Software as a Service SaaS

Software as a Service is the delivery model where you access an application over the internet, on subscription, without installing or maintaining anything yourself. The vendor runs the infrastructure, ships updates continuously, and is responsible for uptime, security patching, and backups. You log in.

How SaaS differs from traditional software

Aspect	Traditional software	SaaS
Installation	Install on local machine or server	Access via browser; nothing to install
Updates	Manual; new versions are purchased	Continuous, automatic, included
Licensing	One-time purchase per machine	Per-user subscription, monthly or annual
Data location	On your hardware	In the vendor’s cloud
IT burden	High (patching, backup, hardware)	Low (vendor handles it)

Real-world examples

• Productivity: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365
• Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom
• Sales / CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot
• Accounting: QuickBooks Online, Xero
• Storage / collaboration: Dropbox, Box, Google Drive
• Security: Duo MFA, Bitdefender GravityZone (the cloud console)

Tradeoffs to understand

SaaS reduces operational burden but adds different risks. You’re trusting the vendor’s security, the vendor’s backups, the vendor’s uptime, and the vendor’s continued existence. Most managed SaaS providers (Google, Microsoft, AWS) take this seriously, but SMBs should still ensure they have independent backups of critical data (third-party Microsoft 365 backup, for example), clear offboarding processes for departing users, and documented data-export procedures in case a vendor goes out of business or changes terms unfavorably.

For SMBs, SaaS is usually the right default — the alternative is paying staff time to maintain infrastructure that has nothing to do with your actual business.