Importance Of Single Source Of Truth Platform in B2B SaaS

In the world of Software as a Service (SaaS), having a reliable and accurate source of data is crucial for success. However, managing data across multiple systems and applications can be a daunting task. Without a single source of truth (SSOT) platform, SaaS businesses can struggle with data inconsistencies, which can negatively impact their operations and growth.

Do you remember when we used to have multiple colored files in our offices? Along with the good old paper days, do you also remember the amount of space it occupied and the clutter it created?

Lucky for us, we could swap paper files with computer files and store data. Data that you will always have stored without creating a mess.

However, cloud computing has led to the same old mess that we had with colored filing systems.

According to Business Insider, 69 percent of CFOs agree that siloed data can leverage the company. Among them, 40 percent insist that inaccurate data can lead to poor strategy and planning.  

Also, based on the research published in Forbes magazine, 53 percent of companies have already adopted big data analytics, which directly implies that every SaaS enterprise is looking for an innovative customer-centric process for better onboarding and decision-making. That’s when a single source of truth (SSOT) helps. It is a one-stop solution for all your onboarding and implementation needs.

What Is A Single Source Of Truth?

A single source of truth is a repository where you can find the data spread on multiple platforms to be organized in one place. It is very straightforward and helps you and other team members to access information from a single location.

For example, an enterprise SaaS may use silos of tools during and after client onboarding. Apart from the sales team’s usage of various tools to store data, other cross-functional teams may use various tools separately for data storage and retrieval. And this is just for a single client.

Transparent communication plays a crucial role in an enterprise SaaS organization. Expectations of the client, use cases required by the client, work done by cross-functional teams, tracking, and prioritization of work can be done appropriately when all of these works get done in a single platform. It makes the onboarding and implementation process more efficient.

A single source of truth streamlines every piece of information in a single place so that the big data is readily available and easily accessible. Avoiding information loss and thereby streamlining collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Why Is It So Important In Enterprise SaaS?

The first and foremost focus of an enterprise SaaS business will be on customer relationships which turns into customer success. You have to know the requirements of your customers right from the pre-sales stage. And that information should be transferred along with the customer context ( use case, revenue impact, timelines, priority, etc.) to the product and tech teams. Meeting notes, email chains, excel sheets, docs, and information through chat channels, and the onboarding process happens through silos rather than a centralized platform. This can lead to a loss of information or misinformation and cause customer onboarding problems.

After onboarding comes the implementation phase, wherein the product team performs tasks that are assigned to them using project management tools; The chances of missing new use cases, tracking of information, confusion between cross-functional teams, prioritizing tasks, and delayed delivery may happen.

At times a single department’s delayed performance can cause problems for the overall enterprise. This is due to a lack of information on prioritizing the work and its revenue impact. Hence, it can hamper the customer relationship, leading to churn.  

The reasons listed above, if ignored, can create a huge problem for an enterprise SaaS organization. Therefore, having a single centralized platform can give you an edge over your competitors.

Why Does Your Business Need SSOT?

Now that you have understood what SSOT is let's dive into understanding why your business requires a single source of truth to sustain the competition.

Bridging the Communication Gap

One critical feature of a single source of truth is that the collected data is the same for everyone. There are no different perspectives or versions of the truth. This makes you put your maximum effort into collecting reliable data since the whole team is using that as the base for everything.  

Save time

When all the collected data is placed in a single location, you and your team members know where to search for the files. Information on work assigned and updates will avoid miscommunication to a great extent. Project managers spend hours on project management tools collating data from the team members. Easy accessibility of reliable data paves the way for errorless work and reduces a considerable amount of time spent in report generation.

Better cross-functional collaboration

In most enterprise SaaS organizations, enabling internal cross-functional collaboration helps in prioritizing the use cases based on the client’s needs and minimizing the repetition of work. Better teamwork and a high NPS score from your customers can be expected as the outcome. Helps with better accountability and predictability. It also prevents customer churn.

Transparency

Transparency is vital in both internal and external communication. While internal transparency leads to hassle-free work and reliable data sharing from a single source of truth, external transparency can help you gain the trust of your stakeholders and your customers. The use cases created, assigned, deliverable date, and updates on the work done help you to closely monitor and identify each team and its work.

Better decision making

As mentioned above, CFOs rely on accurate customer data for future planning and decision-making of the enterprise SaaS. And if a single source of truth can provide reliable data, then it certainly will help in better decision-making.

Improved customer satisfaction

When things have a good start, they usually have a great end. So, streamlining and organizing data, in the beginning, would help you to deliver the work on time which makes your customer satisfied. This will not just help in customer retention but also can be your word-of-mouth referrals for potential customers.

Achieving Customer-Centricity

All customers like it when they have access to updated information. With project management tools or other silos of tools, finding, tracking, and updating the customers with the progress of the tasks can be hectic. However, enterprise SaaS businesses have turned customer-centric and are revamping their business model to meet the requirements of their customers. So, if you have a single source of truth, a customer can easily add, track, and look at the progress of the assigned use cases.  

Final Words

Right from closing a deal with customers to onboarding to implementation to tracking to delivery, a single source of truth can be used to store data and discuss information.

A single source of truth gives accessibility and accuracy of reliable data, which is crucial for every enterprise SaaS organization. All cross-functional teams have a better understanding and tracking of the progress. You can check and gauge the performance of each team. You can also find and monitor accountability in the team.  

An SSOT is part of the customer-centric approach that can make you work more efficiently and effortlessly. This helps increase customer success and retention, which will directly reflect on your NRR.

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