Software as a Service — better known as SaaS — represents a great business opportunity for entrepreneurs in a variety of different industries. The SaaS business model has many positive attributes, making it a popular choice for new startups. But before you delve into any new business venture, it’s wise to perform an in-depth assessment of the opportunities in a specific market. This ensures that you’re entering into a robust business niche with lots of potential for profitability. But what factors should you be evaluating as you consider the opportunities for a SaaS company?
Understanding SaaS Business Opportunities
If you’re going to be successful in your marketplace assessment, it is essential that you fully understand the dynamics of Software as a Service businesses and the related opportunities for profit. Beyond this, you must also consider the workings of your local business environment, whether it’s virtually local or local in terms of geographic proximity. These are essential considerations for your SaaS proof of concept evaluation.
SaaS companies provide users with access to an internet-based software platform on a subscription-type of basis for billing. These web-based portals generally do not require users to perform any kind of software download or installation. They’re also desirable from the perspective of platform oversight since SaaS systems are designed to operate in a smooth, reliable manner with minimal maintenance and management.
The most profitable SaaS business opportunities are ones that involve long-term subscriptions which are paid to access the software platform. Examples include financial management platforms, cloud storage systems. e-commerce shop management systems and email marketing platforms. These SaaS offerings all involve long term engagements that are typically associated with consistent income streams. That’s a key trait that you want to look for as you evaluate SaaS market opportunities.
A SaaS company’s service offerings also play a key role when it comes to market opportunities and overall profitability levels. For example, a business model that includes scalable, tier-based SaaS offerings usually aligns with greater chances of success and higher profit margins. By offering different levels of service, you can meet a user’s needs more precisely. This allows you to effectively accommodate growth, while also meeting a user’s needs in a scalable way if they happen to require a reduced level of service.
Evaluating SaaS Competitors in Your Market Space
In the business world, a healthy amount of competition can drive entrepreneurs toward tremendous success. But too much competition can be extremely limiting, especially for SaaS companies that have limited potential in terms of their user base.
A user base may be limited by factors such as the nature of the actual service offering, inappropriately high pricing or negative user experience arising from issues like downtime or platform instability. The more limited the number of potential users or customers in a market space, the more intensely competitive that business environment tends to become.
Ideally, SaaS entrepreneurs should invest in a comprehensive market analysis in the early stages of the business formation process. This evaluation usually includes the identification of key competitors and an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. A competitive analysis provides entrepreneurs with key insights into competitor practices, their marketing activities and their services. This information can then be leveraged to create business strategies, develop marketing plans and fine-tune service offerings.
Developing a Custom Software Platform for Your SaaS Company
The potential for success rises exponentially for companies that can invest in the development of a custom SaaS platform. A custom-architected SaaS platform allows you to address key issues that can limit success in this business niche. For example, many SaaS interfaces allow for few, if any, integrations with third-party platforms. Integrations can enrich the user experience by allowing data to flow between your SaaS platform and third-party platforms, such as financial portals, data-related systems and cloud-based solutions.
Entrepreneurs enjoy a competitive edge when they can call upon a trusted developer to add features and functionalities to their SaaS platform in response to user requests and feedback. This is a key advantage of developing your own SaaS software.
Gaining a Competitive Advantage With Custom SaaS Development
Not just any developer will get the job done right. You need a SaaS development company with extensive experience in this type of software. That’s one of our specialties here at 7T, where we take a collaborative approach to SaaS development projects. We engage the client from the discovery phase to deployment. Our many Digital Transformation service offerings include process automation solutions, enterprise software development for ERP and CRM systems (among others), along with SaaS development for web apps and mobile apps, amongst others. We work extensively with cutting-edge technologies as we strive to help clients achieve their business goals.
We’re guided by the approach of “Digital Transformation Driven by Business Strategy.” As such, the 7T development team works with company leaders who are seeking to solve problems and drive ROI through Digital Transformation and innovation. We then provide collaborative, multi-phased and impactful Digital Transformation solutions.
7T has offices in Dallas, Houston and Austin, but our clientele spans the globe. If you’re ready to learn more about Digital Transformation and what we can do for your business, contact 7T today.
