Can Software as a Service Save you Time and Money?

One of the gems of conducting business in a digital world is our ability to use computers (read robots) to save us time and money. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the embodiment of this — it helps switched-on companies around the globe make short work of time-consuming and menial tasks by handing them over to computers that employ AI and machine learning. This removes the element of human error, saves money and creates more time for steering the ship. Read on to see if SaaS can help your business…

How to determine if SaaS is for you

Deciding if SaaS can be a game-changing time and money saver for your business is as simple as asking yourself a few questions: 

• Am I completing the same time-consuming or repetitive tasks on a daily, weekly or monthly basis?
• Am I awkwardly jumping through hoops while I work across multiple platforms?
• Do I use manual communications to keep multiple parties up-to-date?
• Is my workflow complex or simple?
• Could a robot be doing some of the work while I enjoy a glass of wine?

SaaS by definition

We take a loose approach to SaaS here at Apex Digital, classing it as any software solution developed to improve efficiency, whether it’s bespoke or one-for-all. But traditionally speaking, SaaS is a model of software licensing and delivery in which the software is licensed to the end user on a subscription basis and accessed online. Development of a bespoke SaaS solution normally carries a one-off cost for the user it’s designed for; while the true subscription model sees the developer create one-for-all software designed for any business, and then recoup the cost by selling subscriptions to the service to many users at a much lower price than the bespoke option.

Notable SaaS options popular in the business world include the Microsoft Office suite via Microsoft Office 365; monolithic customer relations management (CRM) solution, Salesforce; and accounting software via New Zealand’s own Xero.

Three examples of SaaS 

Here are a few examples of how we’ve connected our clients with SaaS to make life easier.

1. Halswell Timber seek slick digital newsletter distribution
   
   

   The Time Sucker: Halswell Timber wanted to send a professional-looking newsletter to their clients several times a year, without designing them from scratch or the admin nightmare of manually editing the recipient list.

   The Solution: We connected Halswell Timber with MailChimp, a powerful yet user-friendly email marketing SaaS solution for SMBs. It allows them to create beautiful emails, segment their email lists and automate scheduled delivery to their choice of recipients.

   The Result: Halswell Timber now have a professional email communication presence and can measure ROI by looking at analytics including open-rate and click-throughs. MailChimp allows newsletter subscribers to manage their own subscription, saving Halswell Timber a time-consuming admin task with high potential for error that could be detrimental to client relationships.
   
   

2. Methodist Church of New Zealand trades snail mail for SaaS
   
   

   The Time Sucker: The Methodist Church NZ wanted to speed up the process of collecting GST returns from their parishes, which they were doing with physical forms via post which was time consuming for all parties, not to mention… snail mail!?

   The Solution: The custom-built SaaS solution we created for them allows their parishes to simply complete an online form which is automatically pulled into the Church’s internal database, further reducing manual handling and the potential for human error. 

   The Result: The old process, which could take up to a month, was reduced to around an hour with no physical paperwork and less input required from each party.
   
   

3. Apex Digital makes short work of quoting
   
   The Time Sucker: There was once a time when our team would create each quote document for each prospective client from the ground up — a time-intensive task involving making tables in Word Documents. We needed software to streamline this inefficient method.
   
   The Solution: Having highly skilled developers in-house meant we could create our own SaaS tool to speed up our quoting process. The resulting online document creation tool lets us drag and drop services and pages relevant to the quote; then add text and media to the document before exporting it as our preferred file type. Easy!
   
   The Result: The process of building quotes has been streamlined dramatically thanks to the SaaS tool, making more efficient use of our time.
   
   

Getting SaaS applications talking with custom development

In addition to helping you identify SaaS tools that can improve your time efficiency and reduce costs, we can provide bespoke solutions to suit your needs through our custom development offering. We can help different SaaS applications talk to each other so the likes of your inventory, CRM and accounting tools are all interconnected, creating a cohesive, streamlined and cost-efficient workflow for your business.

Sommelier robots

We’re all about helping our clients get the most out of their business, so drop us a line to learn more about handing tasks over to the robots so you can have that glass of wine.