Business has done a 180-degree turn in the last almost 40 years. In the 70s, computers took up entire rooms with technicians having to physically climb into them when these machines needed fixing.
In addition, business was only conducted only in an office. Employees came to work at 9am and left at 5pm. When they came home, their time was their own to do with what they wanted to. Time with family and friends was not intruded upon. As a result, relationships were stronger and community ties were closer.
Fast forward to today and the processing power of that room-sized computer can now fit into the palm of your hand with a smartphone. This is thanks to the giant strides that technology has made over the last couple of years.
No longer is work just conducted in an office. Nor are ‘employees’ the only type of ‘workers’ out there that companies can now employ. People now have the freedom to choose how they work. Some people have embraced the freelance lifestyle and have chosen to work, not bound to an organisation, but in an empowered way. These freelancers are very certain of the value that they can bring to an organisation and they confidently market themselves to prospective customers.
Companies are becoming more and more taken by the idea of hiring freelancers to perform particular tasks – as opposed to hiring people in-house – as these independent agents do not have to be watched every single second, of each and every day in order to make sure that they deliver the product that they are supposed to and on time.
So, as you can see, the world of work has changed exponentially. It makes sense that the way we access software changes as well.
The new world of SaaS
About 20-odd years ago, if you wanted a piece of software – be it Microsoft Office, Adobe InDesign or something similar – you had to buy the program on a CD which you would load onto your computer. Gmail and GSuite only came onto the scene about 10 years later.
The drawback of a solution such as this was that it was incredibly expensive to maintain. For example, when you bought the software, you were also having to pay for the additional costs that had to be incurred to get the software to you, for example the CDs and packaging of the product as well as the distribution costs to get the product to the store. As well, if there was an update to the software you would have to buy another kit at a computer store which would allow you to upgrade your version.
Now, with the ubiquity of the Internet and all that this entails, consumers want choice and should one service provider not give this to them they will go somewhere else to find it. This goes for all products and software has not escaped.
The benefits of this service
SaaS (which stands for ‘Software as a Service’) first became popularised in the late 90s and has been enjoying growing popularity ever since with major software houses turning away from selling packages of programs on physical devices such as CDs and are now allowing customers to download what they want.
The benefit of this is the obvious cost-saving as packaging and distribution costs don’t factor in. Updates are much easier to distribute to users and these all come as part of the subscription cost. There is no added cost.
In addition, with SaaS offerings you are easily able to scale the solution to your entire workforce as these are housed on the cloud and, as such, you are able to promote collaboration between your team members. For example, with monday.com your team is able to seamlessly collaborate with each other to ensure that projects are delivered on time and up to standard. GSuite provides your team members with the tools that they need to function at the best of their ability.
At Syscor, we are proud distributors of both of these products and customise them to fit in with your specific business needs. Interested? If so, email us on info@syscor.co.za to find out how we can make your business seamless!