SaaS in the pre covid and post covid era.

The COVID-19 pandemic took not just the world but the entire business market into a new dimension with various business trends. The market requirements have tremendously changed in this era, with the consumer heavily seeking and relying upon SaaS products. Moreover, the digital age has reformed things and redefined the business models necessary to ensure success. Therefore, it is essential to look into the new trends for SaaS providers, which led to the tech-savvy world even before digitalised everyday life.

What is SaaS?

Software-as-a-Service is an over $100 billion cluster of companies contributing to sustaining the digital ecosystem. These are app-operated services for a third-party user. It caters to the regulatory needs of companies and provides a broader range of service possibilities through its software.

Since SaaS helps with a smoother customer interface, leading to an expanded customer base, this market can handle a low-demand era. It remains relatively immune to the unstable market. The unmatched financial flexibility it offers its investors has always been a huge plus point that attracts more and more individuals.

Before the global pandemic, the predictions for the SaaS market, as given by Technavio, were estimated to be around $60 billion in the 2019 to 2023 market period. Most companies have been extracting positive revenue even during the lockdown, and the predictions remain optimistic for the field.

Many companies like Typeform and Bloobirds have exponentially escalated their growth revenue, especially during the pandemic, with customers more eager to avail of SaaS products and services. Bluebirds also received enormous funding in the middle of the pandemic, totalling about $3 million. With products such as surveys, B2B sales, etc., integrating themselves into customer service and becoming essential business tools, this market has never been more relevant. Unlike the general trend post-COVID, this market has not been financially impacted drastically and has been sped up in reaching its predicted profits. The entire industry suffered a mere 4 per cent loss owing to demands of a reduced service cost, which eventually turned into a 17 per cent profit once the world adapted to the digital work age.

Future Prospects in the Newly Digital World

A booming growth trend during the pandemic indicates the increased demand for digital companies without a digital user platform has now welcomed and incorporated these services in various forms. Work-from-home has also hugely benefited the SaaS market and expanded its outreach. All SaaS products and services aim to make the customer experience as smooth, quick, and efficient as possible. The ease provided to the customer, in turn, brings more interested parties towards the company. In return, it favours the SaaS provider with better investor involvement. The new normal of having almost everything available to an individual without even stepping out of the house has remodelled the customer mindset to benefit the SaaS services and products.

On a more industrial level, the need to provide a digital workplace to employees has driven companies from various industries, including those without a digital background, to shift to services that ensure digital working continuity. Even in the post-Covid phase, the easy flow of digital work culture has made individuals get used to the software and more preferential towards it. It has led to the same SaaS products being used even in offline work mode.

The ability of this industry to perfectly fit the client's needs into customised software that engulfs all the variables of the business has been the USP in generating such a grand revenue. This flexibility ensures a very secure future for the entire SaaS industry. The market started with a $113 billion revenue in 2020 and reached $131 billion within one year of the pandemic. The projected growth revenue will be $716 billion in the next six years.

Many factors make SaaS services attractive, such as:

●      Independence from any physical contact throughout the process.

●      Subscription plans which are easy to access and manage.

●      Freedom from storage and inventory management.

●      Remote access allows anyone to work from anywhere.

●      Extremely secure and reliable backup.

●      More flexibility for different business requirements.

Even after the pandemic, consumers rely on SaaS services for their domestic and industrial requirements. Some of these products include:

  • Telehealth software
  • Electronic Signature Software
  • Web Conferencing Software
  • Antivirus Protection Software
  • Remote Desktop Software
  • Video Platform Software
  • Webinar Software
  •  Web Portal Software
  • Live Chat Software

Work From Home and SaaS Profits

An average 62 per cent increase in the revenues from the SaaS industry was seen in the first year of the pandemic, followed by a 28 per cent growth in the second year. SaaS has been a stable industry, and its services are independent of market fluctuations. The remote working requirement of the pandemic forced individuals to adapt to various tools and software to keep delivering to their respective clientele. The comfort of remote working soon became a go-to owing to the agility of SaaS products.

Most of the SaaS apps were used by the cyber security, IT teams, and product management teams which saw the most increase in the number of SaaS users. It is because SaaS enabled all client requirements to be accommodated in the company projects, thus ensuring the expected quality of work even in the remote working mode.

The lowest new downloads of SaaS tools were by the sales and operations departments which were already very dependent on the services for their everyday targets and attainments.

The Prospect of AI-based SaaS

The most important offer to make to today's clients is customisation and personalisation for the product they prefer. AI gives the best form of such customisation. It creates a pattern study of the software's user interface. Accordingly, it establishes the algorithm which offers solutions to all the client's problems and produces a foolproof software version for them.

It also allows the client to get their target results with fewer SaaS tools but a much higher efficiency rate. This way, the SaaS provider can increase the product value multifold, and the client does not have to make bulk purchases.

AI-based SaaS tools can also improve the workflow patterns of each product according to the specific requirements while considering the entire database and user interaction history. Therefore, these tools can also be made to assist the user in the best way to attain desired results.

AI-based tools offer a one-stop solution to all user problems and tremendously increase efficiency, which is the most desired quality to be sought after in the coming years of the business industry.

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