Big SaaS or Not SaaS

For years, the safe answer in enterprise architecture has been simple.

Need integrations? Buy the biggest integration suite. Need workflow? Add another licensed module. Need automation? There’s a cloud product for that too. The thinking goes that if you assemble enough big SaaS platforms, you’ll end up with a world class digital stack.

But the reality is starting to look very different.

Big SaaS solves a lot, but it also brings weight. High licence costs. Long implementation cycles. Rigid patterns. A dependency chain where every small change requires another consultant, another connector, another multi step configuration. It works well when your problems are static and predictable. It works less well when your business evolves weekly.

Modern organisations need something different.
They need systems that adapt quickly, integrate cleanly and don’t break the bank when you want to change direction.

This is where a more focused, product driven approach outperforms the heavyweight SaaS playbook.
Instead of forcing everything through a Salesforce-esque shaped funnel, you design the digital capability you actually need, using technology that is flexible, composable and aligned to the way your business operates in real life.

You end up with:
• Faster delivery because you are not wrestling against pre defined frameworks
• Lower long term cost because you are not paying exponential licence fees for incremental value
• Cleaner integration because you control the data model and the logic rather than mapping endlessly to someone else’s
• Far more agility because your system evolves with the business, not against it

And perhaps most importantly, you avoid the trap where every new requirement triggers a six month programme of configuration across multiple SaaS products, each with its own constraints.

SaaS has its place. For standardised processes, it’s brilliant. But when you reach the point where your competitive advantage comes from the way you operate, not the way the software vendor assumes you operate, a bespoke or hybrid build often delivers a better outcome.

This is exactly where Doddle comes in.
We help companies design the right architecture for their needs, not just the one that looks safe on paper. We build modern, lean, integrated systems that behave the way your business behaves and scale without the overhead of heavy enterprise platforms. You get clarity, control and technology that actually fits.

The decision is not “SaaS or not SaaS”.
It’s whether you want a stack that dictates how you work or a stack that adapts to the way you want to work.

Choose the latter and you give yourself room to innovate.
Choose the former and you spend your time colouring inside somebody else’s lines.