An editorial by Gerald Wenzel, CEO

From now on, the tracekey “perspective” series contains texts by our employees on important topics in the industry. Gerald Wenzel gives his opinion on SaaS.

SaaS solution: Our business model is based on the Software as a Service (SaaS) principle. However, decentralized, digitalized work does not only suit our actual product but has also established itself as a smart solution for communication and working with our customers.

We have long since gone beyond the times when the software was still played from a CD to a PC. Software as a Service (SaaS), as the most popular part of cloud computing, is more or less standard in all areas of business software. For our customers, the benefits of a SaaS solution are obvious: flexibility, high scalability, regular updates, and cost savings in hardware, maintenance, and support.

When you introduce a new product, the first thing you need to do is convince your customers of this idea. Personal contact, a good information policy, and support were very important to us right from the start. In 2017 and 2018, our Customer Success Team, therefore, traveled 200,000 km + by train, car, or plane. At that time, we were not even productive. The focus was on customer support or the presentation of our serialization solution on site.

This year the whole thing looks completely different. In the first half of 2019, travel activity was reduced to one-sixth. And that’s good because it saves us a lot of dead travel time. The time that we can put to good use in supporting our customers and further developing our products.

SaaS solution: Together & straightforward

Now, of course, one could say that the figures indicate a poorer customer relationship or fewer new customers. But that’s not the case. Not only is the software not tied to one place. Remote implementation, validation, training, and support now go hand in hand with SaaS technology. Everyone can access the solution from any location at the same time and work with it together.
Customers have less preparation time and can react flexibly because there are no time-consuming attendance appointments that interrupt or even disrupt work processes.
This way of working also enables the customer’s employees to participate in the communication. This is because all important information is made available in our customer wiki. This also enables us to contact our customers even less complicated and more regular.

SaaS brings more security for SMEs

Saved travel time and the (virtual) moving together of all participants in the serialization process are one thing. The biggest advantage of the SaaS solution for us and our customers, i.e. for small and medium-sized enterprises, is another.
How do you get a data center the size of the Azure center in Frankfurt with all its security features into a 30-man company? Not at all. And you don’t need that either. Business solutions as SaaS make it possible.
As a small medium-sized company, we can work with the same security standards as the “big ones” and pass this quality on to our customers.