Posted by Gone are the days when setting up an IT company required massive amounts of time, space, and money. Virtualization and cloud-based services have well and truly made setting up IT firms easier. SaaS is the buzzword that reflects the changing times and has helped transform businesses across industries. Be it solo entrepreneurs, boot-strapped startups, or long-running businesses, SaaS impacts all of them significantly.
Here are some interesting stats from a SaaS industry market report based on data for the year 2017.
- 33% of companies are using more SaaS applications than they did in 2016
- 38% of American companies fostered a SaaS exclusive workplace in 2017
- 80% of end-users of products in the US preferred SaaS apps for communication
- The SaaS public market is expected to grow to $76 billion by 2020
The stats make it quite evident that SaaS-based companies are going to see an upward swing as more organizations adopt SaaS based products to cut down on costs and maintenance overheads. In this blog post, we will examine the growth of SaaS, the importance of on the job-training, and how training can be deployed in an increasingly SaaS-focused world.
Table of Contents
Understanding SaaS
SaaS is defined as – “A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.”
The success of the SaaS model has brought to the fray other business models like – Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Learning as a Service (LaaS). To simplify these terms better, each of these business models is essentially a cloud-based computing platform allowing organizations to focus on their core business and outsourcing hosting and managing servers to these service providers/vendors.
Here’s an interesting video from Tim Warner that offers greater insight on the subject.
Deploying Training in a SaaS Environment
Organizations like Oracle have set up the Oracle University eLearning initiative with specialized subscription-based learning models. Technical professionals responsible for configuring, integrating and administering an Oracle Cloud application can get trained super-fast with relevant certifications and progress in their career. Oracle is just one example, organizations like Salesforce, Amazon, and Microsoft all have their own focused training solutions that are offered in the form of a virtual classroom / eLearning experience online.
The focus is now shifting towards deriving revenue by monetizing detailed training programs and ‘how-to guides’. At one level, when one buys a SaaS based product/service, one gets an inbuilt service manual or guide and support from the product community or forum. At the next level, to fully understand the product/service and harness all its benefits, one has the option to sign up for a special subscription-based learning service.
Of Bite-Sized Learning & In-Product Videos
A generation of millennials that prefers to learn via video and prides itself on its ‘Do it yourself’ skills has made video-based learning an integral part of in-product training. It is no state secret that YouTube continues to remain the first place, where people look for answers for a video-guide to resolving their work-queries. Integrating the insatiable appetite for videos and the ability to deliver quick and easy to understand videos, SaaS based products choose to invest in both bite-sized learning and video-based learning to foster training and product adoption. It is no rocket science; would you read a two-page solution to understanding how a feature works or rather view a five-minute animated video with voice-over that explains the product feature? Videos and bite-sized learning are here to stay!
The SaaS Revolution
With an enhanced focus on security and affordability, SaaS-based products are here to stay and the competition among established players and new-age startups is quite intense. It is a win-win situation for companies and individuals deploying and using these products, as they get to choose the product that is best suited to their needs. Are you a SaaS-based product company? How is it that you are ensuring product adoption and in-product training? How do you distinguish your product from other players in the market? Is your product training effective and up-to-date?
At Origin, we offer support at multiple levels. Hire us to create top-of-the-line, goal-oriented, result-driven eLearning and product training content. We are here to help you craft your SaaS-based product’s success story. Write to us at info@originlearning.com for further information.