The SaaS market has become very profitable in recent years and is expected to continue growing. While many companies may be producing quality SaaS platforms, what’s missing is their ability to scale as their customers grow. In this article, Lex Boost, CEO, Leaseweb USA, explains why choosing an infrastructure provider designed to accommodate growth is critical.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) market has become very profitable in recent years and is expected to grow to $220.21 billion by 2022.Opens a new window With this growth comes a flock of companies trying to gain a piece of the profit pie. While many companies may be producing quality SaaS platforms, what’s sometimes missing is their ability to scale as their customers grow.
One of the biggest ‘scale-up’ success stories is the widely-popular Netflix. Founded in 1998, Netflix began as an online DVD rental service. But when they added a content streaming service in 2007, they boomed from a $49 million company to a current net worth of $226 billion that is now available in over 190 countriesOpens a new window with 193 million subscribersOpens a new window .
Analyzing Netflix in their role as a SaaS company can serve as a useful reminder that success doesn’t just mean ensuring your product satisfies the customers’ needs today, but that you are also able to meet future needs by supporting seamless scalability Opens a new window when demand grows. But no SaaS business can do this alone.Â
How To Choose the Right Infrastructure Provider?
Choosing an infrastructure provider designed to accommodate growth can be instrumental in markets that can see dramatic changes in user adoption overnight. Making that choice should depend on how a potential infrastructure provider can provide flexible SLAs, the right tech in the right location, and a sufficient and trustworthy support function. Let’s look at each of these considerations more closely.Â
1. Flexible SLAs
Service level agreements (SLAs) outline the type and level of service expected from an infrastructure provider. Most will offer different tiers of SLAs to meet their customer’s requirements as they scale. They often vary significantly in terms of features or level of support, also demonstrating whether the infrastructure provider is equipped to meet their needs as they scale.
Providing infrastructure for a SaaS company is a ‘mission-critical’ role and has to be built on a foundation of confidence and trust. Maintaining rigid SLAs, for example, tells the SaaS company that the infrastructure provider is perhaps not willing to embark on the growth journey with them. Instead, infrastructure providers should not only offer different tiers of SLAs, but also make it known that the switch to a different tier is simple, quick, and always an option.
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2. Right Tech, Right Location
Infrastructure providers should fully understand the current and projected goals of their SaaS customers — it helps to anticipate their needs and plan for growth. This can be done in various ways, such as brainstorming sessions with customers to grasp how their business model is evolving and what their pain points are. Doing so allows infrastructure providers to accurately determine the right technology to invest in based on what their SaaS customers need.Â
Ensuring that your infrastructure provider is correctly investing in the technology that will help both you and your customers grow seamlessly is an important step towards seeing them as a trusted advisor and strengthens the relationship between SaaS companies and their infrastructure provider.
Infrastructure providers must also ensure they have solutions available in their customers’ target growth geographies – or else another infrastructure provider will. Failure to prioritize these two critical elements can result in an inability to meet customer demands, impacting application performance, increasing downtime, and (worst of all) services not being scaled as needed.
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3. Support, Trust, and Consistency
A strong support function should be available 24/7, guarantee minimum-to-no downtime, and offer maximum flexibility. Succeeding in these areas means that the SaaS company trusts the infrastructure provider’s capability to meet its evolving needs.
The SaaS industry is riding a huge profit wave, and competition across the varied market niches will continue to increase. Success will come to those who remain consistently adaptable, anticipate trends and demand, and scale their infrastructure to capitalize. Having an infrastructure provider that offers upgradable and adjustable SLAs and has a robust support function that builds trust is key to the success of any SaaS company.
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