If you’ve used a web-based email service such as Outlook, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail, then you’ve already used a form of SaaS. With these services, you log into your account over the Internet, often from a web browser. The email software is located on the service provider’s network, and your messages are stored there as well. You can access your email and stored messages from a web browser on any computer or Internet-connected device.

With SaaS, customers, and organizations can access certain features of a software application over the Internet. These features are hosted on a network by a provider, who charges a monthly or annual subscription fee. SaaS applications are particularly useful for businesses that need to collaborate effectively with customers, partners, and suppliers; such as sales forces and field service technicians. SaaS can also be helpful for teams working across time zones who need to share documents and data.

From the business side, SaaS gives businesses the ability to quickly implement and gain value from an application, without having to make large investments in hardware and IT infrastructure. SaaS provides a substantially lower cost of entry than on-premises software installed at your location. It also reduces capital expenditures by reducing hardware costs, maintenance costs, and license fees. Because you pay only for what you use, you don’t have any up-front costs or long-term commitments associated with owning or operating your own servers and business applications. SaaS allows organizations to always have the most current software version, which will save time spent on upgrades and training users. Users can access applications anytime via the Internet without having to install desktop software on their laptops or computers; they simply log in through Internet browsers such as Chrome or Firefox. Finally, SaaS is a delivery model for cloud computing. It allows customers to subscribe to and use an application hosted and/or managed on cloud infrastructure. While SaaS delivers pay-as-you-go convenience and scalability, it also comes with higher costs compared to deploying and managing an application in-house. As a result, many organizations find it easiest to use SaaS only for certain applications or business functions that are either hard to support in-house or represent an area in which they plan to expand their operations.