5 Things to Consider When Choosing a SaaS Provider

When choosing a SaaS provider, you need to take several factors into consideration. Selecting the right SaaS provider can be overwhelming. With too many names online, selecting a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider can be challenging.

It is possible to enter corporate credit card information and agree to unread terms and conditions as part of a company’s selection process; in other cases, it could be part of a complex procurement process. Prior to selecting a SaaS provider, learn why your company needs one.

There are many reasons why you might need a SaaS provider. Perhaps you need someone to manage your software and applications, or you need a way to outsource your IT needs. 

Maybe you simply don’t have the time or resources to manage your own software and need a company that can do it for you. Whatever the reason, a SaaS provider can save you time and money.

Before you select the Saas provider, understand another aspect such as what are the security risks of cloud computing as well to learn better about the importance to find the right SaaS provider.

What Are The Security Risks Of Cloud Computing?

As Cloud-based technologies are increasingly being used in businesses, especially since remote working is becoming more widespread. As a result, it’s essential to maintain system security and protect confidential data. 

Businesses should be aware of and understand how to avoid certain security vulnerabilities when using cloud storage and computing.

• Cybersecurity pitfalls include the following:
• Data breaches
• sensitive data.
• Data loss
• Data leakage
• Account hijacking
• Insecure API
• No control over repositories

Having this in mind, let’s talk about the factors to consider while selecting a professional SaaS risk management company.

1- Reliability Assessment

While searching for SaaS providers, you will find a huge number of names that take pride in being available to their customers 24/7, 365. When a provider is mostly available, this means they have better disaster recovery and saas cyber security strategies, and better tolerance against major disasters. 

It is not uncommon for SaaS providers to refer to ‘uptime’ in their selling proposal. It is usually the amount of time, their services will remain online most of the time (usually in percentage). 

However, their downtime may refer to the terms like maintenance purposes or scheduled maintenance. However, they will not point toward major issues. 

So while searching for professional saas in the cloud, make sure to find a provider that can explain their availability figures and if available on their website, how they measure it. Also, consider every possible factor of downtime that may affect your business.

2-  Compliance, Certification, and Standardization

For a small-scale business, compliance and certification may not be a major consideration. However, this can be a major factor to consider for industries where compliance is a serious requirement. 

These standards and certifications help determine the saas environment in the short-listed providers. Some of the major certifications and frameworks that you should consider include:

• Security

PCI DSS

GDPR

IEC

COBIT

ISO

CSA (Cyber Security Alliance)

ico.

HIPAA

SSAE

Cyber Essentials

ISAE

• Operations

DMTF

COBIT

ISO

ITIL

MOF

tmforum

FitSM

IFPUG

CIF

TOGAF 9

• Cloud

SNIA

IEEE

ISO

IETF

DMTF

ETSI

GICTF

NIST

OASIS

Cloud Standards Customer Council

Open Cloud Consortium

OpenGridForum

3- Reputation And Industry Position

While factors like security in saas and the environment of SaaS providers shouldn’t be ignored, don’t overlook the reputation of the providers as well. In the service industry, reputation is the most valuable asset to stay in the competition. 

Every SaaS provider will make sure to stay bright and well-reputed among their peers. Take a look at the company’s position in the industry. 

Their financial solvency, independent product reviews, and reviews about their saas cyber security will give you an idea of the quality of their service offerings.

4- Meeting Your Expectations

Whether it is the capability of SaaS in cloud or in general, they are advancing rapidly. These days, it isnt hard to see SaaS applications that work just as services but they do offer feature-rich applications more than any traditional software.

Some of these applications can work for specific tasks while others can work at the company level. The service should be able to meet the expectations of the business problem you are trying to solve. 

Also, take into account your future SaaS plans as well. And if there are any other business areas where the application could add value.

5- Security Features

When you are about to hire a SaaS provider, then you are about to hire a third party that will have access to your data through the internet. This can raise a series of security and privacy concerns. 

Serious planning is required to mitigate them. When interviewing selected Saas Providers, learn about their saas risk management strategies and methods, their saas cyber security module, and saas security systems.

Do they offer adequate monotony for data storage and fault tolerance? How do they ensure technical security? Do they have physical security measures in place? Is your data accessible to their employees? Is privacy protected by ethical guidelines?

Should Companies Audit Software Stacks Critical?

In easier words, it can be described as visiting a doctor once a year VS visiting a dr regularly. You are out to face some major health issues and larger bills than the one who regularly visits a doctor. 

Audits are similar to medical checkups. A minor ailment can become a life-threatening concern if you go for years without seeing a doctor. You realize you had symptoms looking back, which is particularly frustrating. However… you had so much on your plate. 

Like your health, computer software is easy to overlook until something goes wrong. A simple fix is no longer possible by then.

Besides identifying areas for improvement, the audit can also highlight outright problems. In this process, you find out what is working, what is outdated, and what changes need to be made. You can find out which tools you need right now by seeing the latest and greatest tools on the market.

Bottom Line

Hope this article has helped you in answering your concerns regarding finding the right and professional SaaS providers. Make sure to search for the right one and hire the right one.