Small and Medium enterprises in Singapore can reap many benefits through adopting Software as a Service. We explore some of them below.
The bottom line
Deploying an enterprise solution (such as Customer Relationship Management, Accounting Tool, Document Sharing, or Project Management Tool) entails many complexities, and expensive ongoing maintenance costs – if you choose to do it yourself; or to buy costly packages off the shelf, then spend weeks and months to configure. Those are the games of the big boys. It involve consulting, setup, hardware, and software fees, to name a few. You may end up hurting your bottom line.
But if you’re an SME, you don’t have to do that. SaaS has made it a lot easier, and cheaper for you to deploy enterprise software for your organization. SaaS saves you somewhere between 60% to 90% of implementation and ongoing maintenance costs. You can start small, then scale up. For example, you have 10 employees, and plan to expand to 30 in the next 5 years. All you need to do is to subscribe to a SaaS solution for 10 user accounts, and slowly upgrade as your headcount increases.
Besides, you don’t have to add to your payroll to start a one-man I.T department. (Even if you want, keeping that department afloat may be proven futile)
The mobile workforce
The workforce has increasingly become more mobile. An on-premise and only locally accessible software will become a chore. But with SaaS, your team can retrieve required information about your customers, or project information and progress, any time any where – as long as they have internet connection. You won’t have to wait until you’re back to office the next day, or next week, in order to do data entry. You can do it on the go. This will save you a lot of time.
Of course, many will show concerns about data security and privacy. However, remember SaaS providers most likely possess an I.T expertise that your organization don’t. It’s like putting your money in the bank – it’s safer most of the time. When it comes to privacy, you’ll need to do your homework though. Study your provider’s privacy statement. Confirm that they can be made answerable, under your country’s jurisdiction.
Gradual adoption
So, if you are considering, do start with a small step. Get yourself acquainted. Take a look at some simple solutions out there, register for a free/trial account. Let your team play around with it. You won’t regret.