SaaS: one software for everyone

Software as a Service has dominated since the early 2000s. Businesses rent an online tool by subscription, often per user: email, accounting, customer management. The software is the same for everyone, and the business adapts to it.

The model also shows its limits. According to the American vendor Zylo, which mostly tracks large organisations, they use 305 such applications on average, and 46% of paid licences go unused over a 30-day period.

Grid of 100 squares: 54 SaaS licences in use, 46 unused over 30 days; 305 applications per organisation on average (Zylo, 2026).

Two words swapped

In 2024, the American venture capital firm Foundation Capital turned the phrase around: Service as a Software. Same acronym, opposite meaning. Customers no longer buy a tool to do the work themselves; they buy the work done, delivered by the software.

The firm puts this market at 4.6 trillion dollars worldwide: the salaries and outsourced services that such software could take over. It is an estimate of the market, not a forecast.

Why now

Artificial intelligence has brought down the cost of writing software. A tool designed for a single trade, long reserved for large companies, is now within reach of an association, a municipality or a small business.

In France, the ground is ready. According to the France Num 2026 barometer, 40% of very small and small-to-medium businesses use at least one AI solution, 14 points more than in 2025. 78% have a digital project for 2026-2027, led by electronic invoicing (39%) and software (26%).

Small businesses using at least one AI solution: 26% in 2025, 40% in 2026. Digital projects for 2026-2027: electronic invoicing 39%, software 26%, training 21%, artificial intelligence 18% (France Num 2026).

What changes

The software starts from the trade, not the other way round. It uses the vocabulary of the people who work with it, keeps only the useful features and evolves with the activity.

Example: a cultural club run as an association kept its accounts in a spreadsheet and an accounting package, next to its enrolment website. A single application now brings together family enrolments, payments and instalment plans, attendance taken by teachers on a tablet, and the treasurer’s accounts.

Before: a separate enrolment website, spreadsheet and accounting package. After: one application for enrolments, payments and instalments, tablet attendance and accounting.

Points to watch

  • Upkeep. Custom software must be hosted, backed up and updated all year round. A common core, adapted to each client, costs far less to maintain than a tool rebuilt from scratch every time.
  • Reversibility. The data belongs to the client: it must be exportable, and the software documented.
  • What is regulated. In France, since 1 September 2026, every business must be able to receive electronic invoices through an approved platform; small and medium businesses will also have to issue them from 1 September 2027. A custom invoicing tool connects to an approved platform; it does not replace it.

Our approach

Les Techniciens du Net have adopted this model. Each application starts from an analysis of the client’s processes; it is built on a shared technical core that is maintained and updated, then evolves with the business. Upkeep, data reversibility and regulatory compliance are part of the specification from the outset.

Sources: Foundation Capital, “AI leads a service-as-software paradigm shift” · Zylo, 2026 SaaS Management Index · Service-Public, France Num 2026 barometer (in French) · impots.gouv.fr, electronic invoicing (in French) · Accessed 28 October 2026.