Most companies these days are using some form of automation to transform business. The automation of work, including automating processes, decisions, data capture and management of content, means increased operational efficiency.
Along with implementing these types of automation technologies, many organizations have also started looking into how migrating different workloads to the cloud would impact their business. Part of this includes deciding when and where you should employ software as a service (SaaS).
The SaaS market is expected to grow 17.8 percent in 2019, making it more popular than ever before. The benefits of public cloud adoption with SaaS include enabling better scalability of technologies, increased agility and decreased resource cost.
When considering implementing SaaS with digital business automation technologies, here are some of the key questions you should consider:
1. Are there areas of your organization that have a more urgent need to transform quickly?
Maybe there is a line of business within your organization that has higher rates of customer attrition due to new, agile competitors that can quickly deliver new technologies. Automating business with SaaS means that you can quickly employ new technologies to drive retention, then scale into to new areas of the business as needed.
2. Do you fully understand your costs today and how SaaS would impact them?
Understanding the true return on investment (ROI) for SaaS means looking at the complete picture. Consider all labor costs, including those associated with updating and maintaining software in data centers, and sunk cost from investing in servers that may not be used in the future if migrating to the cloud. This could also mean costs associated with an inability to act quickly, such as customer attrition losses or reputational risk.
3. How will SaaS impact the role of IT in your organization?
With SaaS, you are gaining the benefits associated with a managed software solution, but also giving up control of your infrastructure. Some companies find this hard to do, but those prepared for this mindset change usually succeed faster. SaaS also allows you to reallocate your people resources to more strategic initiatives.
Consider Enterprise Holdings, an IBM customer that migrated from an on-premises version of IBM automation software to a SaaS version. With SaaS, the company can allocate a full-time employee to a more strategic role rather than managing on-premises operations.
4. What are qualities to look for in an automation vendor?
When choosing a partner, look for a solution that can scale with your growing needs and fits within your overall business automation goals. Ideally, a partner should offer a platform of solutions that can be added to your technology stack as you continue to move forward in your cloud journey.
With a SaaS platform that has been built for business automation, IBM has now made it easier than ever to get started on your automation journey with SaaS.
For more information, register to attend the webinar, “Curing the productivity crisis with cloud-based automation” and click to learn more about the IBM Automation Platform for Digital Business.
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Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud
4 questions to ask when considering SaaS for business automation
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