22 Jun How AI Service Providers Will Change The SaaS Landscape?
Blog by Tuhin Adak
Companies and organizations are increasingly depending on SaaS for their needs and requirements. Software-as-a-service or SaaS is a delivery model in which a licensed software is centrally hosted.
With developing technology, one field which has been a topic of discussion is Artificial Intelligence. It has affected many fields and improved user and developer experience to a great extent. Let us see how it has improved and made SaaS easily accessible and available to clients. Before we see how AI has changed the SaaS landscape, let us understand what SaaS is and the reason for its popularity.
What is SaaS?
SaaS is a software delivery model where a licensed software is centrally hosted for clients to use. Clients have to subscribe to get their licensing information and can use the application as they need. This delivery model is often known as the “on-demand software” service model.
SaaS is one of the three main cloud-computing models. The other models which have comparable popularity are:
● IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
● PaaS – Platform as a Service with more businesses moving to the Cloud for their new and strategic business models, there has been a steady increase in demand for Cloud Computing. PaaS is currently the most popular model, covering over 32% of the workload and unlimited growth potential. SaaS follows closely in popularity, covering around 24% of all enterprise workloads and IaaS with around 12%.
SaaS Features
As SaaS became popular over the decades, the main characteristics which stood out are as follows:
● A clear and upfront charging on a subscription basis.
● Real-time service updates help businesses and companies achieve their goals.
● Easy-to-use features and self-serve customization for users are especially loved by users as they have different needs and requirements. Users can also customize the software on their mobile devices.
● SaaS does not provide device and use-case services. After learning the uses and features of the particular software, you can make full use of the software on other platforms, devices, and for other purposes too.
● Easy integration of other SaaS tools into your base software can be very handy for companies and businesses.
● SaaS can help you and your company analyze and work on a huge load of data with ease. Every input can be categorized and worked on to provide a valuable and organized output.AI has changed the way we look at SaaS and use them for our purposes. Let us look into a few major impacts AI has had on the nature and work of SaaS over the years. How has Artificial Intelligence changed the outlook of SaaS?
Having worked on several parameters of how SaaS works and operates, AI has brought about revolutionary changes.
Automation
The growth and development of Artificial Intelligence or AI have been an impetus to automation in various industries, and SaaS providers are no exception. Machine Learning is an important subset of AI, and it has been applied extensively to automate chatbot responses for a smoother and faster customer experience. Further, it can automate the onboarding process of SaaS, and decrease dependence on manual support.
Since SaaS users’ biggest challenge is remoteness, AI can help mitigate and reduce related problems. It ensures the smooth working of the software applications and provides a satisfactory customer experience.
Personalization
AI lends a helping hand in personalizing SaaS services for the needs and requirements of the clients. With newer features and functions being added, the user interface and dashboard became increasingly complex. Many features were redundant for companies and with AI-driven context-aware computing, the interaction became easy and usage became smoother.
AI can be used to design an interface based on previous interactions and voice control to present to customers just what they need.
Enhanced Security
As hackers and threats to data increase, SaaS services need to update their security features to preserve the data and integrity of their clients. AI can detect patterns, assess human factors and behavior and learn from past errors and bugs. Machine learning helps a lot in developing newer security patches and creating the most effective security measures. With the ability to replicate and counter the actions of a hacker or an unauthorized user, AI can take the most effective security measures as per the requirements.
Many SaaS service providers have deployed Artificial Intelligence to strengthen security in their software. A good example would be Oracle, with its advanced machine learning algorithm monitoring the security of the software.
Easier Development Process
Artificial intelligence has helped developers a lot as they work tirelessly on the software to improve efficiency and provide a great user experience to the clients. To keep customers happy and beat the market competition, new updates and improvements are being launched at small intervals, sometimes even in minutes. Those days are long gone, where a monthly update could ensure you stayed ahead of the crowd. Tools like Docker and Podman make it possible to deploy codes within seconds, which reach thousands of users instantaneously.
Most SaaS services often use hundreds of lines of code – there may be major problems if even a section is erroneous. AI comes to the rescue and helps with errors. Additionally, AI can be used to interpret multiple code languages, assess them for errors, and learn with each new script. AI can be trained to analyze and improve the viability of each patch and update.
Currently, Microsoft is developing a system that can code independently using AI. The day might not be far when we can train AI to write code, similar to training children to speak.
AI revolutionizing the SaaS field
With innovations in the field of machine learning, software and platforms that empower businesses can automate significant chunks of internal operations. Besides its contribution to customer support and experience, machine learning helps in various aspects of an organization’s work. Newer improvements in the field will allow SaaS-style offerings to become self-improving. Industries and businesses can move forward with the level of intelligence and operational efficiency that AI and ML offer.
With time, technology is developing at an alarming rate and making our life easier. With time, we will surely see AI affecting SaaS in ways that may seem unimaginable as of now.