Cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service, otherwise known as SaaS, is a cloud-based service  that gives you instant access to business applications via the internet. Since its cloud hosted, all you need in order to access a SaaS application is a stable internet connection; there’s no requirement to download or regularly update. 

There’s a variety of cloud-based software applications out there that are specifically designed to support different business functions. In a modern digital era, it is common to find that businesses will use a combination of integrated SaaS applications to create a unified and efficient work process. 

Cost-effective – SaaS can provide significant cost savings for businesses, compared to traditional software models. Firstly, SaaS eliminates the upfront cost of purchase/installation, as well on-going costs like maintenance and upgrades. Instead of spending large amounts of money on hardware installations, SaaS applications can be easily downloaded and maintained. Furthermore, pay-as-you-go models allow businesses to have some flexibility in what they want to use/pay for.

SME friendly – SaaS solutions are great for SME’s because it provides access to expensive, high-powered software that might have been otherwise unobtainable through traditional purchasing methods. The subscription based method removes the large investment risk of expensive software. The worries of maintaining and upgrading the software is also taken away from the SME, this is handled by the provider.

Scalable & Accessible – License based subscription models provide fantastic scalability and flexibility options. As the software is hosted externally by a vendor it’s super ease to change subscriptions or add/remove licenses, this can usually be done without any notice. Additionally, since its web-based and hosted elsewhere, you can access the software from any location with internet access. 

Integrations – As technology has evolved, users of SaaS CRM apps can integrate with the already available software on the market and expand their CRM solution just as an onsite customer would.

Understand how the solution operates – Although we mention SaaS being cloud-based, there are some traditional SaaS solutions that need to be hosted on a local server. Unless you plan to only use the software in one place, we recommend going for something cloud-based as it’s more convenient and usually cheaper.

What you want to achieve – It may sound obvious, but be sure to understand exactly what you need from a SaaS solution. There are a lot of platforms out there, with tonnes of features, it can be easy to pay for something you won’t fully use. Once you understand exactly what you need to achieve, it will make the search a lot less stressful.

Internet connection – Some applications can be demanding in the amount of data they use. Combine this with multiple users and suddenly you will have some very frustrated staff. We recommend you review your current set up and check whether its fit for purpose. There’s no harm in exploring connectivity options before implementing a new SaaS solution.

Implementation & migration – Depending on the scale of the implementation, there is a lot of things you may need to consider.

These are the key things you should consider before going down the route of implementation. Excalibur support customers throughout the process and can even help you with the billing aspect by managing the licenses. 

Microsoft 365 offers a wealth of tools and applications that when unlocked and utilised can not only secure your vital business data, but also boost productivity and generate valuable management reports.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we’ve demonstrated our committed excellence in the evolving Microsoft technologies and maximising the benefits that clients receive by expertly implementing Microsoft solutions.

Need help moving to Office 365? Get in touch to find out more.

There’s a lot to consider when you bring a new SaaS solution into your business. If you want it to replace or coincide with other systems, you will also need to take into consideration the complex data migrations that comes with it. Data such as e-mails, meetings and finance records should be handled carefully as this contains critical information to the business.  

Everything we do at Excalibur is set around a particular set of values. We have four main core sections – Personal, Expert, Fair and Bold. By aligning our business on these strong set of values – it shapes the way we work internally, and most importantly improves the service we deliver.

Most IT Support providers have a low ratio of operations staff to compared to sales and marketing. At Excalibur we hold a 4:1 ratio of service staff to sales. This ensures that we have enough resources internally to continually deliver on-time and maintain an excellent standard of service.

On average we receive 4.9 out of 5 star rating as feedback from our cases.

We believe that by improving our own staff engagement and well-being, it positively reflects in the service we deliver.

Excalibur was named as a Best Companies ‘Outstanding’ ‘Top 50 Small Company to Work For’ 2023. This follows our Top 100 status in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

In 2023, we were also delighted to be named by the South West Business Awards as ‘Employer of the Year’ for the second time.