Many companies find themselves at a crossroads when they decide to run customer loyalty programs, brand loyalty programs, channel loyalty programs, or influencer loyalty programs. The dilemma they often face is, “whether to create loyalty programs in-house or delegate them to the experts?”

Some choose the former, which requires them to hire a dedicated team of IT experts, invest considerable time and resources, and build loyalty programs from the scratch. While some choose the latter, and by joining hands with the right loyalty solution providers they leverage Saas-based loyalty programs to their advantage.

SaaS-based solutions are extremely cost-effective, robust, flexible, and easy to handle, which makes them among the fastest-growing segments in the IT sector. As per data published by BMC Software, a Houston-based reputable IT services, consulting, and enterprise software provider, nearly 70 percent of small businesses around the globe use SaaS platforms for their agility and scalability.

At LoyaltyXpert, we provide best-in-class SaaS-based loyalty platforms for all sizes of businesses and help them create high-quality loyalty programs for their customers, channel partners, and influencers. In this blog post, we have discussed various aspects of in-house loyalty platforms versus SaaS-based platforms and which one is better for your business.

An analysis of in-house loyalty platforms vs. SaaS-based platforms

While in-house solutions have been around for a long time, SaaS-based solutions are newer entrants in the loyalty space. Let’s take a look at how both of them perform when it comes to various aspects of loyalty programs.

1. Ease of setting up

The businesses that opt for in-house loyalty programs will need to start from scratch. They will need to hire a dedicated team of IT experts, specify and train them about the programs they want in place, and set up their own IT infrastructure to run and manage the loyalty programs.

But, on the other hand, installing a SaaS-based loyalty platform is extremely easy as it can work with the existing IT landscape instantly. You don’t need to invest in a specialized IT infrastructure or team and go through all the hassles of creating and handling successful loyalty programs. A reliable and expert loyalty solution provider will provide instant access to a well-crafted loyalty management system.

2. Scalability and flexibility

SaaS-based loyalty platforms are extremely flexible and scalable as per a business’s needs. Using reputable SaaS-based solutions, businesses can easily scale up and scale down their loyalty programs as per their needs. If a business needs more storage space, the SaaS solution provider will provide additional space immediately.

On the other hand, in-house loyalty programs are not as flexible as their SaaS-based counterparts and they cannot be scaled up or scaled down easily. Most in-house loyalty platforms don’t provide easy options to scale up and scale down and will entail additional costs to do so.

3. Cost savings

When it comes to the cost of creating a loyalty program, SaaS-based loyalty programs are extremely cost-effective than their in-house counterparts. In the former, businesses need to pay a monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee. SaaS-based platforms don’t require businesses to pay any additional support or update costs, as they’re taken care of by the solution providers.

But in the latter, businesses need to make huge initial investments in a team of IT experts, hardware, software, and more before creating loyalty programs. Apart from those costs, there are several other costs related to servers, license maintenance fees, installation and configuration, training, downtime, and support.

4. Integration

Be it finance and accounts, marketing and sales, or customer support, a SaaS-based loyalty platform can easily integrate with your existing business systems across departments, allowing you to craft loyalty programs according to your needs and plans.

But with an in-house loyalty program, the integration can be tricky and inefficient. An in-house solution is not as dynamic and flexible as a SaaS-based platform, which makes the integration of the loyalty programs with the existing systems extremely difficult.

5. Security

Businesses using in-house loyalty platforms need to be extremely cautious and proactive about their data security and database management. They need to make additional investments to boost their security and train their developers to identify security breaches.

But the businesses that use SaaS-based solutions don’t need to worry about security or problems with database management. The SaaS solution provider will take care of both the security aspects as well as database management.

Summing up

The value SaaS-based systems can add to businesses is unparalleled. Businesses that partner with a reliable SaaS-based solution provider enjoy many more benefits than those that build loyalty programs in-house.

If you’re intending to run customer loyalty programs or brand loyalty, channel loyalty, or influencer loyalty programs, then you would benefit immensely from a high-quality SaaS-based loyalty platform. At LoyaltyXpert, we create exceptional SaaS-based loyalty programs for all types of businesses. To know more about our SaaS solutions, contact us today.