Software as a service

When it comes to software licencing and delivery, software as a service (/ss/) is a paradigm in which software is licenced on a subscription basis and is hosted in a cloud environment. In addition to being referred to as "on-demand software," SaaS is also referred to as "Web-based/Web-hosted software."

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) are both considered to be components of cloud computing, as are desktop as a service (DaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile dbms as a service (MBaaS), datacenter as a service (DCaaS), integration infrastructure as a service (iPaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITmaaS).

Thin clients, such as a web browser, are often used to access SaaS applications by consumers. In many business applications, such as office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, database management software, management software, CAD software, and development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), management information systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, field service management, human resource management (HRM), and talent acquisition, SaaS has become a standard delivery model.

Examples of SaaS products include software that is housed on Amazon Web Services infrastructure and the ability to provide customers access to the software located on your AWS infrastructure. Depending on your software, you may be in charge of managing client access, account creation, resource provisioning, and customer management.

Almost all business software firms have used SaaS as part of their overall strategy. According to Gartner, software as a service (SaaS) will continue to be the biggest market sector for public cloud services, with a projected value of $122.6 billion in 2022.

It is also more difficult to retain customers, which is a major issue for SaaS companies.