Analysts at Blossom Street Ventures recently compared revenue expenditures between major software-as-a-service SaaS companies like Dropbox, Survey Monkey, and Jive, and discovered big players in this coming of age market are spending nearly a quarter of their revenue on research and development. Smaller businesses spend even more— up to 41% on R&D because they are working harder to catch up with their larger, more mature competitors, but the investment pays off—small companies tend to grow at about 127% annually over yearly 47% growth for the big dogs.

So, what does that mean to you? For companies using SaaS, it means the foundation, integrity, and very reason for using these programs is being preserved and enhanced among successful SaaS companies. SaaS allows live, real- time product upgrades and seamless transitions into new features and bug fixes. No more downloading one version just to find out another is necessary in three months—SaaS works quietly and efficiently in the background so users can focus on the more important business of running their companies.

If you are considering switching to an SaaS application, be sure to ask your prospectives what they are spending on R&D. What features are they planning for? What drives their innovation? How clunky will bug fixes be? These questions are as important as the functionality of the programs, and stable, innovative companies will wow you with their answers. ■