What is a SaaS stack?
A SaaS stack is a collection of software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications and tools that are used across an organization. While the specific contents of any SaaS stack will vary depending on the nature of the business, it will typically consist of communication, collaboration, sales, marketing, HR, finance and data analytics software.
Related Definitions
Price Uplifts
What are price uplifts?
In the context of SaaS, price uplifts refer to an increase in the price of a software subscription. While many software providers will implement price uplifts on an annual basis, typically at the point of renewal, others may review and amend their pricing more frequently, for example on a quarterly basis. It is recommended that buyers negotiate a price uplift cap during the initial contract negotiation stage, placing a limit on the maximum amount the subscription can be increased by within a specified time period.
Single-Tenancy Environment
What is a single-tenancy environment in cloud computing?
A single-tenancy environment, also known as dedicated hosting or a dedicated instance, refers to a situation where each user or tenant has their own dedicated infrastructure and resources, including servers, storage and network components. These resources aren’t shared with any other users, maximizing performance and control.
Cloud Instances
What is an instance in the context of cloud computing?
In cloud computing, an instance refers to a virtual server provided by a third-party cloud service, for example AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. These instances ultimately enable companies to deploy and run their applications or services in the cloud, in a scalable and flexible manner. This is because instances are on-demand and can be adjusted based on your workload requirements.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
What is a service level agreement in SaaS?
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a subset of a Master Service Agreement (MSA) and contains specific details about the level of service that will be provided by the SaaS vendor. This agreement will specifically define the performance metrics, responsibilities, and expectations of both parties.
An SLA is likely to include uptime guarantees, the level of support that will be provided to the customer, response times for any support requests, information on how these requests will be managed and escalated, information on how the vendor will protect the customer’s data and ensure the security of its systems and networks, as well as details on how it will compensate the customer if it fails to meet the agreed-upon service levels.
Reserved Instances
What are reserved instances?
Reserved Instances (RIs) are a pricing and capacity reservation offering provided by AWS for their EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and RDS (Relational Database Service) services.
They specifically allow users to commit to using a specific instance type in the same region for either a one or three-year term, in exchange for discounts of up to 72% – the exact discount is ultimately dependent on the commitment term, instance type, availability zone and region.
There are various types of Reserved Instances available, each with different terms and levels of flexibility. Standard Reserved Instances provide the highest cost savings but are the least flexible, whereas Convertible Reserved Instances offer more flexibility by allowing you to change instance families within the same instance type.
In contrast, Scheduled Reserved Instances offer a lower discount, but allow you to reserve capacity for specific time windows, such as business hours or weekends, providing cost savings for predictable workloads.
SaaS Sprawl
What is SaaS sprawl?
SaaS sprawl, also known as software sprawl, occurs when an organization’s SaaS stack consists of a large — and often unmanageable — number of applications.
Ultimately, as business needs grow, the number of digital tools required increases, which leads to new applications being subscribed to, be this through a centralized process or at the will of individual employees.