SaaS in practice
SaaS stands for Software as a Service. Instead of buying a licence and installing the program, you pay a monthly or yearly fee and use it in the browser. Servers, updates and security are the provider's job, and the provider offers the same product to a very large number of customers.
For many businesses it is the right starting point: it is set up in minutes, the upfront cost is low and it covers common needs such as email, invoicing or scheduling well. The downside is that the product is the same for everyone: if the way you work is different, you are the one who has to adapt.
A typical case: a beauty salon uses an online booking calendar on subscription, another service for invoicing and an Excel sheet for client records. Each tool works, but the data does not flow between them and someone spends evenings retyping it. That is when it pays to consider an integration via API or a single piece of custom software.
Before subscribing, do the long-term maths: the per-user fee, multiplied by the years of use and by the colleagues who will join. Check how you can export your data if you change provider one day, and what happens if the service raises its prices or drops a feature you rely on.
