According to McKinsey [1], modern businesses expect to get 50% of their revenue from new businesses and products by 2026. To make it happen, many companies choose to implement SaaS products. SaaS solutions are relatively easy and quick to implement, scale, and customize.
Despite the keen interest in SaaS and its numerous applications, finding a seasoned professional in the field may require much effort. In search of skilled SaaS developers, businesses worldwide opt for outsourcing as one possible way to fill the talent gap.
But how to find SaaS developers, partner with them, and benefit from SaaS outsourcing? Discover in the article.
What criteria define a skilled SaaS engineer?
During SaaS existence in the global software market, SaaS engineers have mastered their skills to implement all kinds of solutions: from MVP development to creating management applications for different industries. Also, SaaS is technology-agnostic, so the talent pool is extensive. However, it might be challenging to find SaaS developers that fit your niche the most among such a multitude of professionals. So, to help you out, we prepared the checklist with critical selection criteria to help you find suitable candidates.
Practical tech skills and knowledge of tools
Today’s market offers a multitude of tools for a SaaS engineer to develop a solution. SaaS products typically have a sophisticated architecture requiring different tools, libraries, and frameworks. These are the ones used by SaaS developers most:
- Server-side tools and technologies:
They are no different from the typical server-side web development tools and technologies. The vendor you hire SaaS engineers from can use NodeJS, .NET, Java, PHP, or any other programming languages. The crucial aspect is – the technologies your SaaS developers use have to be easy to use and customize.
- Front-end technologies:
JS frameworks are among the most used in the market. Angular, React, and others are frequently used by the best SaaS engineers to deliver the best UI/UX design.
- Hosting and maintenance Cloud platforms:
Most companies use third-party providers to host their solutions. Azure, GCP, and AWS offer a wide choice when it comes to supporting software and DevOps tools.
Recognized Cloud certifications
Sound knowledge of Cloud computing is an essential skill for a SaaS engineer. A certified Cloud specialist will build resilient infrastructure and manage the budget efficiently. AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud are the most valuable Cloud certifications that will add to the expertise of a SaaS developer you hire.
High qualification level
The average seniority level of your SaaS developers is directly linked to your project’s outcome. Experienced engineers are more likely to have advanced problem-solving and managerial skills and provide the highest product quality. To avoid hindrances during the project, try to hire SaaS developers with 5+ years of proven experience with the technology.
For example, at N-iX, the average Middle specialist has at least five years of experience, and Seniors have around eight. The company’s Lead and Principal developers have at least ten years of experience.
Experience with Agile methodology
Agile software development brings vital benefits to businesses. Here are several benefits you get if you hire a SaaS engineer familiar with Agile methodology:
- Accelerated product delivery;
- Enhanced ability to manage changing priorities;
- Improved quality;
- Reduced costs;
- Better cost and time predictability.
Steps to hiring SaaS developers from a trusted vendor
A high number of options leads to the difficult task of picking the right partner for your next project. To hire SaaS developers from a reliable vendor, you need to know who your partners-to-be are, their services, and whether they can deliver the results you expect. So, let's look at the main steps you should take to find SaaS developers and a trusted partner.
Check their portfolio of SaaS projects
Your first step is to narrow the list of potential partners. You can go to the rating platforms like Clutch and filter companies by expertise. Select the expertise in SaaS and choose from the companies with the highest score.
Once you have shortened the list to just a few top-rated software development companies, check their portfolio of SaaS projects.
Choose large and mid-sized companies
The scope of your project may change with time, as you might want to add new features or expand the functionality of your product. So, the composition of your team may also change. Even if, for now, you want to hire a SaaS engineer, you should be sure your vendor has an internal talent pool to accommodate your changing needs.
When partnering with smaller companies, you might find it challenging and time-consuming to scale your team up. Larger vendors, however, can scale their development teams much faster.
One-stop-shop development
Some vendors focus on particular aspects of the entire development process. In contrast, a full-cycle partner ensures that you have all the development stages covered by a single team of developers.
These stages are:
- Ideation and discovery;
- Development;
- QA and testing;
- Deployment;
- Maintenance and upgrade.
Full-cycle development allows you to have all the project-related operations in one place. Such an approach maximizes communication efficiency, optimizes spending, and reduces redundant managerial effort. It makes the project delivery process more convenient for you and the SaaS engineer you chose to hire. Full-cycle development includes after-development support and maintenance as well.
Security
You will surely share some of your sensitive business data when you partner with a vendor. You will need a partner who follows all the relevant security standards, including PCI DSS and ISO 27001, and guarantees the total safety of your data.
Businesses that benefited from hiring SaaS developers
1. Fluke Corporation
This is a US-based company that manufactures, distributes, and services electronic test tools as well as measuring and condition monitoring software.
Our client needed better visibility into asset conditions and high performance, customization, and scalability of the seamless integration with CMMSs.
Together with N-iX, the client achieved a boost in equipment uptime, better performance, customization, and scalability, as well as reduced maintenance costs.
Also, our SaaS developers have ensured high-security standards for applications of Fluke Corporation. What’s more, N-iX SaaS engineers have enhanced the usability of the system by incorporating the best UX/UI practices.
2. Global manufacturer (under NDA)
The Global Fortune 100 Germany-based engineering and technology company also benefited from hiring SaaS developers from N-iX.
To make the logistics between its warehouses in over 60 countries easier, the client implemented a logistics platform. It, however, was not scalable and efficient enough to meet client’s needs because of its monolith architecture.
So, this global manufacturer partnered with N-iX to make their internal platform more effective. To do that, our professionals migrated the solution to microservices that enabled the smooth addition of new SaaS services.
DevOps expertise was also vital for this client. So, our experts built the DevOps pipeline from scratch, set up the Azure environment for development and QA, and introduced CI/CD processes that allowed us to assemble and deploy easily.
3. Code Worldwide
This client helps their customers with marketing automation through technology and data with the help of a SaaS application. Over 10,000 businesses use it in 113 countries. It helps other companies automate the creation of their essential marketing communications, advertising materials, and brand experiences.
N-iX helped Code Worldwide to:
- support a large number of tenants (including tenant onboarding and setup, issue fixing, deployment, and AWS infrastructure support);
- improve time to market via CI/CD process enhancements;
- use SAFe approach integration into the development pipeline.
N-iX has also supported the system, established effective communication between services, and ensured their stability.
Why cooperate with N-iX SaaS developers?
- N-iX is a trusted European software engineering company with 21 years of experience in SaaS development for manufacturing, telecom, marketing, and other industries;
- The company has over 2,200 professionals on board who are well-versed in microservices, DevOps, Cloud adoption, migration, and maintenance, as well as Agile software development;
- N-iX boasts a strong community of developers that have Cloud certifications from AWS, Microsoft, and Google;
- The company adheres to all the key international cybersecurity standards, including GDPR, PCI DSS, ISO 27001:2013, and ISO 9001:2015, as well as industry-specific regulations;
- The vendor has earned industry recognition: N-iX reached top positions in the CRN Fast Growth 150 ranking, IAOP Global outsourcing 100 list, EMEA Inspiring Workplaces ranking, and many others.
References:
- 2021 global report: The state of new-business building by McKinsey
