A to Z About the Market Dominating SaaS Accounting Software
Table of Content
- What is a SaaS Accounting Software?
- Saas Accounting Software Benefits
- Checklist for SaaS Software Development
- How to Develop a SaaS Application [step-by-step]
- Features Required for SaaS Accounting Software
- Conclusion
Nowadays, where every business wants to go digital and widen its scope, the requirement of few tools like employee management system, leave management app, and accounting application is normal. The SaaS accounting tool provides very useful insights and pointers into business operations.
With the use of such a tool, any organization can make a huge difference in its way of functioning. It is a simple tool for assessing the finances of the company and keeping track of the capital spent. Therefore, many organizations are hiring financial application development companies to get an advanced bookkeeping solution for their business.
A good accounting solution can help any company to steer their business in the right direction without any problem. It can also help in automating invoicing, managing payment collection, and handling admin tasks.
In this blog, we will learn more about SaaS accounting solutions and how financial software development companies create such applications.
What is a SaaS Accounting Software?
SaaS software is a simple web-based application that companies use to replace offline software. It is a subscription-based application that offers on-demand services to your clients. The users just have to install a SaaS business application on their local device and upgrade their hardware to run it successfully.
The majority of the customers usually use SaaS solutions from connected devices via different APIs or an internet browser. The software application provider carries all the necessary maintenance aspects of the SaaS software solutions. And the infrastructure of SaaS is maintained by a third-party cloud-computing service provider.
Some of the basic and most important SaaS business application features are –
- Flexibility
- Automatic Updates
- User-friendly Interface
- Application and Data Security
- Email Notification Options
Saas Accounting Software Benefits
When it comes to accounting software in your business model, usage of SaaS is very essential as it makes the entire system of the company cloud-based. And doing so has many benefits. Some of these advantages of using SaaS accounting system are –
1. Cost Savings
Every business needs to take care of its financial management system and have revenue recognition. To do that at a much cheaper proposition, any business prefers a SaaS accounting solution. The company can save a lot of money by switching to cloud-based accounting solutions. Any business can save up to 30% of its revenue in the time frame of over 10-years. So it is advantageous to switch to a SaaS solution like AccountsIQ.
Besides, as SaaS is a subscription-based model, the involvement of massive upfront cost is not there. Instead, the small businesses or enterprises just need to pay in regular installments without any worries. SaaS businesses will never pay to upgrade their software. The SaaS companies that provide such services provide a system that upgrades itself. This clearly proves that SaaS will definitely save you the extra costs and resources.
2. Flexibility and Future-Proofing
Whenever the requirements of the business change, your accounting solution will also have to choose. And this is the main reason why companies hire the top SaaS companies that provide the best cloud-based financial management software. Having the best accounting software will allow your business model to be more flexible and scalable.
One of the best examples of revenue management software is AccountsIQ. It offers various add-on options for businesses to take advantage of.
3. Security and Upgrades
Whenever any business uses a software solution, the resources that they are going to use constantly need to be updated and reviewed every now and then. As hanging on to outdated versions of any accounting software can create an inconvenience and inefficiency in work. This can even be a security risk and may leave your business financial management software vulnerable to hackers.
So, if you are currently using an on-premise accounting software solution, then you might know how heavy a task it is to keep the software updated. But if you hire a SaaS accounting software provider then they will offer you a solution that will automatically upgrade itself.
Checklist for SaaS Software Development
There are multiple aspects to consider while creating a SaaS accounting solution. There are basically two main categories in this checklist. And those are based on their technical level.
Technical Characteristics of SaaS Accounting Software
- Scaling – From the very beginning, SaaS solutions for a small business or an enterprise requires scalability. And the software must scale horizontally and vertically. But this feature of a solution must never be an issue for companies’ financial data.
- Database – The database of any organization will be big and therefore, it must be secure and flexible. Besides that, the database must also suit any type of business solution as per its customers’ requirements.
- Third-party Integration of Accounting solution – When a SaaS financial application allows third-party integration, it can increase the solutions’ marketability, automatic features, and values. Besides, the solution must offer seamless integration.
- Frequent Updates – Every business has new expectations and requirements at some time, and this especially happens with small businesses as they are trying to reach a specific level. Therefore, small business accounting applications must have frequent upgrading systems as per the needs.
Non-Technical Characteristics of SaaS Accounting Software
- Market Fit – Before starting the development of a SaaS accounting application, developers must analyze the market. They must make sure that what they are making is exactly as the businesses need to continue their cash flow smoothly. One of the best examples of such a perfect accounting solution is Sage Intacct.
- Multiple Financial Reporting Packages – The financial reporting software must offer multiple subscription options to the customers. Besides, it must be within the proper budget, so that the users can enjoy their SaaS business accounting solution.
- Client Acquisition Process – The accounting software development team must make sure that the app they are creating is easy to use. The users must easily understand the way to manage the application. If you need a dedicated team – go here.
How to Develop a SaaS Application [step-by-step]
The process of creating a SaaS solution is very simple and it follows the following steps –
1. Developing
SaaS software development is one of the largest chunks of work. Creating a perfectly robust and scalable SaaS application from scratch needs months and a dedicated team of developers. The development of the tool can be also done in different variations which at the end allows any customer to buy different subscriptions to this system, free or paid.
2. Designing
Developing a cloud application is not an easy task and it is a bit costlier than creating any other app. Therefore designing the solution is the first thing to do. One must analyze the risk factors, instability, and faulty features. Designing is a phase that comes with multiple cycles and they result in essential artifacts like user stories, software architecture documents, functional prototypes, and mockups & style guides.
