Defining SaaS

I’ve devoted the bulk of this chapter to bringing more clarity to the boundaries, scope, and nature of what it means to be SaaS. It only seems fair to take all the information we discussed here and attempt to provide an explicit definition of SaaS that, ideally, incorporates the concepts and principles that we have covered here. Here’s the definition I think best summarizes the view of SaaS I’ll be using across the rest of this book:

SaaS is a business and software delivery model that enables organizations to offer their solutions in a low-friction, service-centric model that maximizes value for customers and providers. It relies on agility and operational efficiency as pillars of a business strategy that promotes growth, reach, and innovation.

You’ll see here that this definition sticks to the theme of SaaS being a business model. There’s no mention here of any technologies or architecture considerations. It’s your job as a SaaS architect and builder to create the underlying patterns and strategies that enable the business to realize its objectives. While that may seem like the job of any architect, it should be clear that the unique blend of business and technology demands for SaaS environments will be infused directly into the design, architecture, and implementation of your SaaS solution.

Conclusion

This chapter was all about establishing the foundational elements of the SaaS mindset, providing you with a clearer view of what I mean when I talk about multi-tenancy and the core terms I use to describe a SaaS model. It should also make it clear that your job as a SaaS architect and builder goes well beyond the technology domain. Before you can choose any architecture for your SaaS system, you’ll need to have a firm grasp on the nature of key insights from your business to know which strategies and patterns are going to best align with the realities of your business. This reality will become clearer as we get into the details of how you architect and design SaaS systems. The challenges and needs of SaaS architecture will require you to add all new dimensions to your toolbag. In some cases, you may actually need to be the evangelist of these concepts, driving the teams around you to think differently about how they approach their jobs.

While having a clear view of the SaaS mindset is essential, our goal in this book is to dig into the technical dimensions of SaaS. In the next chapter, we’ll start to look at the various architectural constructs and concepts that are used when designing SaaS environments. Having a firm grip on these constructs will provide you with a foundation of terminology and concepts that will be essential as we move into more detailed architecture models and implementation strategies. It will also expose you to the range of fundamental considerations that are part of every SaaS architecture.