When purchasing fleet management software, your operation could be faced with a decision – to purchase on-premise software or a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.
On-premise solutions typically require your operation to purchase the software for a one-time fee and install it locally on your computers. Your team is then responsible for maintaining the software and servers and performing updates on the software as needed.
With a SaaS model, your fleet operation purchases a subscription to the software. Users can access the software solution via any internet-connected device through a username and password.
While both solutions offer access to the software, a SaaS model can give fleet operations more scalability and easier solutions for upgrades and maintenance.
Various Lengths of Subscriptions
When you buy an on-premise fleet management software solution, you pay a one-time fee to purchase the software. In contrast, with a SaaS subscription you buy licenses for a specific subscription length, typically monthly, quarterly or yearly. With this model, you pay as you go, and can opt to renew or cancel the subscription.
Flexibility in User Licenses
With on-premise solutions, fleet operations need to purchase a hardcopy of the software and install it in each individual user’s computer. This can take time for IT to perform the work, as well as create downtime for users while the software is being installed. IT will need to repeat this process each time a new user is hired.
In contrast, in a SaaS model, operations purchase user licenses. They can select a package or number of licenses based on the size of their staff. If a new staff member is added to the team, or someone leaves the operation, they can adjust their user license quantity as needed. To access the software, users can log into any internet-connected device with their assigned username and password. This eliminates the need for a lengthy installation process.
Easy Upgrades and Maintenance
If your operation purchases a locally hosted on-premise solution, it is responsible for handling any upgrades or ongoing maintenance to the software. Often the software provider will alert you when new upgrades are available and offer instructions for your IT staff for how to perform the updates.
With SaaS, which is typically hosted on the cloud, the software provider takes care of all the upgrades and maintenance. They will perform the maintenance on their end, push the release out, and within a short timeframe the updates will be accessible by all users once they are logged into the software. This keeps downtime to a minimum and requires less labor.
Less Hardware
On-premise solutions can require fleet operations to purchase the software, servers and other hardware to access and run the software solution. In a SaaS model, your operation only needs to provide access to an internet-connected device to have staff members use the software solution. The software provider handles all other needs – including purchasing and maintaining servers.