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A precise look at performance in your SaaS company

There is a reason SaaS has become the dominant approach to business applications: It makes more sense for both the user and the provider. Users get better tools at a lower cost while providers can count on a steady stream of revenue and closer client relations.

The only downside of running a dynamic SaaS company is that performance is hard to track and difficult to define. Success and failure are driven by multiple variables, and it’s easy to mistake positives for negatives and vice versa.

To get the most accurate, insightful, and up-to-date look at performance possible, SaaS companies must take a new approach to metrics. Tracking the right KPIs in the right way empowers providers to literally engineer their own success. Use these strategies to get an honest and in-depth look at how the company is doing:

Adjust for the life-cycle of the company

Companies go through various stages – startup, high-growth, mature, etc. – and define performance differently at each one. Metrics like customer acquisition matter early on, but things like churn rate are more important once the company is established. Make sure whatever metrics you are using are appropriate for the company’s current goals and priorities.

Implement a master tracking system

Inaccurate metrics offer a distorted view of performance. But considering how much data must be captured, stored, organized, and analyzed to calculate some metrics, their efficacy is often underwhelming. A master tracking system automates much of the effort while providing tools that give decision makers an insightful and informed perspective into data. It’s no surprise that the best tracking systems are SaaS as well.

Prioritize real-time analysis

The goal is not to track metrics, it’s to react to metrics. Having the best information in the world only matters if decision makers can utilize it quickly and confidently. Regardless of what metrics a company is tracking, decision makers should be automatically notified when those metrics reach pre-defined limits. Those alerts could signal success or failure, but in either case they allow leaders to stay informed and react with speed. The metrics that matter most are always apparent.

Ideally, SaaS companies don’t have to prioritize what they track or when. Instead, they have a system in place that integrates all data onto one platform and illuminates performance from every angle. Technology like Sage Intacct ensures that tracking metrics is never an obstacle and applying metrics is never uncertain.

Are you ready to explore and ignite the performance at your SaaS company?

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