Software as a Service - SaaS

1. What is SaaS?

SaaS stands for Software as a Service. It is software delivered over the internet, usually accessed through a web browser.
The provider runs, maintains, and updates the software and manages the servers it runs on.
Customers usually pay a subscription or a fee based on usage.
For example, Salesforce Sales Cloud allows businesses to manage customer details, sales enquiries, and follow-ups online without maintaining the software themselves.
The customer still manages its own data, user accounts, and access permissions.

SaaS architecture is the overall design of a SaaS application. It defines how the software’s different parts work together to deliver an online service.
These parts include user screens, business rules, databases, security controls, servers, and connections to other systems.
The design must protect customer information, keep the service reliable, and support more customers as usage grows.
For example, in Salesforce Sales Cloud, a salesperson opens a customer record. The system checks their access, retrieves the saved information, and displays it. SaaS architecture connects the parts that make this possible.

With SaaS, the provider hosts, maintains, and updates the software. Customers access it online and usually pay a subscription or usage fee.
With self-managed software, the business arranges installation, hosting, maintenance, and updates through its own team or an IT partner.
For example, Salesforce Sales Cloud is SaaS. A business uses its CRM features while Salesforce maintains the service. A business that installs and maintains its own CRM uses self-managed software.
The choice depends on total cost, required control, security needs, and available IT support.

User interface: The screens, forms, and dashboards customers use.
Business logic: The rules that process requests, such as approving an order or calculating a bill.
Data storage: Databases and file storage that hold customer information.
Security and access: Controls login, permissions, and separation between customers’ private information.
Customer and subscription management: Handles customer accounts, plans, billing, and usage limits.
Integrations: Connect the software to other systems, such as payment and email services.
Infrastructure and monitoring: Servers run the software; monitoring helps detect failures and performance problems.

A tenant is a customer account within a SaaS application. It usually represents a company or organisation.
Each tenant has its own data, settings, and access permissions, even when it shares the underlying software and servers with other customers.
A tenant is different from a user. One tenant can have many users.
For example, in Salesforce Sales Cloud, a company’s organization account acts as a tenant. Its 50 employees can be users within that tenant, with different permissions based on their responsibilities.

Each tenant is a separate customer account. Each user is a person who has access to that account.

Single-tenant architecture means each customer gets a separate running copy of the application, called an instance.
Each instance serves one customer organisation, which can still have many users.
This provides greater separation between customers but usually increases hosting and maintenance costs.
For example, GitLab Dedicated provides each customer with an isolated software environment hosted and maintained by GitLab. This shows that single-tenant software can still be delivered as SaaS. GitLab documentation

Each customer gets a separate software environment. Many users from the same customer can use that environment.

1 2 3 4 5