What is SaaS software?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a product licensing, delivery, and management model that empowers software solution accessibility, scalability, collaboration, and security without consuming in-house IT resources – unlike traditional on-premises solutions. In many instances, SaaS also creates new capabilities and functionality to existing software.
SaaS has been around for nearly two decades, but more recently adoption has accelerated to become standard across all industries and most business functions. For example, SaaS represents over 80 percent of customer relationship management (CRM) and over 70 percent of human capital management (HCM) software solutions.
Where SaaS has not been prevalent, until recent years, is in manufacturing and industrial software. Programs like computer-aided design (CAD) and product lifecycle management (PLM), which are the backbone of product development, have been slow to make the transition to SaaS. This, however, is changing. We are seeing an inflection point in technology, attitudes, and availability toward manufacturing-focused SaaS solutions. In recognition of this shift, PTC has been making consistent efforts to become the leader in SaaS for industrial applications.
What are the characteristics of SaaS?
Licensing model: Customers pay to access the software on a subscription, often monthly or annually.
Deployment: The software is owned, delivered, and managed in the cloud and by a third-party.
Architecture: The software is uniquely designed to deliver new value through multi-tenancy and non-relational databases.
What are the benefits of SaaS?
Choosing enterprise SaaS solutions yields both strategic and practical advantages. Here’s how we see them at PTC: