SaaS has many advantages but there are still a number of problems that a business may encounter when dealing with SaaS. Detailed below are some of the most common problems that businesses may face when using SaaS.

1. An internet connection is required at all times

One of the biggest drawbacks of SaaS is the fact that employee’s can no longer work offline when SaaS software services are used and that they must be connected to the internet whenever they need to use these SaaS software services. For employees working from within their businesses headquarters or for employees who have a dedicated internet connection at home, this is not too much of a problem.

2.The security and control of your data is no longer in your own hands

When using SaaS, some if not all of the data of a business will be stored on their SaaS service provider’s data centres. Although most businesses will be happy after implementing SaaS, because they no longer have to deal with the management of software applications, most businesses will not like the idea of giving control of their data to someone else.

A business has no idea how their SaaS service provider will secure their data and what backup procedures that their service provider will have in place. The only thing that a business can go by, is the word of their service provider confirming that they will ensure that their clients data will be well looked after. To ensure that their data is well looked after, a business must ensure that their service provider writes down exactly how their clients data will be secured, in their Service Level Agreement contract.

3.You can no longer control what version of a software application that you are going to use

Although SaaS is reat because software applications are constantly up to date, sometimes a business is better off using an older version of a software application but SaaS just does not allow this. For example businesses may wish to use an older version of a software application because this older version is stable or because it is compatible with their existing software applications but with SaaS, businesses only have access to the most current versions of an application.

Again this is good because a business is constantly up to date but the fact that businesses do not have the choice to use older versions of a software application is the negative thing.

4.You lose your freedom and are effectively at the control of your software vendor

This is the main problem with SaaS, the fact that businesses lose their freedom and are effectively at the will of their SaaS service provider. For example, with a traditional software application, a business pays for this software application with a single upfront payment. After this, the software application is effectively in their control and they can do whatever they want with it (as long as they are not breaching their software vendor’s terms and conditions, such as copyright, licensing, etc).

However, with SaaS software services a business must continuously keep paying their SaaS service provider in order to access the software services that they require. If they accidentally fail to pay their service provider for one month (if they are paying monthly), then they risk losing their software services.

5.Permanent Internet connection

Employees using SaaS software services must be permanently connected to the Internet. Working offline is no longer an option in this situation. We all know an Internet connection is not a problem anymore nowadays for those working in offices or home.  Companies needing assurance that their employees always have a connection to their SaaS provider should consider redundant high speed Internet connections.

6.Data location

This means being permanently aware where exactly in the world your data is located. Although the Federal Information Security Management Act in the USA requires customers to keep sensitive data within the country, in virtualized systems, data can move dynamically from one country to another. Ask about the laws for your customers’ data in respect to where they are located.

7.Lack of Clarity about Objectives and Purpose

 Businesses usually lack clarity about the purpose behind implementing SaaS solutions. Many prefer to go by the trend without actually investing time into studying about their organizational requirements. Such a lack of clarity about the objectives and purpose of implementing SaaS solutions leads to confusion, mismatched expectations, and unsuccessful implementations