Scaling a Software as a Service in an agile environment : An Edtech startup case study

Due to the rise of cloud computing and the adoption of agile software development and business management practices, the software engineering sector has seen major changes over the last decade. Agile methods encourage iterative and incremental application development, with an emphasis on customer and user satisfaction. Combined with cloud computing, agile methods provide a set of resources, services, and tools that can be quickly and easily configured at a lower cost. As a result, Software as a Service (SaaS) products have gained traction, gradually replacing traditional software. This new type of product has numerous advantages, allowing businesses to cut costs and accelerate growth. This trend is closely tied to a number of business models, product, and customer development innovations. It is therefore relevant to identify the best practices to scale a SaaS in an agile way in the computing cloud context. We will depart from a case study around Hypocampus a Swedish Edtech start-up that is currently scaling up its SaaS activity and reaching out to new customer segments, to identify potential patterns and challenges in developing such a service as well as managing and organizing the teamwork in an agile way. Then, through a Systematic Literature Review, we will aim to understand the success factors for growing a SaaS and suggest a standard overall solution for SaaS enterprises that are looking into scaling up.