How SaaS Platforms Are Becoming Backbone Of Manufacturing Industry

With the quest to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy, sectors like Textile, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Metal are in the spotlight with an expectation of unprecedented growth. Let's take the example of the FMCG sector. Revenues from the FMCG industry hit USD 52.75 billion in 2018 and are expected to grow up to USD 103.7 billion by 2020. With this growth trajectory - usage of a technology solution is inevitable to "reduce time, reduce space and increase social interaction.",as Kishor Biyani says on the expectations from any technology tool.

Technology has not been a legacy for these sectors - as their expertise lies in the core manufacturing and distribution operation. 

SaaS is rapidly changing the way organizations do things. A recent report by NASSCOM predicted that the SaaS market in India will reach $3.4 billion by 2022. The market is expanding at a consistent pace of 36 percent every year in the country. 

SaaS (read as Software as a Service) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis. In simple words, if you have to deploy a solution to help your company in a particular operation - you don't have to custom build the same. Instead, there are SaaS vendors who are experts of the given operations and they deploy their solution in minimum time and on a rental basis.

Let’s look at how SaaS software solutions are expected to fuel this growth in the sector by automating critical business operations:

1. Customer Relationship Management: Using data to understand and engage with customers.

2. Expenses Management: From travel expenses to reimbursements, this software provides analytics and reporting on transactions.

3. Transportation and Logistics tracking system - a sophisticated SaaS transportation management system can improve the visibility of goods on the road and help managers keep logistics staff accountable, track the progress of each shipment, and shrink the delivery period

4. Sales & Distribution: From real-time monitoring on field sales, automating processes till predictive analytics to improve market penetration; assisting people on field. 

Using SaaS platforms such as these, where data becomes the DNA of the business, has impacted the manufacturing segment leaps and bounds. Each segment is set for disruption and with technology, it only makes it accelerated.

India is becoming SaaS-y, here’s why

1. Availability: SaaS products are built ready-to-go if you want to use the base versions. With that, it brings with it a simple onboarding and user interaction - making tasks easier, automated and simpler.

2. Customizations: With SaaS products, it isn’t all white-label, providers allow changes and modifications to be made to fit the use case of the product with the industry - making it a perfect blend for both parties.

3. Self-owned and managed data: When you buy a SaaS product, your data is secure and well managed. Being in control of data is of prime concern to your users/customers today.

4. Scalability: SaaS products are tiered to fit different requirements, that being said they offer the buyer the ability to upgrade (and downgrade!) as the need arises, making it super flexible for user and provider to find solutions.

There has never been a better time for disruption, modern India is ready. With talented people across the board to understand and act on data, SaaS-enabled India is a reality. Right in the palms of our hands.