SaaS Application Development Process - A True Guide

SaaS application development is the next logical step for your business's future growth. The SaaS market is growing and will soon be a dependable source of business. As a result, it opens up a source for you to do business in the broader market. B2B SaaS applications and B2C SaaS applications are very recent application solutions. It leads to more reliable, predictable revenue month after month.

So, if you want to transform an existing business into a SaaS application program, you need to understand the whole topic. This blog can help you with that. We will cover the ins and outs of the software as a service framework, the SaaS application development process, cost, and more. 

Read, learn and implement accordingly. Let's start from scratch.

What Is A SaaS Application

In 2030, the SaaS market will be $10 trillion. SaaS is also known as a Software as a Service. SaaS application is also known for 

• Web-based software
• On-demand software
• Hosted software

It is a cloud-based solution that provides ready-made software to honourable customers through a mobile app or web browser. You don't need to maintain it or purchase it. You can use it through a subscription model.

The service providers maintain all the services and upgrades. Many SaaS applications are available in the market for foundational business needs. Some of those are used for 

• Email service 
• Office productivity tools 
• CRM software 
• Project management tools 
• Cloud storage 
• Streaming service 
• Billing 
• Sales management & more 

The price will vary depending on the service you need. However, it's normally based on annual or monthly subscriptions, which include the software license, support, and most other monetary costs.

Some of the most popular SaaS application examples provided in the market are Office 365®Box, G Suite®, Amazon Web Services, and many more.

What Is SaaS Application Development

Now it's time for our following query: what is saas application development? SaaS application development is the process of how a SaaS application develops. It's a life cycle of SaaS applications from start to finish. It is built on scalability, cost-effectiveness, and operational flexibility, making it an increasingly popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Users also love the SaaS app for multiple reasons. Using saas applications has a lot of benefits, including:

• The application has a free trial so users can easily use it on the trial version. If they are satisfied with the application then they go for the subscription.
• SaaS applications are highly secure and back up your data automatically.
• It is pretty affordable than purchasing the license software. It has a flexible and subscription-based pricing model.
• Customers always want to follow the trends of the market. A SaaS application can make this easy for them. No more manual software installation or update process.
• All businesses (Small, large, and medium ) can easily use the SaaS model in their day-to-day business problem-solving.
• Last on the list is that it also reduces the total cost of the operation. Customers don't need to purchase any hardware for that. 

What Does A SaaS Developer Do?

In today's times one of the most popular software licensing models across the globe. A SaaS developer's ultimate task is to maintain and build the SaaS platform for the customer. A SaaS developer plays an important role because he can give life to the vision with the help of the code.

A simple mistake can ruin the development, so he needs to focus on and clearly understand the monetisation model. Apart from that, they also need to learn the target audience and the technology stack that will be used to build the product.

A confident SaaS development engineer should also be skilful in different programming languages. Includes 

• Java 
• Javascript 
• Python 
• Ruby on Rail 
• Github 
• Django 
• Hadoop
• Big Data 
• Sparks
• MongoDB
• Node.JS
• Agile software development & more 

Apart from that, a SaaS software developer has many responsibilities, including :

• Design and develop software applications
• Testing software 
• Utilise programming languages such as Java, Python, or JavaScript
• Analyse the needs of the customer
• Create a rough prototype
• Polish the demo version of the application 
• Monitor the performance of SaaS applications
• Troubleshooting issues 
• Stay up-to-date with the trend and always find areas of improvement 
• Maintain Security and Compliance

How To Develop A SaaS Application - Development Process 

A well-planned and carefully executed approach is the main theory for the successful building a SaaS platform. However, there are some steps to follow before building a well-developed application. let's check some of those saas development process steps :

1. Proper Research Of The Marketplace 

If you know your competitor well, you can create a better SaaS application. So, it's mandatory to research properly before starting any project. 

