Why African Businesses Need SaaS Startups

July 12, 2022, 3:52 p.m.

The digital age has brought about many changes in the way businesses operate. The rise of social media, cloud storage, and virtual assistants have made it easier for businesses to operate, collaborate, communicate, and expand their reach. Smaller enterprises that have been unable to keep up with the latest developments have been forced to adapt or perish – but thankfully, most business owners choose to fight rather than flee. And that’s because there are great opportunities for those willing to take risks and leap forward into this new digital era.

With the help of SaaS companies, almost every business process can get streamlined with less human involvement and more artificial intelligence. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is a kind of cloud computing in which a third-party provider manages applications and makes them accessible to consumers over the internet. It removes the need for organizations to install and run applications on their computers or in their data centers, which eliminates the cost of hardware acquisition, provisioning, and maintenance, as well as software licensing, installation and support.

Based on the deployment model, the SaaS market can be segmented into public, private, and hybrid clouds. Also, Depending on the application, the SaaS market can be categorized into enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), human resource management (HRM), supply chain management (SCM), and others. Other application types include web conferencing platforms, messaging applications, and collaborations. Here is why SaaS companies are crucial for business success in the digital world.

Four reasons African businesses need SaaS Companies

SaaS Companies for Collaboration

Collaboration is another significant impact of digital transformation. While collaboration tools have existed for a while, they were often limited to a few departments within an organization. For example, there were separate tools for marketing and sales. This meant that information wasn’t shared or accessible across departments, and marketers were forced to use different software to generate and convert those leads into customers. In the SaaS environment, collaboration is at the core of every service. Marketing software is integrated with sales and CRM software so that information can be seamlessly passed from one department to another. Such integrations allow businesses to expand their reach and generate more leads. At the same time, they can focus on closing more deals and converting those into long-term customers.

SaaS Companies for Automation

Businesses have started to automate various processes to reduce costs. However, they usually fail to create a smooth and error-free operation as they try to do so manually. Automation is achieved when a computer program is designed to execute tasks humans would otherwise do. This is much more efficient and effective, with an accuracy rate of up to 99%. Luckily, african businesses can fall on SaaS startups to build products that can automate customer support, marketing activities, sales, and other processes. This helps reduce the costs of hiring and managing a large team of support agents while improving the customer experience. It also allows businesses to scale their operations quickly with minimal additional cost.

SaaS Companies for Customer Engagement

Customer engagement is a crucial part of any marketing strategy, and it is also now easier to achieve, thanks to SaaS companies. Customer relationship management software can help businesses identify their most important customers and drive more sales. One of the best ways to do this is by creating personalized offers sent to customers based on their purchase history or recent actions on the website. For example, if a customer has added a product to their cart but hasn’t purchased it, you can use CRM software to create an offer for their favorite product at a discount. This type of offer is usually enough to drive a customer to complete the purchase. SaaS companies offer such customer engagement tools, and they can help businesses grow their customer base significantly.

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SaaS Companies for Productivity

Businesses across the globe are experiencing a significant productivity shift due to technological advancements. The digital transformation is expected to bring global productivity gains of $15.7 trillion by 2030. The transition from legacy systems to SaaS solutions is at the core of this transformation. This can boost productivity by 50% or more due to automation, the ability to scale quickly, and the reduction in human error. For example, SaaS solutions could be used in customer relationship management (CRM) software to create personalized marketing campaigns based on customer data. This takes a lot of effort away from marketers and allows them to focus on core activities such as creating engaging content and identifying new leads.

The Importance of Integrating AI into the above

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), businesses and SaaS companies are leveraging it to bring greater efficiency to their operations and exponentially increase their productivity. AI-powered SaaS solutions can automate almost any business task, from customer service to marketing campaigns. This enables businesses to scale effortlessly, reach a broader customer base, and generate more revenue. A study conducted by Deloitte found that AI could increase global economic output by $15.7 trillion by 2030. That includes an additional $9 trillion in business profits and $5.7 trillion in consumer savings. For example, AI-powered CRM software can be used for predictive lead scoring. This predicts which leads are likely to convert into customers and which ones are not. This saves businesses a lot of time and money, as they no longer have to spend resources on uninterested customers.

Some SaaS companies in Africa helping businesses

Guidewheel: Guidewheel is a Kenyan SaaS startup empowering factories to digitize their operations.
TradeDepot: TradeDepot enables manufacturers and critical distributors to keep their brands in stock on the shelves of millions of retail stores across Africa.
Gro Intelligence: Gro Intelligence is an AI-powered insights company that provides decision-making analytics to the agriculture economies and their participants.
Appzone is a fintech that builds proprietary solutions for financial institutions, banking, and payments services.
RapidDeploy is a South African Cloud-based Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Analytics platform.

Conclusion

As the digital age continues to impact every part of the world, businesses must adapt to remain relevant. Using SaaS can help enterprises stay afloat and thrive in this new environment. Because of their flexibility and scalability, SaaS businesses can help companies achieve more with less effort. They also make it easier to collaborate across departments and increase customer engagement. SaaS companies have proven their worth in the digital world with these three significant impacts. To remain competitive, businesses must make sure they are using these tools and services to their advantage.