Remote innovation labs can work for all kinds of businesses, including SaaS companies. The benefits of remote innovation labs for startups have been well documented, with many businesses benefitting from quick and cost effective results that boost their software as a service offering.

We’re looking at why remote innovation labs are especially valuable for SaaS startups. Take a look…

What are remote innovation labs?

Remote innovation labs are an online space where innovation is encouraged. Remote innovation labs gather remote workers and engage the entire workforce in the remote product development process.

By getting more feedback on every stage of development from ideation to implementation, remote innovation labs enable businesses to boost their innovation while working remotely.

Continuous iteration and remote innovation labs

Continuous iteration is so important to continuing to develop your product and remote innovation labs aid that process. Product development is an ongoing process. Not only does there need to be iteration of ideas in the initial creation process, but once you have a solid product it is also crucial to keep working through ideas in order to improve the product. 

By utilizing the benefits of remote labs, you can design and test many different variants of your product and continue to improve it. In this sense it really suits SaaS startups, because the service is able to continually evolve.

Why do remote labs suit SaaS startups?

SaaS startups are trying to create SaaS products that solve a client problem by managing data remotely. This data can be accessed from any device, and removes the need for the customer to download software. The software that SaaS businesses offer is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. For this reason it is incredibly convenient for clients and is often referred to as ‘on-demand software’.

Working with remote innovation labs can be very beneficial for SaaS companies, due to the increased need to innovate constantly. In order to meet a client’s needs, SaaS companies must always be developing new ideas and working through the product development cycle on a regular basis.

In many cases, SaaS startups will work with an outsourced remote team to form a remote innovation lab that can work quickly and effectively towards a goal. By reducing the time it takes to hire and train an in-house team, SaaS companies can get straight into innovation and work through ideas with designers and developers who have been outsourced. 

Often working with outsourced team members who can quickly implement changes saves time, money and often produces better results when working in a remote innovation lab style.

Outsourced team members can boost remote innovation labs in cases where SaaS startups have:

• A limited budget due to being a start up
• A need for part-time assistance as opposed to full-time workers
• No management structure in place at the company
• No training in place to hire in-house workers 
• No office, or a remote-first team