models are the most widespread ways of generating income. Consider introducing transaction and/or selling fees if you are setting up a cloud-based marketplace.

3. Fix Your Cloud Infrastructure

You have to select the correct cloud infrastructure company to serve multiple users while securing their data. For established and renowned providers, able to keep the highest encryption practices and data center safety.

The cloud services provider will choose to provide an excellently scalable, reliable, and performant cloud infrastructure that is capable of providing support to third parties.

4. Hop Onto The MVP

This is not yet a comprehensive cloud-based solution. A trial application version with only the basic feature set is Minimum Viable Product. However, it will be necessary to decide what features you will include in your MVP. 

Implement the most impactful features while at the same time being the cheapest financially. At this point, your objective is to persuade your investors.

5. Test & Implement The Required Changes

Collect feedback after launching an MVP. The best way to do this is to directly question users what their likes or dislikes about your product are.

It will be relatively easy and less painstaking to make changes to an app feature set or architecture at this point. They may later become early adopters of the app as the target group to test your proof of concept.

6. Start The Final Development Process

This is the stage when you start to code with your development team with the selected language, toolsets, and frames. The application of agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban or Extreme Programming will simplify and speed up the development, respecting the guidelines for specification and quality assurance.

Best practices today propose the integration of QA testing in all phases of software development. Keep in touch with your team during the implementation of your SaaS application idea. Your objective is to constantly check whether you remain on the same page and follow the specifications of the product correctly.

7. Promote Your Product

We list promotion as a single step while actually developing your SaaS app at the same time. When your first release hits the web stores, a group of fans should wait for the final release.

8. Release It, Maintain It

Once you’ve completed all phases of QA testing, your SaaS platform or web service is ready for release. However, you have not yet completed QA: the user acceptance test is the final step of the quality assurance process and takes place after your app is published.

How Can You Convert Your Existing Business Into A SaaS One?

You must take 4 main steps to convert your application to a SaaS business:

• Analyse The Situation

Compared to existing solutions on the market, assess your application potential. Go through its characteristics and integrations. Think whether you want to present a new model with features or you can get rid of some of it. Think of the process of conversion as giving your product a second life as a SaaS cloud.

• Get Your Team In Place

The way you and your team maintain and support the product will change if you become a SaaS platform. Train your team beforehand, so that they are ready for the changes. Some external support can also be available and SaaS development is available.

• Choose Your Cloud Services Provider

You have to host your product in a cloud environment when it is available online. Select a few suppliers and compare them with the team experience, the number of users, and customer services in particular.

• And Finally, Migrate.

It may take some time to migrate, so be patient. The complexity of your product, the expertise of your team, and the necessary integrations will depend on it. The recruitment of SaaS experts is sure to reduce development time.

Also note that in some cases it may be necessary to move projects into a new technology or to rewrite backend/frontend, so take it into account in the assessments.

Wrapping Up

There are certainly many business opportunities created by the SaaS model. Follow our step-by-step guide on how to build a SaaS product to take the best of it. And personalize your product as a service software as well, of course, to stand out in the best way.

You are looking for a team of experts who know how to build a SaaS app? OyeLabs’ team will be responsible for and help to realize your vision of SaaS development needs. Explore our works or get in touch with us to talk about your ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions When Developing A SaaS Product (FAQs)