What is SAAS
SAAS, Software-as-a-service is a delivery model that runs on the cloud and delivers the solution via the internet to the customer with a pay-as-you-go billing. The overheads are mostly accounted into the subscription by the provider without the customer bearing the initial infra costs—making it easy, quick and scalable.
SAAS on the CX stack
The CX stack — at every component level — is progressing towards rapid deployment and on-demand scalability. Every CX leader faces the first and foremost challenging decision to make — to settle for a full-suite SAAS or a multi-suite SAAS.
The 4S to look for
Silos:
Sticking the siloes together can be a painful undertaking. In a multi-SAAS CX set up, there are many moving parts to the system. To offer a seamless and holistic solution can get quite challenging, and to orchestrate is time-consuming. Whereas a full-suite SAAS is configured to offer greater connectivity between the components. The integration effort is a cost and better to avoid that burden.
Size:
For an SME, low initial costs can be of great advantage unlike large organizations opting for long term benefits. SMEs want the setup time to be as low as hours. A full suite SAAS offers that agility. A multi-suite SAAS can work for a large organization with multiple demands across departments. Each component serving individual departments without going through a time-consuming transition. However, if a full suite SAAS comes up as a solution offering cross-connectivity across departments, is more functional.
Scalability:
Every business prefers to grow smoothly. If a disruption due to data flow or SLAs happens when a business is scaling, the company is at a greater risk. On a multi-suite cloud legacy system, the possibility of one or more components becoming unsupportive during scaling is high. So in comparison on-demand scalability seems better on a single-suite SAAS model than a multi-suite SAAS setup.
Security:
On an integrated multi-suite model, the possibility of a data breach at different levels is much higher compared to a Single SAAS suite. If anyone of the components is vulnerable to attacks, and if the data of that system is not isolated, the breach can cause data leakage of the whole system. In the digital age, when data is the heart of the business, a data breach can break businesses. Data security being a shared responsibility in a multi-suite set up can be effective only if correct defensive mechanisms are deployed by all the parties.