First appearing in 1999, “Hackathons”, also known as “Hack Days”, “Codefests” or “Hackfests”, are not only growing more popular, but becoming more useful. A hackathon is an event in which computer programmers, developers, graphic designers, interface designers, and project managers from different companies and businesses (or freelancers) collaborate together to develop software. These can be held for a number of reasons, most of them being educational, cultural and social purposes. Generally the goal is to create usable software.

In the past year, several 48 hour meetups were held to create apps, websites and programs designed to help migrants in several Latin American countries. It is very important to keep the specific group of people in mind while developing these apps. Programs should not be designed for the average American smartphone user but that of the average user of the specific country or group being addressed.

Just days ago, a hackathon was held in Miami, Florida for the communist country of Cuba. The government of Cuba, like China, Russia and North Korea, routinely blocks content and internet pages deemed unsuitable for its citizens. In addition to this, the average Cuban makes a monthly salary of about $20, making the limited access of information offered even more limited.This specific hackathon was designed to break down the communication barriers between Cuba and the rest of the world. Programs and applications were designed to help immigrants and citizens of Cuba that there is access to the rest of the world.

I just thought I would take a minute and share what is going on in the world around us. Bringing technology to countries with limited access to communication is an excellent way of assisting people in bettering their lifestyles. I also wanted to point out that we do have this access to global communication readily available to us. Why not take advantage of this? What can you do to take your business’ communication or technology to the next level? Is it through mobile optimization? Better organization or your social media? Just food for thought.

As a software provider, how can you generate the most revenue and provide the best service to your customers? This is a question many software developers face and most of them consider SaaS or software as a service to be the best solution.

Software as a service development became popularized as online access to tools and resources grew and was preferred among customers. Being able to access software "in the cloud" allows customers to use their favorite software anywhere with an internet connection. With SaaS, software is ran using the web server's hardware and resources, which means customers don't have to worry about their computer's own ability. Gone are the days of having "minimum specification requirements" with software as a service because using the software is as easy as opening a website in your browser. There are no tasks completed on your computer's own hardware and most SaaS providers offer their customers storage space for saving files and projects in the cloud.

Why use Software as a Service Development?

• Monthly revenue from every customer
• Incentive to provide exceptional customer service
• Incentive to improve the software

Choosing to launch your software as a service means monthly revenue from every customer. When you charge a one-time fee like you would with traditional software, your revenue potential is limited. That customer is only worth the amount they paid for the software and your ability to provide customer service is hindered because of overhead costs. With SaaS, each customer has a much larger lifetime value and there is incentive to provide the very best customer service you can. Additionally, there is a major incentive to improve the software when you are receiving monthly revenue from your customers. You suddenly have a reason to hire a development team to integrate new features into the software. Every new addition could mean more customers and better revenue.

SaaS is the Future

Big brands are moving to software as a service and that is typically a sign that things are transitioning in a new direction. Google was one of the first big brands to fully support SaaS and provide access to Google Docs and other software on the web. They have shown how software as a service can be preferred by providing automatic saving to documents and other key features that make SaaS standout from traditional software. When you compare Google Docs to Microsoft Office, there are many promising aspects that make it a preferred choice. SaaS is the future and web programming is increasing in popularity.

How do Customers Feel About SaaS?

Most customers will greatly appreciate that your software is accessible through the web. Traditional software can be clunky and web-based tools are generally far more reliable. However, customers will expect a higher level of professionalism in the departments of customer service and software improvement. When a customer is expected to pay monthly for access to your software, they want full value from the service. Expect your customers to do their research and look for alternatives. If there is a competitor with better software and a one-time fee, you may lose customers. When choosing to use SaaS, you need to have the best software for the right price. During your initial launch, you may want to consider offering your software at a lower price to encourage subscribers.

Are SaaS Development Teams Expensive?

If you don't have programming experience, the only way to transition your business toward software as a service is to hire a development team. Fortunately, SaaS is typically less expensive than traditional software development. SaaS developers often specialize in programming languages like PHP, Python or Ruby. Python and Ruby are often preferred, as they are highly simplistic and allow SaaS developers to reuse code from previous projects, write things with less code and save enormous amounts of time. This ultimately lowers costs and makes SaaS development less expensive.

There are many reasons to consider software as a service development for powering your business. If you have questions on working with a developer and how SaaS could improve your business, please contact us.