all articlesJuly 22, 2009
Benefits of Software as a Service in Dentistry
NOTE: Here at Savchuk Software we utilize aspects of the described model (below); please see dental-software for application specific description.
What is SaaS? It’s a software application deployed as a hosted service. Customers subscribe to use an application rather than purchasing it directly, typically on a per-month basis. In this pay-as-you-go method, customers are afforded a flexible, low-cost, no-hassle model so they can concentrate on running their core business rather than spending capital to purchase applications and integrating them into a localized system. Many dental software developers including Denticon and us have already embraced software development in this progressive mindset.
Ultimately, the experience of using such a software application is similar to that of traditional software installed on your computer, but with a few very important added benefits:
Accessibility
Consider how you can view your email from almost anywhere there is Internet. This is because all the data is stored on a remote database instead of a local computer. The same is true for SaaS applications, which you can use from multiple locations.
Scalability
Any decent SaaS vendor should have spare capacity in their infrastructure. They should also be able to add additional capacity very quickly. Meaning if you need to increase storage, it should be a matter of just purchasing additional licenses or subscriptions.
Painless Maintenance
The SaaS application vendors take responsibility for managing the application including performance, up-time, security, reliability, and scalability. In on-premise software, customers either mange these aspects in their own or pay a hosting company or application outsourcer to do it for them.
Less upfront cost
SaaS software is typically subscription based so no upfront costs. I’m are not saying that SaaS will cost you less in the long run - in fact the long term costs may be the same as installed software. But you don’t have a big capital outlay upfront.
Less risk
Following on from the point above. Buying software is a risk - it may not work as expected, adoption may be poor - any number of problems. Why not test the water. With most SaaS applications the commitment is minimal. If it doesn’t work out the way you anticipated, you have invested a lot less than with an upfront purchase.