Building a SaaS product has many similarities to building traditional applications. SaaS business models work on a subscription basis—think about Adobe Illustrator, which moved its pricing from lifetime access to a monthly/yearly subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. With the AI lifetime purchase, you do not have access to new Adobe products and updates; however, you can access new updates, versions, and features with the subscription model. This article covers how to make a SaaS product that works and steps to ensure that there is mass acceptance and adoption of the product. 

But first, let’s explore SaaS. 

SaaS products’ main features are their cloud network of servers located in different places worldwide. With this network, the reliability is almost always guaranteed because if a network goes down, the system will still run and remain online. On-premise network servers may suffer integral functionality if a server goes down. 

Another feature of the SaaS network is its scalability (SaaS products like Amazon Web Services have packages for small business owners, medium-sized businesses, and enterprise companies). The model is a pay-as-you-go system where you do not have to pay for the whole thing if you do not use the entire thing. And as your business grows, you can scale up—or vice versa. On the developer’s side, revenues are long-lasting as mass user adoption, and subscription models lead to supernormal profits and ROI. The low up-front cost means that users can test the application to see if it is an excellent fit before committing to long-term use. 

How to Make a SaaS Product

Creating a SaaS product has technical, managerial, and marketing implications. The technical steps for developing a SaaS product are naught without the administrative and technical measures. First, you need a reliable cloud hosting service—one of the most prominent Amazon Web Services (AWS) services. After choosing a cloud hosting service, you need a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a network of servers that ensure that your users can access your app or website anywhere.   

Create a Consumer-Centered SaaS Product

A consumer-centered product focuses on the needs of the consumers rather than the founder’s ideals. SaaS products are very profitable, but building them is costly. Imagine spending $100,000 for a product that people do not even want. 

Before building, conduct a market survey of your potential customers to determine how many people need your product. Don’t build a luxury product, except you have the funding and marketing budget to push the product, and if your solutions are new, ensure you hire a legal team for patency and copyright claims. 

If there is a competitor in the market, establish your Unique Selling Position, USP, to ensure that people will choose your product over theirs. Most importantly, your product must appeal to a mass audience to make any sense.  

Hire a Developer

Once you have your product concept and marketing plans, it’s time to build the SaaS app. You can save yourself time and money and build a prototype. Prototypes are smaller versions of the real thing and are used to assess the functionality and applicability of a service or product concept. You can also use prototypes to seek funding from potential investors.

Skillsets of SaaS Developers

Database Knowledge for Cloud Storage

• MySQL

• PostgreSQL

Coding Languages and Frameworks Knowledge

• Basic coding language: HTML and CSS skills.
• Javascript coding language expertise. Also, knowledge of JS frameworks like React and Angular is a must-have skill. 
• PHP

Practical Knowledge of Apache and Nginx.

How to Develop Software as a Service: The Breakdown

SaaS products have three basic processes: Frontend, Backend, and Quality Assurance. Your working strategy and process choice depend on the project’s magnitude and your budget. You can hire different experts for different parts of the developmental process. For example, there are frontend and backend developers, and each has its functionalities. Some developers can work on the frontend and backend. Some developers focus on CDN institutions in a SaaS network. You can also hire an agency to oversee the whole process from conception to finish. 

Note: Quality Assurance processes should be carried out by independent contractors that specialize in recognizing fail-spots and vulnerable bridges in a cloud network. While they may charge more than the regular programming agencies that built your SaaS product, their services are needed to expose security weaknesses within your network. 

Conclusion

The question of how to make SaaS software is exceptionally nuanced. As you learn how to make a SaaS product, you must not forget the role of proper team members. A single person cannot successfully bring software to life. You need timely-executed functionalities, and only a team—however small, can give you that.