3 Types of Critical Questions to Evaluate Your Potential SaaS Provider

In the light of the rapidly emerging popularity of the cloud, more and more businesses have decided to implement SaaS-powered solutions. Yet, most companies face troubles when it comes to considering a reliable SaaS provider. They turn to Google Search in the hope of quickly choosing the best-in-class vendor. Business owners are typically puzzled: hundreds of SaaS development companies, each of which claims to be the #1. In this regard, how is it possible to find a trustworthy partner? Fortunately, the devabit team knows how to help you avoid getting lost in the stream of similar phrases and offers from cloud providers. In this ultimate guide, we've collected 10 fundamental inquiries concerning cost, security, and service, which will equip you with the necessary knowledge about SaaS providers. So read on, and let's figure it out together.

First Things First: Start by Asking Yourself

Why Do You Need a SaaS Solution?

Although this question may sound too obvious and straightforward, it's impossible to move forward without a clear understanding of your initial goal. Before jumping into the rush of SaaS providers research, concentrate on your company first. Whether you require your own SaaS-based communication tool or a customer service platform, your initial purpose may significantly influence your final choice. Here's the list of general questions to help you sort all things out:

1. Which type of SaaS solution do you require? (e.g., email marketing software, ERP software, etc. SaaS provides dozens of opportunities, so decide which fits you best.)
2. What do you want to get as a result? (e.g., your business requires a higher conversion rate or it's necessary to reach a wider audience).
3. Do you need a horizontal or vertical SaaS? (e.g., you want to target a specific niche or target larger audience regardless of industry).
4. What specific conditions may contribute to your choice? (e.g., budget or time limitations, confidentiality requirements, remote or in-house development team, etc.)

Please note that this list offers only a general guideline that may be customized or expanded according to your industry and preferences.

If Human Factor Matters to You, This Paragraph is a Must-Read

There is no doubt that choosing a cloud service provider is not an easy task. You must match each other not only in technical aspects but also in the moral/psychological approach to life. Your SaaS provider is more than just a company, colorful and pretty-looking website or a virtual avatar that texts back you in response. First of all, it's essential to understand that it's a team of real people with their own culture, values, and communication style. These are people with whom you'll have to solve many different tasks, sometimes planned, and sometimes arising unexpectedly:

• Will the provider's team really get to the bottom of your problems and the nuances of your business?
• Will they be ready to solve problems that arise quickly?
• And most importantly, will you be finally satisfied with the result, and will it help your business?

Many details and points can be discussed and fixed in the contract, but the human factor doesn't refer to such aspects. For this reason, pay attention to the first stages of communication with the company. Does your SaaS provider treat you with respect and understanding? Do you have similar views on the development process? These and other related questions will help you make the correct choice.

1. Ask Your SaaS Provider about Services

Service appears to be the last 'S' of SaaS, but definitely not the least important one. When signing up an agreement with a SaaS development company, you're simultaneously putting trust in the vendor. Nevertheless, will the delivered services correspond to your initial expectations? Here are several examples of questions to ensure they will.

How Are Your SaaS Services Available?

SLA

Back to the basics, what's SaaS SLA, and why is it so essential? To put it briefly, SLA, also known as Service Level Agreement, is a specific contract that includes what the SaaS development company intends to provide and what the client expects to receive concerning a particular service. SLAs are important for businesses to ensure the cloud providers they rely on will deliver on their commitments. What to look for in SaaS SLA:

• performance reporting;
• ability to terminate;
• explicit penalties;
• uptime warranty;
• exclusions.

What Implementation and Post-Implementation Support Services Do Your SaaS Provider Offer?

Where to Go for Help When Something Goes Wrong

It's essential to remember that the SaaS development company you choose is more than just a product provider. All in all, you intend to collaborate with a company that will partner with you and invest in your constant success using their services. Any reputable SaaS vendor with a high-quality product will provide support services to help you get started. If they don't, it's time to move on. At one end of the spectrum, some vendors go out of their way to include this in the fee. Contrarily, others charge for it.

2. Ask Your SaaS Provider about Security

It's a well-known fact that cloud-hosted services are frequently related to various security concerns. However, security is pivotal when it comes to storing confidential business data. We've collected some questions to assure your data will be safe and sound.

What Security Measures Do You Implement?

Data Storage Location

Notably, it's better to choose SaaS providers that store data in the centers located in countries with strict privacy laws and a reputation for enforcement to prevent your confidential information from falling into the hands of unauthorized users. Additionally, thanks to a reliable data storage location, your business will be protected against delinquency to comply with appropriate regulations and policies around generating, securing, and storing data.

