What is SaaS?
If you're just beginning to research the idea of SaaS, this is the place to understand what SaaS can accomplish for you, how it works and differs, what are the main examples and what the future holds for SaaS development.
Software as a service technological solution has changed the landscape of software business in the last decade. But technology never stands still, offering innovations and transformation. And this is what vertical SaaS is about — a new approach in cloud-based system development that focuses on unique industry needs.
The market for this cutting-edge solution is expected to reach $194.81 billion by the end of 2025, so this industry might be a new, blooming field for those considering investing in software development. Let’s explore the specifics of vertical SaaS, its advantages, and pitfalls.
Vertical software as a service is a breakthrough concept that serves specific industry needs. The scope of work of such a platform is narrower than in horizontal SaaS, but it is focused on providing meticulously crafted solutions to meet the requirements of particular industries.
Instead of covering multiple aspects like the horizontal approach, a vertical cloud-based project circles out one field, researches it deeply, and delivers the outcome where users don’t need to use various tools but can go through all the workflow steps with one program.
As technology develops, businesses look for solutions to meet their unique needs. So, the demand for such applications is very high.
Let’s imagine the situation that happens every day in the healthcare niche. New patients are arriving, and they need to be registered. Some clients want to schedule online consultations, and staff must have a well-organized schedule to avoid losing precious time. All these operations typically require several tools while data between them is not synchronized.
A vertical SaaS product offers a unified technological solution catered only to the challenges of a specific field.
Vertical software as a service product is designed to cover the needs of a specific niche in a targeted market. Unlike the horizontal type, where all features are generic and aimed to serve large audiences, this innovation offers new benefits and challenges at the same time.
The task of a vertical SaaS is to address all nuances of the particular industry. This means a product offers expertly built features tailored to operational, compliance, and efficiency requirements. On top of that, such products offer great customization opportunities, providing freedom to users.
This innovative idea comes with many advantages:
The complex nature of vertical SaaS product development and maintenance poses several pitfalls you need to be aware of before investing in this industry.
You are already aware of the functions regular horizontal cloud-based products perform. But what about niche-specific technological advancements? We will look at this below.
Depending on the sphere requirements, vertical SaaS platforms offer features that address specific niche demands. Such applications have industry-required workflows, tools for tracking regulatory compliance, customizable dashboards, real-time analytics, role-based access control, task automation, customer relationship management, and others.
Even though vertical SaaS products are not that flexible to be used by different industry companies, they offer enhanced customization within the specific field. Since every company has unique needs, rules, and workflows, this product can be tailored to the requirements.
Companies usually use additional tools and services, so taking that fact into account, vertical SaaS solutions are developed with solid API and cross-platform capabilities. This ensures smooth integration into the existing operations without disruption and data discrepancies.
Horizontal SaaS vs vertical SaaS differs in scope, targeting, and specialization. To understand their specifics, let’s discuss their distinctive features.
The main unique characteristic of a vertical SaaS is its focus on industry-specific needs. Such platforms deep dive into one particular niche, research it, and develop solutions that will satisfy users only within the field. With a vertical SaaS, companies solve numerous pains, including customization that regular generic SaaS platforms can’t cover. In the horizontal SaaS realm, the focus is on versatile functionality that can serve many industries. The applications have regular features that users should adapt on their own. However, this solution doesn’t require being an expert in the field and is easier to develop.
Niche-oriented cloud-based software best applies to industries with complex compliance rules and operations. These fields are the best to create vertical SaaS for:
A few vertical SaaS companies adopted this industry-specific technology and successfully conquered the market. Here is an overview of some of them.
Toast vertical SaaS is a breakthrough innovation in the restaurant industry. This on-demand tool has transformed the operational part of dining spots with such features as point of sale (POS) for payment processing, inventory tracking, workers management, and customer satisfaction instruments. Scalability is the main challenge in creating a vertical SaaS for a restaurant business. There are small cafes and large eating houses, so the platform should be flexible. And this is what Toast offers: easy implementation for any business size.
Vertical SaaS is in high demand in industries such as animal welfare. Shelterluv has become a software application that addresses all processes behind the scenes in animal adoption. It provides animal management tools, adoption management, and volunteer management with real-time analytics. Animal shelters hold a lot of sensitive information about donors. Knowing that, Shelterluv has prioritized solid security and data protection.
Even though vertical SaaS is currently an innovative solution for the software development realm, its capabilities have already been broadened. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are the novelties that are entering the market. With the help of these technologies, users can expect to get better prediction, automation, and task optimization. For instance, the AI mechanisms can gather the symptom history and provide suggestions for the diagnosis. Or analyze the inventory place and guide you on how to place products with practicality in mind.
A challenge that might prevent the vertical SaaS development niche from rapid growth is a limited addressable market. Developers still doubt the decision to invest in the technology that will have a limited pool of clients.
Vertical software as a service is a unified solution for those industries that require high customization. This product is distinctive from the horizontal cloud-based platforms because of the focus on addressing niche-specific issues. Vertical SaaS dives deep into the particular industry specifics, identifies its pain points, and targets them with enhanced functionality.
Since vertical SaaS development requires strong specialists, you should hire professionals like Uitop agency. We aim to provide the best solutions for your idea without sacrificing market trends and innovations.
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