With the global impacts of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID- 19), the Software as a Service (SaaS) Market has certainly seen a shakeup and will continue to further in the coming years. SaaS is a software distribution model where the service provider hosts the application at a data center for customers to access via the internet. By subscribing to the service, customers no longer need to maintain the hardware or other resources that were previously required and instead can access the Software via a client program or web browser. This is exactly the kind of setup that is required for most companies to function these days, as most employees are on a work-at-home setup.
This 2021, this market is expected to expand better as it becomes more powerful, user-friendly and affordable, attracting many companies to focus on growing SaaS as a part of their operating expenditures instead of making the capital investments required to implement cumbersome legacy systems. Here are some things we can expect from the SaaS growth, post-COVID-19 era.
Rapid Evolution
As more companies turn to the SaaS Market, more and more customers will demand even greater flexibility, more robust onboarding services and support, increased functionality, and more user accessibility from SaaS providers. SaaS has certainly emerged as the dominant model for digital productivity and communication tools, challenging the market to become increasingly competitive. The innovations this competition produces will be the recurring movement for SaaS in 2021 and beyond.
Machine Learning
A subset of AI, Machine Learning is utilized in SaaS to automate responsiveness in customer service reports and applications, such as AI-powered chat operations with live chatbots. It will also automate the onboarding process of SaaS. A fresh injection of ML innovation will empower SaaS-style offerings to become self-improving, offering a level of intelligence and operational efficiency that will drive a host of industries forward.
Consumer-Driven
Given the cut-throat competition within the SaaS space, consumers now have a lot of leverage. SaaS providers are challenged to offer more flexibility, high-quality onboarding support, responsive customer service, improved user-friendliness and expanded functionality. The services must provide and enhance the essential features that users are looking for: low cost of entry, flexible contracts and fees, strong customer support and a powerful, intuitive digital platform that can help employees collaborate and get the job done from anywhere in the world.
Enhanced Mobile Optimization
In a mobile-driven age, companies across sectors are now operating critical parts of the businesses from their tablets or smartphones. Plus, more employees than ever feel empowered to perform their jobs better by being able to work with dynamic mobile dashboards and various tools. That means enhanced mobile optimization will become a top priority for almost every SaaS provider. Forward-thinking businesses will turn to mobile optimization reporting tools to ensure their own innovations meet the needs of an increasingly mobile market while making their designs more accessible for older cohorts, the neurodiverse, or users with sight or hearing impairments.
Consumerization of business software products
Business-to-business (B2B) inherits the innovations of the business-to-consumer (B2C) model and puts them to use in a different environment. that said, the widespread adoption of SaaS is contributing to the consumerization of business software products. For instance, B2B applications are moving toward real multitenancy, versatile and user-friendly product offerings and open-ended service agreements–all of which are driven by the availability of effective and agile B2C products. Consider the significant growth of the supply chain management software market–cloud revenue grew two and a half times faster than the rest of the market.
What are you most excited about when it comes to the evolving SaaS market?