Why B2B SaaS companies need to rely on data onboarding

When you call something “low effort,” it’s usually a dig. But reducing the effort it takes to accomplish core tasks within a business is actually ideal and something to strive for. The benefits of SaaS are, in a way, all about reducing effort--and money and time--to achieve business goals faster and more efficiently. 

B2B SaaS companies already know this. It’s part and parcel of the world in which they operate, what they offer, and why they exist at all. And they know that it’s key to remaining competitive in their respective markets. Even so, the SaaS field still has room for improvement when it comes to data onboarding.

It doesn’t have to be that hard

The fundamental action of SaaS is, after all, moving data--and doing so more swiftly than on prem. Flatfile believes data onboarding to be fast and effortless. Moving data from one place to another should be as easy as using an ATM, compared to going into a bank, waiting in line, and filling out a deposit or withdrawal slip.

SaaS has become so prevalent because of its ease of use, especially when it comes to deployment. In many cases, you can sign some paperwork and create a login for a SaaS service and be up and running on the same day. Gone are the days of purchasing and then installing software on multiple machines on-premise. 

But data onboarding is still an efficiency bottleneck for too many companies. This is especially true for mid-size B2B SaaS companies that find themselves deeper into the enterprise than ever before, where they often run into new layers of complexity that impede their usual flow. For many of them, it’s still a fairly manual process. 

The good news is that data onboarding doesn’t have to be that hard; it can be just as smooth and painless as other SaaS features companies have come to rely on and even take for granted.

Keeping pace

The process should be easier for SaaS companies, because customers want to import data at the same speed as other tasks. They want to get up and running quickly in all facets of their operations, and getting their data imported faster means they can use their product sooner and begin extracting value from it in short order.

Flatfile helps B2B SaaS companies handle data onboarding at a similar pace as the rest of the SaaS environment. The ability to take in high-variance data from just about any source and get it into usable shape right away uncomplicates things and removes obstacles for business operations.

Practically speaking, Flatfile can integrate neatly into existing products, occupying a discreet middle ground. B2B SaaS companies can use Flatfile’s tools as essentially a component within a process. That’s part of what makes Flatfile’s platform so powerful and effective--it does crucial work unobtrusively even as it smoothes out otherwise difficult processes.

The universal translator

But even more than that, Flatfile’s vision is one in which there are no communication or formatting hurdles to moving data between businesses. In Star Trek, every sentient being in the universe, regardless of what planet or galaxy they were from, could conveniently communicate with one another via a universal translator. It flawlessly enabled these beings to speak clearly with one another--to pass data back and forth, as it were. 

That’s what Flatfile aims to enable with data onboarding for B2B SaaS companies. No matter your market or the type of data transaction you’re performing, one business should be able to send a file full of data to another business, and it should “just work” within the destination system. It should be so seamless that you forget there was ever a barrier to begin with. 

Increasingly, companies are going to exchange data even faster than ever before, and the nature of what that data comprises has and will continue to evolve in terms of type, volume, and complexity. Flatfile sits at the center of this low-effort revolution, enabling companies to move data for any business transaction with speed, ease, and precision.