SaaS is a popular approach to software development. It’s faster, more cost-effective and easier to scale than traditional software development methods. However, it’s also very challenging. Unless you work as a programmer and develop software for your own company, the process of developing software is often confusing and feels artificial. The good news is there are plenty of resources on the challenges and solutions so you can develop successful SaaS applications in no time. Let’s dig into some of the key issues that new SaaS developers need to know so they can start producing profitable software today.
New developers don’t understand software development processes
As a new SaaS developer, you may not understand why your software development efforts aren’t working. You may think your problems are unique to your company and that you’re an exception to the rule. But the reality is that there are countless other companies just like yours struggling with the same issues. The first issue is that most SaaS companies don’t have dedicated teams to develop their software. SaaS companies are often built by a handful of product managers and engineers working side-by-side to build a feature. As a result, when you start developing your software, you’re often learning as you go and have to take on the role of business analyst and Scrum Master. This can be challenging because you’re trying to figure out the fundamentals of software development with little to no training.
You need to build and launch your product before you can make money
If you’re just getting started with SaaS, it’s tempting to develop a product and launch it as soon as you can. However, this is a risky approach. If the product isn’t good, people won’t stick around for long and you won’t make money. First, you need to build a product that people want. You can do this by listening to your customers and implementing features based on their feedback. However, it’s also important to think about how you want to build your product. You need to have a vision for your product and how you want your customers to use it. Otherwise, you might build a product that just serves your current needs. Once you have a product in the market, you need to launch it and get it in front of your customers so they can get value from it. Many SaaS companies launch a product without a proper launch strategy. This means your customers see your product and then it disappears off the radar. This is problematic because you don’t have any way to get in touch with these customers and they may never return.
You need to constantly build and launch new features to stay ahead of the competition
As your SaaS business grows, you’ll quickly realize that you have a lot of moving parts in your software. The good news is that the more you launch, the more experienced you’ll become. But it can still be challenging to stay ahead of the competition. The first challenge is managing everyone’s expectations. You might expect your team to build a feature every month, but that’s unrealistic for most companies. You also need to manage the release process, which can be challenging as you try to balance people’s time. Finally, you have to stay ahead of the competition. Competition is fierce in the SaaS world, so if you don’t release new features, your competitors will beat you to it. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools you can use to measure the performance of your software and stay on top of your competition. You can also partner with other companies to collaborate on common features, which can help you stay ahead of the competition.
You have a lot of moving parts in your software and they’re hard to track
When building software, you have to figure out the correct architecture to support your business needs. This can be challenging because you might have different departments using different software and you have limited visibility into how they all work together. Thankfully, organizations are starting to standardize on lightweight tools for collaboration and configuration management. However, this can still be challenging for new SaaS companies. You only have a limited amount of time to get it all set up. Solution: Create a roadmap for your software and lay out how you want it to look in two years. This will help you prioritize and make decisions about the product architecture sooner.
You’re not monetizing your customers correctly
SaaS companies are focused on generating leads, signing deals and closing deals. But if you don’t make money off your customers, you’re not really providing a valuable service. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to monetize your SaaS business. For example, you can charge customers for ancillary products like training or consulting. Another option is to create a revenue-sharing program where you give customers revenue-share credit every month. This is often a better business model because it means you can target customers with low revenue who aren’t willing to pay full price.
Conclusion
SaaS is a good model for software development. It’s faster, more cost-effective and easier to scale than traditional software development methods. However, it’s also very challenging. Unless you work as a programmer and develop software for your own company, the process of developing software is often confusing and feels artificial. New developers don’t understand software development processes. They think they’re alone in their challenges. The good news is that there are plenty of resources on the challenges and solutions so you can develop successful SaaS applications in no time.
