In this six-part Solifi (formerly IDS) Insights series, Lisa Nowak, director of SaaS and Marketplace Platforms, dispels the five most common myths about platforms enabling software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the cloud in the secured finance industry.
As mentioned in the first installment of this SaaS in the cloud myth buster series, one of the most common myths is that a cloud-based platform enabling SaaS is not suitable for all company sizes. That is not true. SaaS in the cloud is a perfect solution for secured finance companies – regardless of size, sales volume, or cloud maturity.
SaaS in the cloud is specifically designed for consumption (pay for what you use) by any size company – from small startups using Excel spreadsheets to large national and global organizations moving from on-premise IT systems.
Smaller companies often think they don’t have the technical expertise, staffing, revenue, or funds to benefit from the value of a SaaS cloud-based platform. Larger secured finance organizations are more concerned if SaaS can meet their evolving needs when it comes to scalability, performance, complex regional requirements, and integrations. And they question the breadth and depth of a cloud-based solution. Working with customers of all sizes, we know SaaS-enabled solutions in the cloud are viable for small, medium, and large companies in the secured finance industry.
A few core principles of SaaS in the cloud make this possible. The cloud is flexible and modular in nature, so you can create customized footprints from both an infrastructure and a functional standpoint that makes sense for your business today and in the future as your business and technology change. That’s because SaaS in the cloud scales with your company in nearly real-time, and SaaS-enabled solutions deploy new upgrades in a regular cadence.
In comparison, an on-premise solution requires extensive time, labor, and resources as an IT project team must plan and acquire additional infrastructure or implement new technologies to keep pace with innovation, business growth, volumes, and industry changes.
Cloud and SaaS (or SaaS in the Cloud) – The great democratizer
SaaS is known as the great democratizer where companies of all sizes can access the latest technology more easily to grow their business without investing huge sums of money upfront.
What does great democratizer mean? Essentially, it means creating a level playing field where everyone has a fair chance at succeeding.
It would be challenging for any company to scale and invest in this type of technology that is constantly evolving. So SaaS-enabled platforms (like IDScloud) and leading cloud providers (like Amazon Web Services – AWS) make those huge investments globally at scale and provide core platform services, integration frameworks, pre-built integrations, etc., to all sized customers at an affordable price. And you can leverage that technology in a consumption fashion. That is, you only pay for the technology that you actually use.
This means all secured finance organizations, regardless of their size, can capitalize on the innovative and effective software solutions and growth drivers that SaaS-enabled solutions via a cloud platform provider.
Eliminating that historical barrier of a large upfront investment creates a competitive edge, especially for smaller companies who can leverage leading-edge technology that scales with their business. For larger organizations, SaaS-enabled solutions provide near-on-demand scalability and modularity that grows and evolves with the company.
This means small and large companies alike can:
- Respond faster to deals
- Expand quickly into new markets
- Work / engage with clients anywhere
- Connect to key services like Salesforce, eSignature, Vertex-O, and more.
Read the next part in our ‘Top 5 SaaS in the cloud myths debunked’ series:
Top 5 SaaS in the cloud myths debunked
Myth 1: SaaS is not suitable for all company sizes
Myth 2: Security of a cloud-based platform is unproven
Myth 3: SaaS is complex to buy and use
