Introduction:
Over the last decade, businesses have continued to move their sales, marketing, and operations further into the cloud. With constantly evolving SaaS products, it's never been simpler to power a business from anywhere.
Overall SaaS spend per company was up 50% in 2020 compared to 2018, according to Blissfully's SaaS Trends Report.
Even the smallest businesses are using SaaS products without giving much thought to it, be it a CRM, email marketing tool, or automation software. And for larger enterprises, SaaS is a no-brainer for keeping your teams on track, both individually and collaboratively.
As we continue into the new decade, here are the SaaS trends, tools, and best practices to know about in 2021 and beyond.
What is SaaS?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model giving customers access to applications over the internet rather than requiring physical media and custom installation. As the software is centrally hosted and maintained by a provider, updates are automatic and instant. You don't need to download anything to use a SaaS product and you can log in via web and mobile browsers.
Defining Key SaaS Terms
Vertical SaaS solutions are created for a specific industry's needs, goals, and pain points — such as tourism, retail, or agencies. One example is Veeva, a cloud-computing company focused on pharmaceutical and life sciences.
Horizontal SaaS products are used across all industries rather than niches, catering to a general business need. For example, QuickBooks for accounting software.
Packaged SaaS products are designed for certain business goals and processes, such as boosting marketing results or improving customer satisfaction. An example is HubSpot's all-in-one software solutions for sales, marketing, and service.
Collaborative SaaS applications help teams work together more effectively, such as by offering video conferencing or collaborative documents. Examples are Slack for communication and Teamwork for project management.
Types of SaaS Products
The growth in SaaS spans every department, and it's no longer IT's job to select and implement technology. SaaS has become so accessible that anyone in a company can choose, subscribe to, and implement new apps.
To create the most well-rounded SaaS stack, here are the types of SaaS products that are worth investing in for most types of businesses:
Many SaaS tools are multi-purpose and can tick many of these boxes, so you certainly don't need a tool for each one. Whether you have a few apps or a ton of them, it's important to sync your apps to avoid data silos and errors.
20 of the Best SaaS Products for 2022
Which SaaS tools should your business try in 2021? Here are some of the most popular SaaS products according to popular review sites.
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How to Sync SaaS Apps to Enrich Data Everywhere
PieSync is an iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) designed to help your SaaS apps play nicely together. Simply put, you choose the apps you want to connect and determine how customer data should flow between them.
You could sync new customer data from Zendesk to your CRM, so your sales team can stay on top of updates. Or you might sync unsubscribes from your email marketing app with your other communication tools to avoid frustrating prospects with unwanted messages.