Up-to-date, secure, flexible: 6 reasons why more and more construction companies are turning to Software as a Service
High acquisition costs, high operating costs and the question: Is the selected number of licenses still the right one for my company next year? Buying new software presents you with many challenges.
This quickly raises the question: Do I actually have to buy software – or aren’t there many more advantages to simply using software as a service? Andreas Steyer, Head of Product Marketing at NEVARIS, knows the answer.
Construction companies are also increasingly taking advantage of Software as a Service (SaaS). Companies do not buy the software, but pay for its use. However, SaaS is about more than just a subscription model. Essentially, SaaS means that the software is not installed on your own computers and the data is not stored in your own company, but with an external service provider. If you use SaaS, you no longer need your own servers, as it is cloud-based, and you no longer have to buy software. This has many advantages for users.
Software as a service – a definition
Software as a service means that the IT infrastructure required to operate the software and store the data is not provided by the company itself, but by an external service provider. This can either be the provider of the software or a third-party service provider. Users do not buy the software, but pay a monthly fee to use it.
1. SaaS advantage: no more complex IT infrastructure required
Setting up and maintaining a high-performance, state-of-the-art IT environment is a huge cost factor. In contrast, the great advantage of SaaS for users is that they do not have to invest in a complex IT infrastructure themselves. The positive consequence: those who do not have their own servers,
- requires less IT know-how in the company,
- has no installation effort and
- saves a lot of money.
This means that construction companies do not need a large IT department when using SaaS across the board, but can concentrate on their core business.
Companies avoid large initial costs with SaaS.
2nd SaaS advantage: The costs are distributed and are usage-based
The greatest cost effect of Software as a Service is certainly evident at the beginning: the high acquisition costs of software are eliminated. But SaaS also has advantages in the long term. After a purchase, your company owns the software, but there are usually service fees for updates and support. Even if you buy the software, your company still has ongoing costs that are incurred throughout the entire period of use. So when you buy software, you pay a lot at the beginning and also pay an ongoing service fee. With SaaS, things are different: the costs are spread over the entire period of use and can therefore be structured more flexibly. This is particularly advantageous for small companies.
The costs of SaaS are also often usage-based. 123onsite offers this, for example, in the new solution for mobile fleet management solution. Here, the price is not based on the number of users, but on the number of tracked equipment. The basic monthly price already includes ten pieces of equipment that you can connect in the software. A further monthly payment is added for each additional piece of equipment. So you can flexibly order or cancel your usage licenses.
This solution is also advantageous from a tax perspective: if you buy the software for 500,000 euros, for example, you cannot depreciate it immediately, but the depreciation period runs over three to five years. In contrast, usage costs are operating expenses that you can immediately write off 100 percent, just like leasing, for example. This means that SaaS can even be profitable from a tax perspective. The advantage: you have higher liquidity with a lower investment risk.
3rd SaaS advantage: You are always up to date
Are you happy with your software and don’t really want anything to change? When companies have become accustomed to a program, they often don’t want to take any risks. They shy away from the installation effort and fear that the software will no longer work as well after an update as it did before the Tier. Another widespread fear is that employees will have to be retrained. Many entrepreneurs are not even aware of the real danger of old software:
Staying on an old software version is a huge security risk.
Nowadays, technical requirements change quickly. Operating systems are then no longer supported after a certain time. This leads to extremely large security gaps. In addition, all new features are not available. Legal changes are also not included in old Tier versions. But it also becomes clear when it comes to project management: if you only ever work with your old software, you will be unable to use modern working methods such as BIM (Building Information Modeling) will miss the boat sooner or later. In an increasingly fast-paced digital environment, it will be extremely difficult to remain at the technical level of a few years ago.
With SaaS, none of these problems arise. Your software is simply always up to date. New features and fixes for annoying bugs are released not just once or twice a year, but every one to two weeks. This means your software continues to evolve almost imperceptibly and you don’t have to keep getting used to completely new Tier versions. And best of all, nobody in your company has to lift a finger to upgrade. Your software provider takes care of everything.
4. SaaS advantage with a professional hoster: your data is generally more secure than on your own servers
A widespread concern with SaaS is that companies have no control over what happens to their data and where it is stored. Data security is one of the biggest reservations about the cloud in general and software as a service in particular. It’s basically true, of course: if you use SaaS, you can’t go into your server room and check what’s going on. But the seemingly higher security of your own server is ultimately a fallacy. You would only have complete security if your server was part of a completely isolated system. However, this also means that you would not be able to access the data from your home office or when you are on the move. As soon as the server has a connection to the outside, for example via the internet, there is also a gateway to the inside.
But when it comes to data security, data center operators are much more experienced than the IT departments of construction companies. And no SaaS provider can afford an insecure data center. A professional cloud is therefore far more secure than a company’s own server room.
The data centers of professional cloud and SaaS providers are far better protected than the server room of a medium-sized company.
USING DATA CENTERS IN THE EU FOR DATA SECURITY
The data of construction companies is sensitive, for example when it comes to calculation data. This is the company’s treasure trove of data. Therefore, data leaks must not be allowed to occur. Choosing a reliable, renowned provider that relies on secure data centers in the EU and documents everything in a data processing agreement (DPA) guarantees the highest possible level of security. All 123onsite servers are located in a Frankfurt data center and are strictly secured.
5. SaaS advantage: easy scalability of your company
For start-ups, but also for established construction companies, SaaS also has the advantage of being easily scalable. If your company is in a growth phase or restructuring is imminent, you don’t need to worry about your server capacity or number of licenses with a SaaS offering.
If you need more server space at short notice, more resources are activated in the data center. This is of course much easier and much faster than setting up your own new server. If you temporarily need more licenses for a large project, simply add the required number of licenses to your subscription for the relevant period. When you buy software, you can’t simply return licenses when you no longer need them. This is not a problem with SaaS.
Company growth or specialization are easier with SaaS.
6. SaaS advantage: With SaaS you are immediately home office compatible
Nowadays, important data must be available everywhere, regardless of location. Mobile working is becoming increasingly important. If the software is installed on a server in your company, you must first create the conditions for employees to be able to use it outside the company. You need to ensure that working from home, for example, also works without any problems. However, if everything is already in the cloud with the provider, it is no problem to access it from the home office or from the construction site. This means that with SaaS, home office compatibility and the option of mobile working are built in from the outset. And that has become extremely important in these times.
So there are many advantages to SaaS. But what about the positive emotional aspects that a purchase of your work equipment otherwise triggers? It’s simple: your employees will be happy to always be able to work with up-to-date, high-performance software. Whether this is purchased or rented, or whether it runs on your company’s server or reliably in an external provider’s data center, it makes no difference to them. And satisfied employees are still the most positive thing that can happen to a company.
Photo credits: Sarayut Thaneerat/EyeEm/EyeEm via Getty Images; Westend61 via Getty Images
