Choosing the Right SaaS Tool

TL;DR - This article highlights the critical considerations for selecting the right SaaS solutions, emphasizing the importance of understanding business needs, ensuring data governance, and maintaining security and compliance. Choosing the best SaaS tool involves evaluating customer reviews, integrating with existing technology stacks, and aligning features with business requirements.

Digitalization is a must. Companies not making the digital leap pay the cost of falling behind and losing competitiveness. Also, as we have previously mentioned in many articles, working with bad data directly leads a company to failure.

Whatever the case, choosing the best software among the competition is now a challenge that takes time and effort. Millions of SaaS tool options are available on the market, and they all claim to offer the best. But, best for who?

Plauti will help you out of this dilemma in this blog post so you choose the best SaaS solutions for your technology stack, considering only your company's needs. You must know what aspects to evaluate to get the best results. Here's a list of key points for you and your team to consider to ensure your tech stack is ready for success.

How to identify good business requirements

What tasks need to be done?

You and your team must know your business from beginning to end. Understanding its nature will lead you to a complete comprehension of its needs. To mention a few:

Knowing what your company needs to function will help you make better and more timely decisions about what elements to adopt in the future. Also, to track the progress, providing objective on-time evaluation.

Data Governance

Data governance (DG) is the process of managing the availability, usability, integrity, and security of the data in enterprise systems based on internal data standards and policies that also control data usage. Effective data governance ensures that data is consistent and trustworthy and doesn't get misused.

Data Governance, specifically data quality, obviously lies close to our hearts here at Plauti. You give your customers an unforgettable experience when your company makes decisions using accurate data. As your data quality improves, you'll be able to make confident, data-driven decisions for your organization.

Adopting the right SaaS tool already makes a difference for your company, but understanding how vital data cleansing is, makes you stand out from the competition. Data-driven decisions lead to success.

Any SaaS solution should take into account the following:

• Data quality
• Data lifecycle management
• Roles and responsibilities related to data
• Data protection
  
  Security and Compliance
  
  Companies now consider switching to secure solutions as they rely on cloud apps. Cloud computing brings with it profound security threats. SaaS security protects SaaS applications and data storage facilities in the cloud without much effort from the staff. Companies often fail to consider threats when switching to Cloud environments. Either due to a lack of knowledge or guidance.

Verizon's 2021 DBIR Master's Guide reports that 73% of worldwide data breaches involve cloud assets. And companies need to take basic measures to mitigate this risk. According to Tech Target's Enterprise Strategy Group, 60% of SalesForce users neglect to back up their cloud data.

One of the main risks is poor data protection coverage. From GDPR to HIPAA, regulations now demand strict data protection policies. SaaS deployments can disrupt compliance strategies. Consequently, compliance strategies must adjust as cloud resources come online.

Poor security puts sensitive data at risk. That's something all compliant companies need to avoid. The data stored on the servers can be subject to vulnerabilities such as data hijacking, power failures, and disasters. When buying software for business use, you should ensure that the provider has the necessary infrastructure to guarantee these two elements and save you headaches in case of any eventuality. Today more than ever, cybersecurity is essential for companies' business continuity.

How to find the right tool for your technology stack

1. Review Websites

Who hasn't checked on reviews before buying something? Especially in the digital world, where opinions appear practically next to any product or service to be purchased. Reviews have the remarkable peculiarity of providing confidence since they come from customers who have experienced the service or product firsthand. While not all of them represent reality, you can generally get a good idea of their performance.It is advisable to look at reliable review platforms like G2Crowd, Salesforce AppExchange, and Capterra, among many others. In addition to the rating, you can know the pluses and minuses of each of the options. Take a look for yourself! Take into consideration more than one review. At Plauti, we recommend you keep a general perspective and avoid focusing on particularities. One negative review might not speak for all.

2. Google it

Old Reliable here! Google may understand your company's nature. Thanks to the efficient way it captures data and deciphers behavior, it is possible to find listed reliable insights. The best options are almost always at the top of the list, but we recommend you go further. Don't rely only on more than just paid ads but on organic results that appear first. At Plauti, we recommend you create a comparison chart where you write down all the options from all the possible software, their features, prices, subscription terms, requirements, and unique value. This chart will make it easier to contrast, prioritizing objective aspects over subjective ones.

3. Ask your network for recommendation

There is no better advertising than word-of-mouth. You can get the best guidance by contacting the right people on platforms like LinkedIn. An honest opinion offers a level of credibility that only experts can provide. To do this, you can do the following:

• Ask for specific or available references in groups and digital communities.
• Search for mentions and hashtags in the search engine to find recent ratings. This way, you can focus on the positive and the negative.
• Write a post asking your community for support. You never know who within your circle might offer a good review.

By performing an organic search, you can get both objective and subjective opinions, so it is recommended that you also rely on the first points in this blog to get a complete picture of a product.

Evaluating the best options

Now, you know your company’s needs and which SaaS on the market may match those needs. After listing the options, it’s time to check on the below last elements, which will indicate which of the options you have in mind aligns with your business’s possibilities and requirements. Remember that the best option for many may not be the most convenient for you, so keep true to yourself!

Match features with requirements

Many software can offer an endless list of features, but the only important ones will be the ones you need. Be open to implementing additional services, considering that your business will grow. Start with just what you need and prepare yourself for greatness.