System choice (SaaS vs In-house)

In this article we’ll discuss the dilemma while implementing Loyalty Program, whether to build an In-house system or opt for SaaS based solution. Going to highlight problems with in-house systems and share benefits of SaaS based Loyalty Programs. Hope this would help to make correct decision.

Here in Slingloft we come across Clients who are struggling with their in-house Loyalty systems. These systems are primarily being developed by external resources (3rd party service vendor) instead of in-house Product team. In fact most of these companies don’t have any dedicated Tech / Product team for development.

At the beginning it might look like In-house approach is going to give more Control, Privacy and Reduce Cost. 

In-house option is good, if you are a very large company and have dedicated team for Product planning and development. But for most of the other companies (who don’t have in-house Product team) it is a nightmare and a decision which they eventually regret.

Let’s summarize Pain points of In-house system-

1. Upfront heavy investment and wait time to build a platform from the scratch

2. Dependency on external resources (vendors)

3. Lack of product planning and upgrades make the platform obsolete and losses relevance

4. Extensive turnaround time to implement new features / use cases

5. Separately connect multiple channels (e.g. SMS Gateway, Gifting catalogue)

6. It is an unknown horizon (as the platform was never tested before)

It is almost like you are building your Island disconnecting the world where you need to drive entire Creativity and Product Planning.

All these pain points are already recognized by the Industry and thus we see adoption of SAP for ERP, Salesforce for CRM and so on.

But when it comes to Loyalty Program, people are still trying to burn their fingers while attempting to build an in-house system :-)

Clients who are launching Loyalty Program for first-time, SaaS gives the benefit of “Instant Noodle”. Instantly get access to a high-scale platform with latest features and technologies. Thus fast Go-to-market without heavy investment.

In today’s competitive world, Brands can’t effort to wait endlessly and introduce a Program which is below market standard and way backward. This would be devastating and cause negative image in front of their customers.

So let’s wrap up benefits of SaaS,

1. Get assured for WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”), No Surprises

2. No heavy upfront investment

3. No Endless waiting

4. Access to latest loyalty features — Thus increase Program success!

5. Validate with portfolio clients running on the same platform

6. Fast and Easy go-live with secure and reliable program

7. End-to-end solution with assured support for Program Management, Operation Issues and Enhancements

For any query visit Slingloft, SaaS based Loyalty platform for Channel and Customers.