Within many industries, Software-as-a-Service(SaaS) is becoming the new mainstream. Whether it is huge corporations or backyard startups, the implementation of cloud-technology in software that is deployed for a particular service is what every other business is working towards. One can observe this trend in B2B as well as B2C climates. Whether it’s an OTT media service like Netflix, Spotify, or even Amazon Prime, or a niche product for claims adjusters like JustEZ, one can witness the SaaS model working its way through every industry and justifiably so.

Business applications and services delivered via web lack painful physical installations or strict contracts and their usage is based on intermittent use. Customers do not have to pay all at once for the services they receive and there is always an option to withdraw from it when they see fit.

Over the past few months, COVID-19 has taken the whole world by a storm; and as the global pandemic keeps on disrupting a host of services across industries, SaaS companies too, have to bear the brunt of the virus. While it’s reasonable to say that much has changed for individuals and businesses around the world, what is interesting to observe is how SaaS companies are reworking their ways as they respond to the global pandemic. Here we look at how they’re responding to the situation, how they’ve adapted their work, and what does the future look like for them:

Prioritizing employee-centric conduct:

With strict lockdown in place in several countries, employee safety and well being is a top priority. SaaS companies are taking major steps towards ensuring that their workforce is well supported and encouraged to work from home. With remote work being set-up in most scenarios, just having a remote working infrastructure isn’t the only change companies are experiencing. They are also changes in employee productivity and morale and as the remote working is normalized further, some seem to even develop a liking to it. This begs the question of whether companies are likely to offer a more permanent change when it comes to traditional office work to their employees.

Due to the workforce being diverse where one has people in their early 20s to people with newborns as well as older people, work hours during quarantine are rendered quite flexible. Those who have kids may require a concentrated part of their day managing their family alongside work and having a flexible routine can surely help organize their daily routine.

Meeting customer demands:

SaaS companies are also witnessing a surge in customer demand. This is even more observable in OTT, delivery, and similar service-based companies which have seen a gigantic rise in customer base ever since the lockdown. With a large influx of customers, data-driven SaaS companies are making major procedural changes to provide for this huge demand. As their services are upscaled, so does the responsibility of keeping servers up and running in order to maintain seamless operations and deliver impactfully. Many employees, especially those involved with IT are working round the clock to ensure there are no disruptions present in the overall distribution of data.

Combining remote work with a sudden surge in demand for services is a difficult, yet interesting problem to tackle. With most of the infrastructure of SaaS companies set up in the cloud, it is fair to say that the shift from office work to remote work will not necessarily put a dent in services.

Going forward: The future

As physical retail struggles worldwide, the consumptive practices of customers across the world will gradually turn towards digital. This shift will definitely change the way commerce operates in the world right now. The benefits of this decline when it comes to physical retail will be digital. With businesses streamlining their operations and moving over to cloud-based solutions, e-commerce will be the only thing that sustains customers and as the pandemic widens the gap between people’s physical reality and virtual demands, virtual content will witness a significant rise and so will the emergence of independent content creators.

SaaS companies are at the forefront of this technological revolution that has come about in the wake of COVID-19. It just might be the case that even when things go back to ‘normal’ what we, as individuals will have in front of us is the birth of a ‘new normal’ a paradigm shift in interactions and transactions and all of it, would be led in what will be known as the digital reality.