If you want to build the best retail SaaS software or the best restaurant SaaS application, then you need to focus on many things. First, list your competitor and what features they offer in their applications. After that, you need to add all of those and add some extra or unique features that can make you different. Apart from that, you need to find out the competitors' saas applications' limitations (weaknesses). Dont have any experience with all of that. No worries !! You can get help from a SaaS development software company.

2. Gather Core Functionality

Gathering functional and non-functional requirements is essential and mandatory before starting any development project. A developer needs to maintain a note and put down core functions. It's like the app’s core features, user roles, and possible interactions within your system. A SaaS developer also needs to list some nun functional requirements. Such as performance metrics, security standards and protocols, and compliance needs. In this very stage, you need to give time to product architecture, as cloud-based application have their intricacies. But remember to maintain good scalability to avoid downtime and loss of customers down the road.

3. A SaaS Development Team 

A team plays a huge role in your business's growth. Moreover, a team with the right skills can change the game of any business. Recent research shows that 87% of companies struggle to find talented members. A typical SaaS Development team includes software engineers, developers, designers, quality assurance specialists, project managers, and other experts collaborating to design, develop, deploy, and support SaaS products.

Before choosing any custom saas development team, please remember the following criteria :

• Clarify the project with the team 
• Shortlist potential SaaS development companies (huge experience with cloud computing platforms )
• Review Portfolios and Case Studies for the selected companies 
• Dedicate enough time for a proper interview process
• Review their interview and select the best candidate 

4. Make A Plan & Design

After gathering all the core formal and informal functionality, it's time to make a plan and draw a design according to the plan. Without a design, any application development can be worked out very well. It's time to focus on developing the timeline, milestones, and required resources. A project management methodology is necessary for your team so that they can stay on track. Don't forget the fixed pricing plan. Pricing is an important chapter in the SaaS application development sector. 

Pricing plans such as :

• Flat-rate monthly 
• Annual subscription
• Usage-based pricing
• Pricing per feature or user
• Freemium model
• Pay as you go
• Ads-supported pricing

A design can gain a competitive edge and beat your rivals.

After all that, SaaS software or SaaS applications need a perfect UI/UX design. It will help to implement real-user insights into your prototypes and avoid costly changes in the future. Regarding the application design, Figma is one of the best apps in the market. So, using the Figma app, you can quickly develop basic page layouts and app structures. After design, the application is not complete, mate. You need to test the design again. If everything is okay, it's ready to hand over to the application developer. 

5. Choose The Right Technology 

Now, it's time to ask the crucial question for any software or application development. What technology is used in SaaS? The right technology is the easily handle growth and a growing number of simultaneous users. So, how do you choose the right technology before building applications? First of foremost, you should fix a meeting with the chosen developer for this project and talk with them. A software developer can easily know the market, and they know which technology is suitable for the project. You also research the leading competitor products and determine their use. Mainly you can also consider the below points for your choosing the right technology :

• Determine the type of application and its functionality
• Choose your target audience and platforms
• Consider scalability and future upgrades
• Time and budget 
• Security & features 

In the market trends, some technologies are quite popular in building saas application development :

• Back-end technologies (Node.js, Django, or Ruby on Rails)
• Front-end technologies (Angular.js, React.js, and Vue.js in saas application development services)
• Databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL and Redis)
• Hosting and infrastructure ( depends on your budget )
• Mobile app development (C for iOS, Java, Flutter, Kotlin for Android, and React Native for cross-platform solutions)

6. MVP(Minimum Viable Product) Development 

The next step of SaaS app development is MVP development. To start in this step, you must learn what the MVP in SaaS is. It is mainly the initial version of a Software-as-a-Service application with only the core essential features. It's developed for early version testing before the entire development process of the applications. A SaaS application development is quite an investment. So, before investing your money, you need to check whether your plan is working out. It's a prototype of the software. With that, you can quickly test assumptions, assess market demand, and identify potential areas for improvement. 

