When building a product to support a SaaS business model, the initial development is just the beginning. Running a successful SaaS business involves ongoing efforts, commitments, and expenses beyond the original build. Here are a handful of the key factors to keep in mind.
Some important considerations on the purely technical side (akin to lube, oil, filter, transmission service, tire rotation) include:
- Updating libraries and dependencies. This is crucial for maintaining security and performance.
- Managing data is a significant part of technology maintenance. This includes storage, backups, disaster recovery planning, and data governance to ensure data is available, secure, and compliant with state and federal regulations.
- Managing cloud infrastructure involves more than just paying the bills. It includes optimizing resources, scaling infrastructure up or down as needed, monitoring for performance and security, and ensuring high availability.
Ongoing product refinement (similar to new tires, electronic upgrades, and more) include:
- Creating a product roadmap outlining upcoming features and improvements. Regular updates of your product keep it competitive and relevant.
- Monitoring your target market to understand changing customer needs and trends.
- Actively collecting feedback from your customers. Feedback improves your product and prioritizes feature development.
- Using customer insights and market research to continuously improve the user experience ensures your product is user-friendly and intuitive.
- Recognizing all things revolve around data. Data analytics gain insight into user behavior and product performance.
When your business model is based on a technology platform, assessing and addressing these factors increase the probability of your company’s long-term success. Growing a SaaS business requires dedication and commitment to delivering value to your customers every day. Ongoing investment is just part of the commitment.
