The Software as a Service (SaaS) market is estimated to be worth around 152 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 and is expected to reach over 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2023. While the SaaS industry has grown–and continues to grow–exponentially over the last decade, not all EHS managers have fully embraced this digital approach to EHS software. For many professionals, the weariness of shifting from on-premise EHS software to SaaS solutions is due to a lack of education about true SaaS and the benefits it holds for their organization.
In this blog, we’re digging into the details about what distinguishes true SaaS from other deployment methods, the value EHS SaaS holds for your organization, and why it matters in this new digital transformation era.
What Sets True SaaS Apart From “Fake SaaS”
True SaaS is rooted in continuous innovation, security, agility, and scalability. It’s a software distribution model where a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to the end user via the internet. This is vastly different from EHS on-premise software deployment methods, which we’ll discuss later in this blog.
Many software companies of late claim to have the SaaS model but lack the key elements of SaaS. Today, vendors are seeing an opportunity to lure customers into fake SaaS that lacks agility, security, and scalability–key tenants of true SaaS. Oftentimes, a software provider may mount a web portal into a server hosting their on-premise software in an attempt to simulate cloud benefits. This, essentially, only masks a legacy on-premise software and lacks the true SaaS benefits of speed, performance, uptime, maintenance, security, and digitization.
Investing in a true SaaS solution–not masking a legacy on-premise system–lowers costs, provides more security, improves access, and offers unlimited opportunities for scalability.
The Limitations of On-Premise Applications
While on-premise applications transformed how we do business for decades, the new era of digitization is causing many organizations relying on on-premise applications to fall behind.
While many on-premise solutions can operate without the internet, they don’t support a mobile workforce. More and more organizations are shifting to remote work and satellite offices and need access to applications while working in the field. A true SaaS application allows employees to tap into the software anywhere, at any time, as long as there is a connection to the internet.
The scalability of on-premise applications is another limitation EHS professionals should consider. While true SaaS is easily scalable and deployable to employees around the world, on-premise software requires manual installation, which is a tedious task that often requires skilled IT employees to complete.
Data loss is another disadvantage of on-premise software that organizations need to consider. With true SaaS, your data is backed-up on the cloud. But with on-premise data storage, a malfunction in the system can result in permanent data loss.
Deployment time and cost are the last two major drawbacks of on-premise software. It can often be costly and time-consuming to invest in, configure, and deploy an on-premise system. As your business grows and evolves, an on-premise system won’t naturally grow with you–meaning more costs add up over time too. Those who leverage EHS SaaS spend less money on IT infrastructure, upgrades, customization, and IT team labor than their on-premise counterparts.
Why Your Organization Should Embrace True EHS SaaS
Cost reduction is the main benefit for many organizations when moving to SaaS. Not only can SaaS yield a more predictable cost structure, but it also helps companies reduce software costs overall.
Software availability and reliability are other key benefits for EHS professionals. With a unified SaaS solution, employees worldwide can tap into your EHS software–whether they’re in the field, working from home, on a mobile device, or in a satellite office. In addition, EHS SaaS provides frequent data backups, which gives users peace of mind knowing they won’t lose critical information if a computer or device goes haywire.
Scalability and adaptability are also common needs EHS professionals seek out when searching for EHS software. With a SaaS model, the cloud-based servers can easily grow with your organization and adjust to data storage and deployment needs. For fast-growing companies, you won’t be hindered by equipment that can’t keep up.
Don’t Fall Behind in Digital Transformation
EHS professionals who have not adopted SaaS could hold back their organizations from cost savings, enhanced application, reliability, availability, mobile application deployment, and new technology adoption. The integrated CorityOne Platform offers simple and streamlined access to all solutions, enhanced business intelligence, and targeted data exchange between solutions.
With CorityOne, EHS professionals leverage simplified single sign-on, personalized homepages, dashboards, quick navigation to important flows, security certifications in the highest industry standards, integration with other enterprises IT systems and devices, and continuous innovation.
