SaaS in simple terms

Table of contents:

• Subscription model
• Is e-mail a SaaS?
• For SMEs

I like the definition that SaaS is a computer that is not under your desk, but somewhere else. To decipher the acronym, SaaS is software as a service, or software as a service.

The term was discussed in 2010–2011, when the software consumption model was changing. Then it was unusual that the software could be not only on the user`s laptop or in the neighboring server room. This is the model in which the software like https://doctranslator.com/ resides with the service provider and you use it from a browser or through an add-on application.

Subscription model

I associate SaaS with a subscription, SaaS - software for a subscription. This is not only where it is launched, but also the buying model.

We used to buy software, pay for a license, and install it on a computer. And SaaS is used by subscription as much as necessary, and this is not a purchase of a license for life. That is, you can use it according to your needs and expand. For example, if you hire new employees, pay more for software, if you fire, pay less. For me, SaaS is also revealed in the subscription model, which has grown along with this concept.

Is e-mail a SaaS?

We can say that the first of the massive ones. Although when they tried to standardize the concept of SaaS and said that this is an application with a single core according to the subscription model, many argued that e-mail is not SaaS. But why not SaaS? Here the consumption model is the same, and if the service is paid, then the subscription model is the same. So yes, e-mail is SaaS.

For SMEs

Many small companies want to use software, but they do not have system administrators who would keep it in working order and make backups. In the SaaS model (ref.: Wiki), these tasks are taken over by the service provider. Many people find it easier to use a subscription model and pay a small monthly fee than to buy expensive software right away.