Choosing a True SaaS Provider: 10 Key Questions to Ask

This blog has never been shy about championing the advantages of true multi-tenant SaaS applications while exposing the enormous disadvantages of hosted, single-tenant SaaS-“ish” offerings. Sadly, many traditional software vendors looking to latch onto SaaS are taking the latter route to market out of expediency. And in doing so, they confuse customers who are interested in SaaS and, ultimately, disappoint and disservice them.

Beagle Research Group has just released a concise viewpoint that crystallizes the above argument, and discusses how customers can avoid confusion and disappointment when purchasing a SaaS solution. Titled Multi-tenancy Matters, the paper presents a history of SaaS, a succinct description of the multi-tenant value proposition, and an excellent explanation of why multi-tenancy has to be designed into a true SaaS offering from the ground up.

But the heart of Beagle Research’s paper lies in the 10 questions it insists prospects should ask when evaluating SaaS providers – and the corresponding 10 answers they need to be looking for and why. This is a list that all potential SaaS buyers should carry in their back pockets.

As Beagle Research points out, SaaS “is rapidly becoming the de facto standard of the software industry,” and “many conventional vendors will offer partial SaaS solutions to maintain marketshare while they upgrade to the new standard.” Read this paper and use its list of 10 questions to make sure your company avoids the pitfalls of partial SaaS solutions.