True SaaS Accounts Payable Workflow vs SaaS “Impersonators”

Software as a Service (SaaS) AP Workflow in effect replaced the term ASP (application service provider) of the past.  However not every accounts payable solution provider claiming to have a SaaS AP workflow solution is a true SaaS solution.  Many accounts payable solution providers are just hosting their on-premise AP automation solution and calling the accounts payable automation solution SaaS just because of the nature of the hosted delivery model.  However most on-premise accounts payable solutions have the same level of effort to set up the accounts payable automation solution even when offered as a SaaS model with the main benefit being you as the accounts payable customer does not have to deal with hosting the accounts payable automation solution. Other accounts payable solution providers have created web applications that are hosted as a single-tenant SaaS model which are also not true SaaS. To be true SaaS is to be multi-tenant, not single-tenant which implies one common shared code base.

What is really true SaaS for Accounts Payable?
Accounts Payable Software as a service (SaaS), is a model of software deployment over the internet. With SaaS automation solutions, an accounts payable solution provider licenses an accounts payable automation solution to customers for use as a service on demand, either through a time subscription or a “pay-as-you-go” model. The SaaS accounts payable automation model allows accounts payable solution providers to develop, host and operate the accounts payable automation software for customer use. Rather than purchase the hardware and software to run an accounts payable automation application, accounts payable customers need only a computer and internet access to run the accounts payable automation software. The accounts payable automation software fee from an AP perspective is typically based transactionally on invoice volume.  SaaS multi-tenancy implies an architectural model that allows SaaS Accounts Payable solution providers to serve multiple accounts payable customers from a single shared instance of the application.

What are some of the signs of SaaS providers who are more SaaS “impersonators” and are not true multi-tenant SaaS?

—   If there is a large upfront implementation fee

—   If you have an option of not being on the latest release or same release as other customers

—   If you are not receiving upgrades multiple times per year with new features

It is not always easy to uncover an accounts payable SaaS impersonator because on the surface during an accounts payable automation demonstration both true SaaS and SaaS impersonators can look similar.  One way to potentially uncover SaaS impersonators is that during the accounts payable automation demonstration, ask the accounts payable solution provider if they can use your own computer or laptop to do their demo.  That will uncover whether it is a canned demo running off their hard drive or is really a hosted web demo.  Once that is uncovered then it is just a matter of understanding if the accounts payable automation solution is single-tenant or multi-tenant which may be more difficult to uncover yourself.  However when looking as SaaS models you should always ask the accounts payable provider if their accounts payable automation solution is single-tenant or multi-tenant.