Creating software or programs for your business can be quite difficult, especially if you don’t really have the knowledge in web and software development. However, once you actually learn the basics of creating software, you will be able to understand how to convey what you want to have on your brand’s website to a software developer you hired.
While it is possible to create a SaaS (software as service) product on your own, it is still highly recommended that you hire someone that is an expert in SaaS that would help you create the best software. SaaS software is incredibly popular nowadays because of its ease of use and its versatility, so a lot of companies want to jump on the trend and have their own SaaS program.
However, the SaaS development process is complicated and expensive, so you will need to spend a lot of time, money, and effort in order to create the best SaaS product for your company or brand. If you want to have a SaaS product, here are some steps that you can follow with a software developer to build the SaaS software that suits your preferences.
Plan Out the Design and Features
The first step in creating a SaaS product is to plan out the design and features of the software. You will know how to properly plan the software by doing research first on what features you would actually need for your target market. If you are going to create an online shop for your brand, you will need to have features that are needed for shopping, like digital carts, categories for products, and the checkout menu. An experienced software developer or IT team will be able to help you in fleshing out what the SaaS product will look like and what features should be included in it.
Estimate Costs for Development and Maintenance
After figuring out the design and features of the product, you can start estimating the cost of the SaaS product or how much you are going to spend on the software. In addition, you should also track the cost of maintenance for the SaaS product so that you can add it to the monthly or yearly budget of the business.
If you are just a small business, hiring just one software developer is enough for maintaining the SaaS software, but once your business gets more customers and popularity, you will have the hire a team of developers and experts so that the SaaS product will always be in top shape despite the growing number of users or viewers on the software.
Figure Out the Architecture of the Software
Once the costs are estimated, you can then figure out the architecture of the software, which is fairly easy to do since SaaS is primarily located in the cloud, which means that all the data and services of the software are stored in the cloud and not in physical devices or servers. There are made cloud-based architecture systems that you can use as a foundation or structure for your SaaS product, so be wise in choosing a system that would work best with your ideas.
To know which systems are considered the best for different purposes, you should check out reviews online and see which ones are suitable for the design and features that you want for your brand’s SaaS product. You should also judge a system based on its flexibility and security, as those two aspects are needed if you want the best software.
Work Out the Technical Capabilities of the Product
The next step is to test out if the software would actually work with all of those features you wanted to add. The software must comply with the SRS or software requirements specification, which is a document that gives details on how the software will work or operate. The SRS would also provide details to stakeholders about how the SaaS software functions and what it should accomplish for the business.
Next, you could then focus on risk assessment and see where the software may fail or glitch out for users. By understanding those risks, you will be able to quickly come up with ways to fix the issues within the software. Be sure to always be prepared for issues that may occur on the SaaS product.
Monitor the Development and Testing
Now that you have all the things you need to create the SaaS product, the development process for the software can begin. The software developer or the IT team you hired will do their best to add all the features you want to the SaaS product and make all of that work, but you will still have to monitor their progress in order to make sure that they develop every aspect of the product in time. The IT team would also have QA or quality assurance in order to make sure that everything on the product is working properly.
Besides development, you should also monitor the testing of the SaaS product, and you can even volunteer as a tester so that you can check out first-hand how the software operates and if it runs smoothly without any glitches or errors. After testing, the software developer or IT team would then ask for feedback from the testers to know if they should improve or fix something on the SaaS product.
Continue Maintaining and Developing the Product
The development of the SaaS product doesn’t just stop after it is fully launched, as you have to continue developing new features for it so that it would remain fresh for customers or users. Regular maintenance is also essential for SaaS products or any type of software, as there may be errors, bugs, or issues that may develop over time.
So these are just some of the simplest steps that you can follow in order to create a SaaS product for your brand or business. Developing a SaaS product is a complex process, so you will need the help of a competent and reliable IT team or software developers that are surely capable of making your ideal SaaS software work.