How AI is redefining development in SaaS business.

We're taking a fresh look at how we build our teams and spend our money in the SaaS industry. It's time to rethink the old ways and embrace new strategies for success.

Traditionally, the bulk of development budgets in SaaS companies has been allocated to software developers, typically around 80-90%. This left a meagre 10-15% for other critical roles such as QA, DevOps, and UX/UI design. This distribution, while commonplace, overlooks the significant contributions of these roles in creating a successful product.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence in our workflows is a game-changer. We've observed internally that developers can increase their efficiency by up to 40% when fully utilizing AI tools. This efficiency gain suggests a potential shift towards smaller, more agile development teams. Such a change could free up budget resources, allowing for greater investment in roles previously considered a "luxury".

Previously, the focus was on quickly adding as many features as possible. However this approach often ignored crucial aspects like design and reliability. Now, we're witnessing a significant change. The industry is realizing that aesthetics and smooth functionality are as vital as advanced features. 

It's becoming clear that positions such as QA, DevOps, and UX/UI design are not just luxury additions but are essential for creating stable, high-quality products.

Historically, when faced with the decision to add either another developer or a QA specialist to a team, the choice typically leaned towards the developer. However, this trend is evolving. SaaS products must stand out to survive. Users have become more discerning and are quick to switch to a competitor’s product if they encounter issues with performance or user experience. This reality highlights the necessity for SaaS products to be not just feature-rich but also well-crafted and reliable. 

Moreover, the increasing importance of security and privacy in the digital age cannot be overstated. Any breaches in these areas can severely damage a company's reputation. 

Our internal survey on AI usage in development shows that 41% of our developers use AI daily and 20% rarely use it. Users who frequently engage with AI find it highly beneficial, unlike occasional users who see little value. Moreover, 77% of our developers say AI boosts their performance. They praise AI for quickly providing solutions, generating code, assisting in unit test writing, and helping with refactoring. Yet, AI struggles with requirement analysis, comprehensive coding, complex calculations, creating efficient algorithms, interpreting results, and tasks requiring human interaction.