Software as a Service

Application and User Experience Design across all phases of the SaaS customer life cycle

Software as a Service (SaaS) is the delivery model of choice for business applications. The on-going customer relationship is a continuous source of revenue and business activity. To be successful a SaaS must deliver what customers want, when they want it. Critical components include self-provisioning, application flow, the ease with which important features can be found and used, the learning curve for a new user to get up to speed, user monitoring, the long-term flexibility of the application interface, performance and the aesthetics & responsiveness of the interface.

Redesign existing on-premise applications as SaaS

Catalyst has extensive experience redesigning and migrating existing on-premise applications for delivery as SaaS. We evaluate your current product UI, identify business needs, define SaaS strategy across all components of the customer life cycle, and of course, design the application flow, screens, modular UI components library, and specify connections backend data services.

We design the entire application functionality - everything the user experiences

Catalyst can enter a SaaS project at any stage in the development. For new projects we can identify and design all of the functionality and application flow in an application. For projects where functionality is already defined, we can design the way the user experiences the applicaiton.

The right user interface let you add new customers at low incremental cost

The user interface demands for Software as a Service (SaaS) are very distinct from on-premise applications and other software models. A key to profitability is to develop a user experience that adapts to the customer's environment without customized development, and that scales without adding staff. The benefits to your bottom line are shortened sales cycles, faster deployment, reduced customer churn, and better margins.

Faster time to implementation

Catalyst Resources has the specialized strategic and application design experience that is required for a successful SaaS. We can design an adaptable and user-validated application UI quickly and effectively. Your customers will be able to take advantage of your application's value sooner, with fewer support demands.

Using RIA and Web 2.0 interface components, performance and SaaS can go hand in hand

SaaS applications that rely on traditional HTTP/HTML can't offer the dynamic user interfaces of native enterprise applications. However, using Rich Internet Applications technologies such as AJAX/HTML 5, Flex and Silverlight, SaaS applications can provide a dynamic and rich user experience. Catalyst is an expert in the design of Rich Internet Applications. Based on an assessment of your SaaS project requirements, we select the toolkit that provides the best UI components, tools and scalability for development.

Experience across a broad range of SaaS application segments

Catalyst Resources has helped to migrate a broad range of applications to a Software as Service model. It takes lots of forward planning and user validation to create a superb piece of software user interface that adapts when deployed into any customer environment. The benefits to your bottom line are shortened sales cycles, faster deployment and reduced support.

The types of SaaS applications we have designed and helped deploy include:

SaaS Strategy Workshop

The Software as a Service model differs fundamentally from on-premise enterprise application delivery. To provide a profitable and scalable SaaS, enterprises must evaluate nearly every facet of their business: branding, demand generation, pricing, sales, infrastructure, deployment, training, support, billing, and more. The SaaS Strategy Executive workshop offers consultative and tactical guidance to address each of these issues.

The SaaS Strategy one-on-one executive workshop is being offered to senior executives who are responsible for the technical and business strategy of a company and is tailored to pinpoint where you currently are on the SaaS readiness continuum, identify your high value scenarios and business workflow, discuss technical architecture, and define an implementation plan. The workshop is held on-site at the client's location.

The one and one-half day SaaS workshop consists of the following: