Before pursuing SaaS development, figure out whether it’s a good idea to bring a SaaS idea to life. First, identify the market segment you'd like to enter. You may also consider outweighing the benefits of the overall model if the on-premises approach prevails here.
You need to understand the market situation before developing your SaaS app. It would help if you asked questions such as:
- Who is going to buy your product?
- What are their biggest complaints?
- Do you have any competitors?
- What are some of their essential/unique features?
- How does their business model work?
In this way, you will be able to define the high-level market requirements. Then, create a description of your target market along with your vision. Finally, to convince your users that your SaaS application is the best of the rest, you must make your pitch clear and appealing.
Using the market analysis, you can explore business opportunities and choose the most appropriate ones. Then, examine the successes and failures of your competitors. Resultantly, you will be able to determine how to develop SaaS-based solutions that will be in demand.
You Need a Roadmap for SaaS Development
A roadmap is a list of critical points that help you determine how to proceed further with SaaS development. For example:
What makes your product unique? Define your company's identity and the values you wish to convey to your clients. Try to describe it concisely and in a catchy way.
What are your potential clients' most pressing concerns, and how will your project solve them? List the problems you want your product to solve.
What are the best ways to reach your target audience? Decide on a promotion strategy. Among the many options available are social media, content marketing, advertising, partnerships, etc.
How will you monetize your SaaS product? Decide how you will do it. Look into different subscription plans, upgrades, and advanced support. You can use a freemium model, flat-rate, usage-based, tier-based, or feature-based pricing.
Most likely, the plan will change. Nevertheless, it is a prerequisite for SaaS development.
Now let’s take a look at the crucial steps to building a successful SaaS.
- Define Essential SaaS Requirements
A wide range of features is achieved through cloud computing in SaaS development. There are, however, some core functions that must be included in any SaaS product. So let's look at them.
Multi-tenancy. Each tenant shares a single database and application instance. It is a cost-effective option with low maintenance costs and more computing power.
Self-service provisioning. Automated processes are used for creating service delivery. It speeds up the SaaS Application development process and makes it more consistent, stable, and scalable.
Security ensuring. Using SaaS, users' data is encrypted, and applications are secured. Another important aspect is the protection against various security vulnerabilities. In addition to identity management and access control, multifactor authentication and step-up authentication are also included in security measures. Moreover, SaaS application users should be given access to session handling.
User activity monitoring. Audit logs help you track changes and prevent intrusions. Besides protecting data, it also handles integrity and access issues.
Learn from your competitors for more specific functionality. Review the SaaS products of your competitors to identify the features you need for your niche. Distinguish between core features that serve customers' needs and nice-to-haves.
- Pick a Technical Stack
SaaS development technology stacks include various programming languages, frameworks, and tools. Currently, there are many choices available.
Because of this, finding a solution stack and how to build a SaaS product isn't easy. There's also the issue of the requirements of your business. It is therefore impossible to give a stock response to what frameworks and tools should be used to build a cloud solution.
The following section discusses the most popular options to cover the required SaaS development aspects.
- Front-End
Everything users see on the screen is the result of front-end development. This means that you will need the following frameworks for SaaS development: React, Angular, JavaScript, Redux, Next.js, Vue.js, Typescript, HTML 5, CSS, CSS3 and more to meet SaaS requirements.
React, and Vue.js are our preferred technologies at DFY SaaS. The dominant technology is currently React. Vue.js is another lightweight and easy-to-maintain framework to consider.
- Back-End
The server-side is handled by back-end development. It functions as the backbone of your SaaS product through its invisible nature and forms its responsiveness. Consequently, you will need a reliable framework, such as PHP, Node.js, CodeIgniter, Laravel, etc.
Node.js is a favorite programming language among our team members. We use Node.js to build a cloud solution since it is a fast, cost-effective, scalable, and secure platform.
- Database
Applications rely on databases to store information. We recommend MySQL, MogoDB, or Lambada.
MySQL is our preferred database of choice for building a cloud-based web service.
- SaaS Hosting
AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Heroku are all capable of handling SaaS requirements. However, we typically use Amazon Web Services because of their reliability, security, and flexibility.
- Build Your SaaS Development Team
The fate of a product depends on the team behind it. So what kind of team is needed for building a SaaS product?
You need to hire the following individuals to create a successful SaaS-based product:
- Business analyst
- Designer
- Software developers
- Quality assurance engineer (QA)
- Project manager
It can be tough to find experts for building SaaS products. Here are three options that you can choose from:
An In-House Team - This may be the first thing you think of, but do not jump to conclusions. Such an option is ideal for companies that are already successful and have a constant workload. That said, it gives you complete control over the SaaS development process.
Freelancers - The cheapest option is to hire freelancers. These individuals may have extensive experience in specific fields and technologies. However, you must oversee their work and monitor them constantly as there is a good chance that they will ghost you.
A SaaS Development Company Specialising in Building SaaS Products - It is an excellent middle ground between the previous two options. A company of any size can use this approach. Remote teams provide high-quality services without you having to manage their work, and you pay only for the actual work done.
Inexperienced teams are one of the reasons why cloud products fail. Meeting deadlines and developing a quality web product is only possible when a high-skilled team is involved. DFY SaaS uses best practices when building and deploying SaaS products from the ground up. Our web solutions are also maintained and supported after they are deployed.
Project managers, UI/UX designers, quality assurance engineers, and developers are among our team members. We would be content to assist you in developing and launching a cloud product.
- Create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
A SaaS application's value proposition needs to be validated to be successful. How can that be accomplished? Making an MVP is an essential step in the SaaS development process.
MVPs are not full-fledged products, but they have enough features to lure early users and validate ideas. This MVP that's ready to go to market can then be scaled and amended as needed.
Despite not being a finished product, it still solves your target customers' critical problems. Ideally, your MVP should appeal to your target customers and be loved by them. MVPs are released before fully-fledged SaaS products to accomplish the following:
Analyze and Collect Feedback - This is a valuable tool for improving usability and user experience. Is there anything users liked or disliked? Should we add/modify/remove any functionality?
Get a Feel for the Water - This allows you to determine if your application will fit into the rapidly growing SaaS market. It will also let you know whether customers are interested in purchasing your services. Does your application have a good chance of success?
Experiment with Different Concepts - An MVP allows you to evaluate your business hypotheses. Don't just focus on the features of your SaaS application; consider its entire impact as well. How should you proceed?
An MVP is useful for collecting feedback quickly, demonstrating the idea's technical feasibility, and allowing investors to see what you've accomplished.
- Get Feedback
Once the SaaS development cycle is complete, it is always important to collect and consider customer feedback. Only customers can decide which features are essential and which ones are not.
For your MVP, you can collect feedback in different ways. For example, interviewing and surveying your early adopters is one of the best ways to validate your product's idea since they are looking for some solution to a problem you can provide.
Wondering how to calculate the cost of building an MVP?
It is possible for the final cost of MVP to vary. The final cost is heavily influenced by the available budget and the project's complexity. There is no such thing as an ‘exact cost of an MVP.’ However, you can use this budget calculator to get an idea of how much it will cost to build one.
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