7. Development Stage 

After all of those primary things when ready then it's the time for final development stage. In this stage, a professional development team brings all those requirements and features into the building stage. It mainly consists of three different stage 

• Front end 
• Back ends 
• API developments 

Front-end involves creating the client side of your SaaS product. API development is crucial for enabling seamless communication between your systems' components and third-party integrations.  Last on the list is back-end development. They are working on the servers, databases, and application logic. Team engagement is really necessary for the best output. To better team or employee engagement hr software play a huge role.

8. QA Testing

It's time to test the developed application. Proper testing is important for any product before making it live. It helps to maintain reliability, and security in any application. QA tester ensures product quality and stability. They run different types of tests through this application and try to find out the bugs or unusual behaviour of the applications. This process includes 

• Checking code for errors and bugs 
• Functional testing
• Non-functional testing
• Regression testing
• Smoke testing
• Alpha testing
• Beta testing
• Integration Compatibility
• Cloud infrastructure security 

You can also test the software of some of the groups of users for the user experience and how they react to this application. If the QA testing team or the users find any types of errors or bugs they can note them down for 

reproduce and fix the identified issues.

9. A Well-Defined Deployment Strategy

Perfect deployment depends on careful planning and configuration. A well-planned deployment plan ensures a smooth transition. It is the final step of the software development life cycle. The ultimate goal of this stage is to ensure that the software is installed, configured, and operational in the target environment. The deployment stage follows the below activities. 

• Necessary preparations (procuring the required hardware, setting up the infrastructure, and making sure the target environment is ready to support the software
• Outlining the steps and sequence of activities necessary to deploy the software
• Deployment Execution (copying files, setting up databases, configuring server)
• Testing and Validation
• Monitor and maintenance 

After all that, it's finally time to launch the SaaS application. But after the final launch event, it's not done. You need a proper plan for the software's feature upgrade. A continuous upgrade and the latest technology can build a sustainable position in the marketplace.
 

10 . Promote Your SaaS Application 

In this digital age, all people prefer an online presence in any product for purchase. So after launch, a saas application also needs proper online branding and online reputation. For that, a website for this saas application platform is required. Find the best website development service in the market so that they can build a good SEO-friendly website for your saas application.

We are not done yet. Proper digital marketing is also essential to make your application well-known in this market. You can also try some content marketing to promote your software. Promote your website on social platforms for better reach and engagement. 

SaaS Application Development Cost 

Developing a Saas Application is quite a complex task, without any doubt. But it's all about planning and strategy to make it easy. We are all trying to reduce the cost of building any software or application. However, it depends on the requirements and the features of the SaaS applications. Many factors influence the cost of SaaS application development cost. Include :

• The scope of the project
• Features and custom saas development
• Design requirements
• Team location and structure
• Technology stack
• Deadlines of the project 
• Regulations and saas application security
• Maintenance and regular updates

If we talk about the SaaS complexity of the market, then we can define this in 3 stages with the pricing model. 

But all the price also varies from the country. let's check some of those according to the country format 

A full SaaS application development depends on different elements and resources. Let's check some of that cost as well.

• Project Planning and Requirements Analysis - $1,400 to $4,200+
• UI/UX Design - $4,200 to $10,000
• MVP Launch - $10,000 to $20,000+
• Development - $14,000 to $21,000
• Quality Assurance and Testing - $4,800 to $19,000.
• Deployment and Maintenance - $9,800 to over $19,800

Team Composition and Hourly Rates are also important for the saas programming developer and all other staff.

• Asia: $30 – $50 per hour
• North America and Western Europe: $50 – $150 per hour
• Eastern Europe: $30 – $80 per hour

Reminder :

Prices can vary or change according to the global market. But bdtask, a leading software company, can provide the best custom software development service at an affordable price. 

End note 

This is a quick guide to SaaS application development. With this blog, you can avoid unexpected expenses. A well-planned SaaS and the right features can be a vital source of revenue for your organisation. With luck, you can build your desired SaaS framework and dominate the global market.