Procurement

  • 5 min read

5 Reasons Procurement Teams Choose SaaS Over On-Premise Tools

Rohit Rao

3rd January, 2023

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The recent rise in B2B has become essential for a cloud-based SaaS system for procurement administration. Continue reading if you want answers to your questions about what SaaS procurement exactly is and why procurement professionals are leaning towards SaaS solutions at a higher rate.

SaaS is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for software applications, with providers of apps moving to the cloud and delivering their services via the Internet. Vendors that offer SaaS provide services to organizations in various categories, such as sales, marketing, recruiting, development and more.

With this, the future of enterprise software is cloud-native and modular. This means you only need one solution to govern all your essential products, services, and platforms. 

While the cloud has many benefits, it has created a challenging situation for teams who want to stay lean by choosing the best software with the most value. When it comes to procurement, not everyone can be an expert in every aspect of the business. In fact, different organizations have different needs and preferences driven by their unique workflows and business structures.  

If you want answers to all your questions regarding what exactly SaaS procurement is and why there is an increase in the adoption of SaaS solutions by procurement professionals, keep on reading!

How Does SaaS Help Procurement Professionals?

Today, finding vendors for SaaS and screening them to ensure they adhere to the organization's primary security and compliance standards are part of the procurement process. 

With the evolution of SaaS in the past decade and a shift to cloud-based technology, procurement's role in organizations has dramatically changed. These significant changes have pushed enterprises to alter how they select and apply new technologies, frequently leading to migration from on-premise software to SaaS.

Many businesses have switched to SaaS procurement from the time-consuming and labour-intensive process of RFPs, evaluations, and presentations. Currently, IT teams and procurement teams collaborate to use SaaS benefits for their organizations. 

Why Are Procurement Teams Choosing SaaS?

SaaS allows businesses to collaborate and speak directly with customers. It is faster, more flexible, requires less effort, and reduces the costs involved in the business process.

As a result, SaaS can revolutionize procurement teams' internal processes, allowing them to manage their resources more efficiently and significantly reduce processing time. With that in mind, here are some reasons why procurement teams are leaning more toward SaaS solutions. 

• Reduced Costs

SaaS solution has become a preferred option for procurement teams to quickly realize the benefits of SaaS without necessarily having to commit to an all-inclusive solution. With SaaS, you pay only for what you leverage. This means you don't need to commit to an all-inclusive solution that will likely not align with your business requirement. 

The subscription fee model helps you reduce upfront costs and save on maintenance costs since it is taken care of by the vendor. SaaS and cloud-based solutions' cost savings are crucial when assessing the benefits and drawbacks of software acquisitions. Compare the upfront costs of SaaS and cloud-based solutions to ensure they are worth their weight in gold.

• Simple and Speedy Installation

The procurement department of your organization is responsible for managing the end-to-end software solution. However, introducing new features and testing them in a live environment can take months or even years, during which the vendor has full control over the workflow. As a result, businesses frequently need to pay more attention to a software rollout that ultimately fails at deployment. 

SaaS technology helps businesses gain a competitive advantage, allowing them to focus on the core business and streamline everything else in their processes. By using SaaS, you can combine the convenience of cloud-based platforms with the features and functionality of an in-house application. Also, procurement departments may interact directly with the supplier to reduce risk, eliminate intermediaries, and promote more straightforward connections without spending years creating a new application.

• A Trial Before Purchase/Room for Testing

Online shopping is a breeze, but in the case of purchasing software, a lot of administrative work is involved. First, you have to evaluate different software and select the one that provides the best value for money. 

Organizations must evaluate new software before purchasing carefully in the on-premise world. Then, they have to wait for vendors to build an application, implant it into their systems, and ensure that every aspect of the software is perfect. This process can be tedious, time-consuming, and complex.

But, SaaS has broken this model by bringing a solution to select companies who would test-drive the product first, ensuring that whatever solution is chosen is a perfect fit for your organization and works seamlessly with other solutions. This ability to test-drive many options until you find the software specifically designed to fit your requirements might provide your company with a competitive edge.

• Effortless Scalability

In today's competitive marketplace, solutions that can be applied to the widest range of scenarios in corporate procurement are essential. A scalable, adaptable solution needs to handle shifting demands to maintain operations' effectiveness. 

When an organization is scaling fast, but the software needs to keep up with the growth, it can be challenging to manage IT infrastructure. But with the subscription-based model and the right tools, you can easily control your user licenses and streamline the license management process.

Procurement teams devote more efforts to strategic projects as subscription-based models replace on-premise enterprise solutions. As a result, they are looking for a fresh approach to better manage SaaS apps across their organizations and gain insight into spending, thus bolstering growth and promoting scalability. 

• Security and Customer Support

We all have our share of concerns regarding the security of SaaS applications. As a result, organizations are hesitant to adopt these applications because of security and data protection.

But today's SaaS providers offer security solutions that provide greater protection than their on-premise equivalents. At the same time, SaaS applications are more flexible and easier to use than traditional in-house software. As a result, the reduced risk is one of the most valuable advantages that meet the procurement team's eye.

The more the teams know about the software, the easier it will be to find what is needed. Using the platform's help desk is a great way to get answers and suggestions for new functionality. When you send inquiries, the helpdesk support will evaluate them according to the nature of your problem and provide suggestions for how you can address it.

While we are at it, we now know SaaS applications are one of the top trends for leaders to focus on in the coming years. New subscription-based software services are being added to organizations on a much more rapid scale than the previous on-premise solutions that took months. With these changes, procurement leaders can spend their time on more significant, more strategic initiatives.

How Zluri helps you with SaaS Procurement?

It's no secret that Zluri can automate your SaaS procurement and make informed purchase decisions. And on top of it, setting up procurement processes with Zluri is simple as it only needs to be done once. After this, you can continue making SaaS purchases whenever you want. 

Zluri's SaaS buying helps companies acquire SaaS products without engaging in tough negotiations. The service entails purchasing and renewing SaaS software while receiving up to 50% discounts. Any upfront fees, you ask? Not at all! This SaaS management platform keeps a record of every app used by the company and thoroughly examines the company's SaaS stack.

As a result, the team can negotiate lower prices with SaaS vendors based on the data and intelligence from the usage and utilization. For companies, it also saves their precious time spent buying new SaaS applications.

To briefly explain, Zluri's platform functions on simplicity, automation, and efficiency, making the whole SaaS procurement process a breeze. 

Not convinced yet? You will be once you book a demo with us and understand the process better!

About the author

Rohit Rao

Rohit works in the Community and Marketing Team of Zluri and is a strong advocate of community led growth.