SaaS as a business
model

“This technology has major benefits for all sectors. For instance, within the property industry, the trend towards SaaS is reinforced by tenants’ desire for smooth digital communication with property companies,” explains Felix Krohn, who is in charge of Aareon’s Value Creation Program. Expansion of the SaaS business is a central sub-project of this programme. Although Aareon has been offering software solutions from the cloud for a number of years, SaaS has recently become even more important with the ongoing advance of digitalisation and as a result of the benefits to customers of this type of operation. At the start of 2021, Aareon consequently announced that its ERP system Wodis Yuneo would focus more closely on a SaaS model.

Aareon Nederland also relies on a pure SaaS offering in the form of its ERP system Tobias 365. Plans are already afoot to offer additional systems in the form of a convenient service. The Aareon Smart World solution portfolio has also been aligned with the SaaS business model. This allows customers to upgrade the scope of services of their ERP system with various packages that can be tailored to their company’s requirements, thereby creating an individual digital ecosystem. Not only does SaaS benefit customers in any number of ways, but software providers also profit from a stable business model with recurring revenues.

The software provider is also responsible for all maintenance and service tasks as well as all security, compliance and default risks. “Thanks to offer packages that are tailored precisely to demand and always feature the latest solutions, our customers benefit from optimum investment and planning reliability, since updates, add-ons and – in future – user-friendly solutions are already included in the package,” says Felix Krohn. All of this makes IT costs transparent and predictable – for both the user and for Aareon, giving all participants a greater measure of security.

Intelligent data use

Together, cloud-based software and new technologies pave the way for extensive options for customers when it comes to data use. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), an ERP system can gradually provide more support to the user in performing routine tasks, having learnt how existing data is handled.

Another area in which the use of data is indispensable is reporting. Here, AI and Business Intelligence (BI) combine to ensure that the available data is put to the best possible use. This allows data to be comprehensively analysed, interpreted and visualised with a view to extrapolating business trends and relationships – an important prerequisite for taking informed decisions on the basis of established key performance indicators (KPIs).

In both cases, the bigger the database, the better the results. Pooling data from a number of companies enables individual businesses to avail themselves of a database of the maximum possible size, the requisite access being provided by cloud software.

Ultimately, all software users from a variety of companies work with their data on the software provider’s servers. The data created is used – in anonymised form and in compliance with the strict GDPR provisions – for AI training. AI is then incorporated into PrediMa by Aareon for example, which enables the predictive maintenance of heating systems, pipes and other parts of a building – thereby offering customers significant added value in the maintenance of their property portfolios. Use of a shared database has another advantage besides: “It can help us to monitor how our customers use the software and deduce where there is still potential for improvement,” explains Felix Krohn. “That’s why SaaS is not merely a software model, but a customer success philosophy too.”

The point of it all:
more added value

It is this versatility that enables the cloud software to achieve something that is easily lost sight of when contemplating the digital transformation: focus on the core business. Companies that no longer have to manage their software, servers and IT personnel not only save operating costs, but are also able to devote themselves immediately and without interruption to what really matters, for instance to reducing vacancy rates. “Thus, SaaS quietly achieves the objective of any good business software: improving added value,” says Felix Krohn.

Personal data on tenants, addresses and invoices, as well as company documents on third-party servers: is SaaS secure enough for companies?

The data is even more secure than it would be on in-house servers – provided that the latter are run as they are in the Aareon Data Centres. The cybersecurity threat has increased massively in recent years, with cybercriminals becoming more professional, faster and more effective. Protection against this threat requires a great deal of investment in terms of time, skills, money and human resources. Current events have only exacerbated the problem: working from home, the requirement for seamless operation of all software tools and the shift to the cloud are aspects that are difficult enough to manage as things stand. But the growing threat landscape has been rendered even more complex by the trend of working from anywhere at any time. Companies that only deal marginally with the issue of cybersecurity can hardly afford to provide effective data protection. It’s much more efficient and secure to rely on a cloud solution such as Aareon’s.

How exactly does Aareon ensure the security of its SaaS solutions?

We have a Data Centre at two locations. This satisfies the most stringent availability requirements: the systems are always available, even in the event of a switching system failure, flood or explosion at one of the sites. We also protect our network with next-generation firewalls which are capable of detecting suspicious network activities. Our backups are saved offline at various locations. Even if a hacking attack on our Data Centre were to succeed, no data would be lost. Our employees are also given regular security awareness training. Finally, our products are programmed securely from the outset – with adherence to the most stringent security standards in software development. We check system security regularly in internal and external audits and by mounting test attacks on our systems and applications with a view to identifying potential vulnerabilities.

With which certification standards does Aareon’s IT infrastructure comply?

We have TÜV (technical inspection agency) certification pursuant to High-Availability Level 4, which also satisfies banking requirements, plus IDW PS 951nv type B attestation as defined by the Institute of Public Auditors in Germany (IDW), which is of particular relevance for our customers’ auditors. We are of course also certified in compliance with the globally recognised ISO 27001 standard for information security management, and the technical inspection agency TÜV Rheinland has awarded us certification for our data protection management.