Streamlining both internal and external processes using technology has become an imperative for start-ups to survive in the market and cloud-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) services are taking good care of that. There has been a surge in state-of-the-art SaaS tools that are helping start-ups and small businesses to grow, starting from understanding user behaviour, managing sales, up and ready websites to accounting and social media.
What is SaaS?
SaaS is a cloud-based service where instead of downloading a software on your computer, you instead access an application over the internet on a subscription basis. A small business can leverage these SaaS solutions to grow in the following ways:
Reduce application cost
Every business needs less application cost and SaaS comes with this advantage. A start-up can significantly lower its cost by using SaaS solutions and invest the capital in other areas while having a secure and flexible business system.
Know your market
Gaining market insights is extremely important for a small business to understand the customer needs and deliver the product. Start-ups can, for instance, use Google Analytics, Heap, Chartbeat, Piwik and other SaaS applications to dig deeper into how customers engage with your site. With Google Analytics, you can measure traffic metrics for your website, categorise all visitors by traffic type and even group them on the basis of their country.
Customer support
Every start-up must have good customer support to survive in the market. Online cloud-based customer support softwares like ProProfs Help Desk and Freshdesk can help a start-up with a seamless support system. They provide a help desk ticketing system which can be easily set up in minutes and are available 24×7. These softwares also integrate well with Live Chat, Phone Support, and Game Mechanics, and offer a mobile app so you can take your help desk everywhere you go.
Free from accounting hassle
Time tracking and invoicing are a key element of the project management process for any business. Online accounting software solutions like Xero, Freshbooks can help small businesses to view their cash flow and manage their account transaction from anywhere in the world. They do not need any expertise in this area or hire a separate resource to manage the accounts.
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Online cloud-based customer support softwares like ProProfs Help Desk and Freshdesk can help a start-up with a seamless support system.
Marketing, social media management
There are a great number of sophisticated apps and SaaS solutions that a small business can use to take care of the marketing department, which otherwise can be expensive. HubSpot, Buffer, Infusionsoft are some of the platforms which are budget-friendly and work on end-to-end solutions so you do not have to worry about your product’s overall visibility in the market.
Data protection and storage
For a start-up to grow, it is important to keep the data protected as they are the most vulnerable to cyberattacks. Besides, data storage can be expensive. Cloud-based SaaS applications are automatically updated to make the data more secure and come with inbuilt storage solutions as well.
