Here’s one truth every software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup should hear: your product can be perfect, but if the architecture isn’t built for growth, it will fall under pressure. Imagine trying to onboard 1,000 customers on a system designed for 100. The foundation that supports an app or software gets overwhelmed. What happens next? Customers complain about downtime or product failure. Insufficient customer support and poor user experience are bad news. It leads to churn, which, according to data shared by Hostinger, is 3.5% every month for SaaS companies.
While the monthly rate of customers leaving might be small, it’s steady and has a long-term impact on revenue. The more reason you need an adaptable framework, as it supports flexibility and efficiency, ensuring customer growth without doing a product overhaul. So, how do you scale and prevent performance bottlenecks at the same time? In this post, we explore best practices for a secure, scalable SaaS development architecture that supports growth.
Build SaaS Architecture That Handles Growth Without Breaking
Make the Technical Design Scalable
Any SaaS startup would enjoy the ease of designing a single, unified unit or monolithic framework. But what happens when customer demand surges from ten to one thousand, for instance? You have to redeploy the entire application to accommodate more users, increase storage capacity, and improve efficiency. Instead of building an inflexible application or platform that requires an expensive, time-consuming overhaul, go for a microservices architecture or a modular monolithic architecture. This model allows you to scale up or down based on workload because the scaling is built in.
After all, it’s made up of small, independent services, each representing a specific function such as payments, customer data management, and notifications. This way, software-as-a-service providers can scale each component independently as business requirements change. Another element to consider is the database structure since it’s often the first to bottleneck when data volume increases. Opt for horizontal scaling, which lets you rely on multiple servers instead of a single one. This allows data loads to be spread across small servers, enabling increased storage without lag.
Establish a Legal Business Structure
On the journey to a thousand clients, it’s easy to focus solely on technical architecture. But the organisational framework matters too. A software service provider can choose to operate as a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation. But structuring your business as an LLC (limited liability company) is preferred.
For SaaS firms, maintaining credibility is crucial to attract customers, enterprise clients, and investors. Before signing a contract, customers and potential partners look at the company’s legitimacy. Are you committed to professionalism, compliance, and accountability? When they see LLC as part of your branding, they consider your organisation credible.
Another LLC perk is simplified paperwork, particularly if you work with a registered agent. These professionals handle the registration, manage your digital mailbox, and file annual reports. Some service providers, like Northwest Registered Agent, offer discounted rates to help save on LLC formation costs. For example, using the NWRA coupon promises a 60% discount. You get to $39, plus state fees, and a free year of registered agent services.
When you register as an LLC, your personal assets are protected from business liabilities, giving you peace of mind to focus on expansion. In the software services industry, you can get into debt, or a client sues you for a contract breach, data privacy violation, or copying competitors’ user interface designs, for instance. LLCs prevent your home, car, and savings from being used as settlement.
Build with Elastic Infrastructure
As a SaaS provider, your business model isn’t static. It changes daily. To adapt to evolving customer needs and enable quick access to your platform, consider elastic infrastructure with auto-scaling. A system that automates how you scale ensures software services can expand their capabilities for increased workload and scale down during low traffic. In busy times, this elasticity improves performance and saves money on unwanted resources when things slow down.
How can this be achieved? By running your platform in the cloud. Cloud providers like Google Cloud, Azure, or Amazon Web Services (AWS) also ensure your resources are globally available, allowing users quick access and a better experience as they serve them from the nearest servers. Cloud services also offer load balancing and redundancy. These features ensure your software products are online and reliable even when a server fails.
Final Thoughts
When planning to develop a SaaS platform, don’t build the biggest one because it’s easy and fast. Construct one that you can expand confidently as your customer base grows. This entails building on a scalable architecture. Choose horizontal scaling to support the database as the data volume surges. Then, choose an elastic cloud infrastructure and the appropriate legal organisational structure.
