Building Multi-Tenant SaaS Architectures

Chapter 13. SaaS Migration Strategies

The path to SaaS doesn’t always start with a blank canvas. The reality is, there are many instances where organizations have existing solutions that they want to move to a SaaS delivery model. A number of factors may motivate this move. For some, adopting SaaS may be focused exclusively on overcoming cost, operational, and scaling efficiency challenges. Others might be feeling pressure from emerging SaaS competitors. In other instances, this could be driven by a desire to use the economies of scale of SaaS to grow their business and reach new market segments. Customers might be in this mix as well, pushing companies to make their solution available in a SaaS model.

While the appeal of getting to SaaS is well understood, determining how best to make this move can be more challenging. When you have an existing offering with customers and revenue, making this move comes with natural concerns. It will mean striking a balance between the old and the new and finding a path that blazes a new trail without entirely disrupting the business. For publicly traded companies that face quarterly earnings reports and revenue expectations, this can be especially tricky to navigate. The nature of your domain, the profile of your tenants, and potential compliance considerations could also be imposing constraints that will complicate a move to SaaS. This is precisely why there is no one universal path to SaaS. SaaS migration is about finding the path that best ...