Glossary
What is Cloud software (SaaS)?
Cloud software, or software as a service, runs on servers reached over the internet through a browser or app rather than being installed on one shop computer. Backups and updates are handled by the provider, and it is usually paid for by subscription.
SaaS means you pay to use software rather than owning a copy of it. You open it in a browser or an app, sign in, and work on records kept on the provider’s servers. The subscription covers the software, the server, the backups and the updates together.
How it works in practice
A hardware shop in Butwal on SaaS billing has no installation disc and no single billing computer. The owner raises a bill on the counter PC, checks the day’s sales on a phone at home, and the accountant reads the same figures from another town. When the counter PC fails, a replacement laptop and a login restore access, because the records were never on that PC. When the provider changes a bill layout for a new rule, the change reaches every user at once, without a technician’s visit.
What to check before you choose
- Where the server sits and who operates it. The Electronic Billing Procedure 2074 attaches conditions to cloud billing, set out in cloud or desktop business software.
- How backups are taken, and whether you can export all your records yourself, today, as a spreadsheet or PDF.
- What year two costs, and what a second user or a second location changes.
- Who can see what. Once several people sign in, role-based access control stops being optional.
When it is not worth it
SaaS needs a connection to record a sale. If load-shedding takes the router down for hours and mobile data is weak where you trade, the counter stops, and installed software may serve you better. A subscription also keeps running for as long as you use the software. Before you start, know how you would get your data out if you stopped paying. And a single person on one computer, with a routine and an accountant that both work, may find the move costs more effort than it saves.
For the contrast with software installed on your own machine, see on-premise and cloud; the full comparison lives in the guide above. Kuver Books is SaaS: it runs in a browser, and backups and updates are handled centrally rather than by the shop.
Glossary
Every billing and tax term, A to Z.
See how Kuver Books handles cloud software (SaaS).
A free trial with your own items imported, and a person on WhatsApp for the questions.
Talk to a person
WhatsApp Call +977 974-4401191Sunday to Friday, 9am to 6pm NPT. A real person replies within one business day.