SAAS MODEL – SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE BENEFITS & FEATURES

The term “SaaS deployment model”? refers to the installation and delivery of software as a service, as opposed to the traditional on premise model of software deployment. SaaS deployment is similar to the establishment phase of a utility service; which is followed by metering and billing at regular intervals, for the services that have been delivered. SaaS deployment is typically initiated by a SaaS provider via a user provisioning process, which is often automated. Alternately, SaaS deployment can be initiated by a third party managed (hosted) services provider. SaaS deployment is considered complete once a user has the necessary means to access a SaaS offering, regardless of whether or not the consumer begins using the service at the time it is provisioned.

SAAS DEPLOYMENT MODEL BENEFITS & FEATURES

The chief benefit of the SaaS deployment model over the traditional model of software deployment is a reduced cost of delivery for both SaaS providers and SaaS subscribers. Since SaaS providers can centrally deploy, update and fix their offerings in the cloud, it reduces the cost of maintaining the software for the SaaS provider. Likewise, SaaS subscribers never have to worry about outdated versions of software or the licensing costs for upgrading to the latest version of a software product for multiple users.

There are additional cost saving benefits that can be realized by Saas subscribers as well, including a reduction in capital expenses for the IT Infrastructure that is often required to support enterprise level on premise software delivery. Furthermore, SaaS subscribers can also avoid the expense of an IT department in many cases, when SaaS solutions are exclusively used to deliver IT services to an enterprise. SaaS deployment also provides higher levels availability over the on premise model of software deployment, since users can access a SaaS offering over the web from anywhere on the globe (provided that Internet access is available).

The ability to easily switch from one SaaS provider to another is another benefit of SaaS deployment. SaaS deployment creates a higher standard for service delivery to consumers as compared to the on premise model of service delivery, as competing SaaS vendors must continually strive for innovation and service delivery excellence or else risk the easy loss of their customers to the competition. Attrition is far less likely under the on premise model of software deployment, since organizations with on premise software have usually made a substantial investment in a vendor’s software product which creates “lock-in”? for a continued relationship with a software vendor regardless of the quality of service or support that is being delivered on an ongoing basis. Likewise, the ability to avoid vendor “lock-in”? makes SaaS delivery an attractive future option for many organizations, when it is time to acquire, upgrade or replace enterprise software.

SaaS Billing and Pricing Models

SaaS pricing models typically bill clients using one of the following two metrics:

1. Number of users
2. Volume of resources consumed

SAAS PRICING MODEL

1. Pay-per-user is the most popular SaaS pricing strategy. Under this model, a separate cost is incurred for each user of a SaaS application and is similar to paying for each copy of software on a workstation. The advantage over traditional software pricing is that SaaS is available on almost all devices and doesn’t usually incur separate charges for tablets, laptops, phones and other devices. SaaS billing occurs on a periodic basis (usually monthly) for all registered users. SaaS software entitlements are best managed through a centralized and existing identity management system.
2. A variation of the pay-per-user SaaS pricing model is the pay-per-multiple-user pricing model, wherein a separate cost is incurred for a specified number of users. For example, a SaaS application could be billed on a multiple user basis of two to 99 users as the first tier of the pricing plan and between 100 and 250 users as the second tier of the pricing plan. Providers who use this pricing model typically bundle an increasing number of features or types of functionality within each successive tier.
3. Another pricing model used by SaaS vendors is the pay-as-you-go billing model, which typically charges for the number of users and the amount of resources (e.g. volume of storage space, CPU usage, etc.) being consumed during a given time period. The primary disadvantage to the client under this pricing model is the difficulty in predicting ongoing software expenses. On the other hand, the pay-as-you-go pricing model can be beneficial for an organization since they are only required to pay for the actual volume of resources consumed, rather than paying a flat rate for a bundle of services that they may not fully use.

SaaS Integration: What It Can Do For Your Business

Before you can understand what SaaS integration can do for you, you need to have a basic understanding of what it is. It is essentially a private PaaS, or Platform as a Service. This is what makes cloud computing, which everyone is talking about, possible. A PaaS can magically deploy an application for you and make it available to the public. A SaaS is essentially this same thing, but designed for private, rather than public, use. This benefits your organization in many ways.

First, you will have all the convenience of a PaaS without any of the restrictions that come with using a public interface. The SaaS data integration allows you to distribute applications to those within your organization safely, securely, and without configuration, allowing you to easily share applications as well. It also allows you to work from that ambiguous cloud that everyone is raving about, without the public domain.

There are many other benefits to SaaS integration. One of these is that you have a boost in infrastructure utilization. You can enjoy up to ten times as much utilization that is made available by current virtualization technology through shared operating system multi-tenancy.

Another benefit is that you remove some of the manual burdens of managing a network, because these tasks are done invisibly and automatically by the SaaS database. You can also provide software layer high availability to guest applications on the server. All of this reduces the time it takes to build an application for your organization by 50 to 90 percent.

Finally, middleware doesn’t replace anything you have currently existing on your server or network. It simply acts as an intermediary between the main server or network and devices connected to it. This means that you can still utilize all your existing hardware and software investments with the SaaS integration.

All in all, you have nothing to lose by making use of SaaS integration. In fact, you could have everything to gain. If your organization uses its own applications that need to be distributed widely to a number of individuals, computers, and devices, this may be the best solution for you. The SaaS database can be updated at any time to be used with any application, so it is a wise investment that would last years for your organization. At the least, it bears a need for careful consideration of how SaaS integration can help your organization thrive.