But the main aspects inherent to SaaS cloud accounting solutions start with the architecture of the app’s hosting. For this, the developers provide two ways, a single- or multi-tenant approach.
The single-tenant architecture provides a private server to every client while they are using SaaS software. This approach is more suitable for clients with a bigger platform.
The second option is multi-tenant architecture. It enables multiple users to access one single database through different accounts.
After the designing phase, the next step is to choose a software development tech stack. This choice helps in creating the foundation of your business web application. And to decide the tech stack, factors like flexibility, speed, scalability, and budget play an important role.
3. Partitioning
Any business will want to have a system that is flexible and capable enough to make alterations whenever required. For this, the development team has to take care of everything from scaling and improving the app performance to enhanced security and operational flexibility. Besides, the software data can be divided into separate data stores, and it is known as partitions.
Partitioning also has different types and they are horizontal, functional, and vertical.
4. Deploying
Software deployment is a stage that doesn’t end everything but starts a new phase of the software. The final product must be such that everything is in place so that the users can use your product very easily. While deploying the software, the development team must provide extensive documentation to offer support to their clients.
5. Testing
SaaS software testing is a process conducted to make sure that the system meets clients’ expectations and is as per the requirements. The cloud platform development companies must conduct testing both before and after the release date. Besides this, the testing can be in both ways, automated and manual testing.
6. Monitoring and Managing
The SaaS app development team works best when they only have to do coding and testing. While the app development manager oversees the entire process and guides the users. The reason behind it is that the managers know best and can make the right decision about which task to be assigned to whom.
7. Optimizing SaaS Platform
Optimizing the SaaS environments is one of the most important things. This process includes optimizing costs, availability and performance, tenant experience, bulk cash flow operations, and timing.
Whichever optimizing the SaaS platform requires the development team must do it. And to offer a successful optimization, firms try to have enough resources that can offer a pleasant user experience.
8. Migrating
One of the services in SaaS development is migrating the platform. Basically, when a SaaS system was cloud-based from the start, it required moving it there. This completely depends on the server type, acceptable downtime, and the amount of data. There are multiple migration options that organizations can choose from are-
- P2C (physical-to-cloud)
- P2V (physical-to-virtual)
- V2C (virtual-to-cloud)
- V2V (virtual-to-virtual)
Features Required for SaaS Accounting Software
Some of the top features that every SaaS Accounting Application must have are –
1. Analysis and Reports
When any type of data or information is to be presented to the right people at the right time, it is known as the most powerful aspect. The accounting solutions must provide a quick overview of the financial data. For instance, key accounts receivable, profit and loss summarization, payables, revenue, expenses, and bills.
The accounting management application must analyze the key aspects of business and offer them the right reports to manage their organization. Basically, the bookkeeping tools must be capable enough to provide quick information on any pending and important issues.
2. Payment Processing
Many accounting systems facilitate their clients with online bill payment options so that they can pay for everything without any hassle. Therefore, an accounting system of any business must be able to help its employees to collect customer payments and make online payments to all the vendors.
Today, SaaS accounting systems offer very simple options for clients to make a payment with one click. This can save a lot of time, makes payment collection faster, and reduces admin issues. Therefore, every SaaS app development company must add an easy payment processing feature to the system. One of the best examples of such a SaaS-based app is QuickBooks.
3. User Security and Authorization
The accounting data of any company is very sensitive. The way the SaaS application stores and accesses data is crucial. Therefore, the system must be capable enough to handle sensitive data and that is possible with high-level security.
User data or business-related data must be confidential and if it is lost or tampered with, the company’s SaaS service providing company must be able to provide a trail of these actions. Basically, taking the right data security measures to foolproof information and accounts is essential. And this feature must be there in every cloud-based bookkeeping application.
4. Business Functions Interoperability
Bookkeeping application is not standalone, it requires a lot of business functions to work well. So, organizations should integrate their employee, payroll, HR, CRMs, shipping, sales, and inventory into one system.
Any organization must hire great development teams that can create a top accounting product like Freshbooks so that all their business functions are taken care of. Besides, the accounting system must be interoperable with other applications.
5. Opening Balances and Migration
The most essential thing in any good accounting app is that it must be able to provide an easy way to migrate data and information. Whether a business owner is using a bookkeeping app or doing the accounts manually, he should be able to switch his system to the new accounting solution without any issues.
The SaaS-based tool should provide a way to import account assets, payables, liabilities, receivables, inventory, and income & expenses with the use of an integrated interface.
6. Design Solutions
Every business has to reduce the time it spends organizing its compliance and operations. Online accounting apps are now capable of offering designs that can solve any problem for the users. So, if you are someone who is looking to create a balance sheet or cash flow report for your organization you won’t need to wait for the accountant if you have a modern auditing app.
7. HR & Payroll
Payroll modules are the most essential components of accounting applications. These offer options to process manage their training, salaries for employees, projects, tax, hourly rates, and other compliances.
The modern accounting systems should also offer QR code-based options and automated biometric for attendance. The holiday, leave management, notices, firm calendar of events, and more can be handled with the use of an advanced accounting program.
Conclusion
As seen in this blog, having a web-based accounting program with cloud support is a great practice to start with estimating the competitors and market. This type of system must have advanced and well-supported features and architectural characteristics. All the features of SaaS apps enable businesses to save time and get real-time results. Therefore, the usage of such applications is advisable in today’s time.