User & Application Security

To begin with, app security should undeniably be at the forefront of your decision-making process. Why? Well, that's because SaaS applications carry a large amount of sensitive data. At the same time, they can be accessed from almost any device by multiple users, hence posing a substantial threat to privacy. To avoid any security risks that can potentially affect your business performance in the future, ask the provider about certifications like ISO 27001 and SOC1/SOC2. After all, SaaS providers should at least implement multi-factor authentication to defeat standard cyber-attacks such as password-spraying.

Supply Chain Security

SaaS solutions frequently contain open-source code, which is why it is necessary to ask your SaaS provider whether their product has this kind of code. Moreover, it would be a good idea to maintain Open Source Code Hygiene in order to research the quality of libraries.

3. Ask Your SaaS Provider about Price

When all other factors are already considered, the conversation inevitably turns to price. For each business, services must provide value for money. In the light of this viewpoint, your cost considerations may be highlighted in the following questions.

What Pricing Policy Do You Follow?

SaaS Fee

In contrast to traditional software solutions associated with steep upfront costs and ongoing support fees, SaaS solutions enable users to pay a monthly or annual subscription fee. Yet, it's essential to note that upgrades aren't always included in these subscription fees. Therefore, it's best to determine what is included in a provider's pricing structure in advance.

Hidden Costs

SaaS isn't as simple as it may seem at first, especially regarding price. In fact, many SaaS providers don't offer fixed costs for a number of reasons:

• API hits;
• user count;
• bandwidth, etc.

That's because these variables may significantly impact the final checkout. Here are some pieces of advice to help you avoid unexpected expenses:

1. If the company's pricing policy seems too pleasing to be true, it can include hidden costs in the future.
2. If the SaaS provider's sales team passed over the conversation about costs too fast and optimistic, it should alert you.

What should you do in such cases? First and foremost, engage your legal team to go through the SaaS service's fine print. Thus, you'll be able to find and address these hidden and presumably later pricey limitations.

We Know What You Are Looking for, so Our SaaS Development Company Can Cater to All Your Business Needs

There Are Much More Things Needing to Be Considered

Of course, the above-mentioned guidance doesn't provide the complete list of questions and characteristics you should pay attention to while choosing a reliable SaaS provider. By contrast, it should rather be perceived as a fundamental direction to help your business determine the right approach. Don't be afraid to customize, expand, change, and most importantly, transform this list according to your key business requirements. All in all, implementing SaaS solutions signifies that you enter the new stage of business development, so meet this opportunity with optimism and hope.

Our SaaS Expertise = Your Business Success

Fortunately, with devabit, the choice is obvious, so you don't have to spend hours wondering what suits you better. Backed by years of experience delivering outstanding SaaS solutions for various industries, ranging from sports to the automotive niche, we know our business well enough to come up with a best-in-class solution for everyone. Our SaaS development team combines a vast scope of robust characteristics to grow, scale, and develop fast:

1. Clear SLC & Pricing Policy

At devabit, we appreciate each client, which is why we always treat everyone with respect by clearly defining responsibilities, terms of delivery, and costs in advance.

2. Support at Each Step

We not only polish our SaaS solutions to perfection but also provide our customers with the necessary assistance at all stages of product implementation.

3. Security Is a Must

With devabit, you don't have to worry about the security of your business data. When information is in the hands of our talented experts, it's definitely safe.

4. Agility

Leveraging agile methodology, we consistently deliver engaging and impactful solutions. As a highly agile organization, we embrace a continuous improvement mindset by normalizing ongoing transformation for the better.

5. Long-Term Experience

Our vast portfolio speaks for itself. Think at least of TalkBackTime, DockWorks, EvenFlow AI, to mention just a few of our solutions. Such a wide variety of versatile projects prove that diverse companies trust us by selecting devabit as a SaaS development company.

Now that We've Reached the End

We hope that this ultimate guide on finding a trustworthy SaaS provider was truly helpful for your business. After all, if you want to make sure you choose the right SaaS development company, it's crucial to understand exactly what you require and identify key aspects you need to look at when selecting a SaaS provider.

To wrap things up, what does it take to find a suitable SaaS development partner? On the one hand, it can take months to find a company that perfectly meets your business requirements. On the other hand, you can choose devabit and enjoy the state-of-the-art, on-budget, and on-time SaaS solution delivered by our talented developers. The choice is up to you, but devabit is always at your service. Just contact us and request a free consultation for your next market-leading SaaS solution right now.