Strategic Enterprise SaaS (Software as a Service) Platforms
Dean Levick
Leader in Project Delivery of Datacentre Infrastructure & Digital Transformations
There is no denying the fact that the Cloud Services have changed the software landscape and the dynamics of the global hig
h tech industry. The era of software installation from a Data Centre or from CD’s is coming to a close, as we now have stepped into an era of cloud computing and faster internet-delivered software applications. Cloud computing provides high-level services and scalable yet virtualised system resources over the internet, making it easier for companies existing in the high tech space to acquire cloud services on monthly or yearly subscriptions on a minimal fee. These cloud-based distribution models include Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS) for system software and programs.
SaaS—What Is It, What It Caters To, What Can Be Done With It?
SaaS is one of the most common yet popular forms of cloud computing, in which the service provider hosts applications for B2B and B2C customers and make them available via the internet. The SaaS offerings cater to a wide variety of business applications such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), human resource management (HRM), business intelligence software (BIS), email management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), workflow management, project management, sales management software, content management Software (CMS), database management, financial management, billing/payroll processing software among many others. Organizations using SaaS applications can customize the software, add plugins, and change configurational settings to meet their particular needs by remaining within the parameters as permitted by their service provider. However, they can’t change or customize its code or features according to their evolving software needs and specifications on their own.?
The Changing Dynamics of the Software Industry!
According to Forbes, the cloud computing market is projected to reach $411 billion (approx. AUD $550 billion) by 2020. This indicates that the cloud industry is thriving across the globe at a significant rate as the global trend has been shifted to cloud-based services due to increased flexibility, and collaboration, improved network security protocols that they offer, which has ultimately increased the demand for SaaS software worldwide. According to Forrester, SaaS has the fastest revenue growth of any tech category, which is increasing at over 20% per year. This indicates that introduction and adoption of processing and storage technologies, especially SaaS has helped triggered the growth of the technology sector at par.
This makes it feel safe to say that SaaS model is likely to be a strategic move for software companies looking to grow in the future fuelled by the factors like continuous improvement, demonstrable ROI, and quality of staff collaboration in the global high tech sector. SaaS platforms are increasingly providing a combination of back-end automation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) within their platforms to increase the level of productivity. Something that traditional enterprise desktop client applications have not historically provided.
Although cloud computing adoption, particularly SaaS may seem easy at first glance, it is significantly more complex in nature than we can initially imagine particularly when evaluated in terms of data security and sovereignty, along with data management and system integration and other similar aspects. Without a doubt, cloud computing is of growing interest to high tech companies around the globe, but there are many challenges, obstacles and greater costs involved in cloud computing adoption, which companies are marginally exposed to.
So, the question here arises, whether cloud computing, particularly SaaS fulfills all the promises to costs, data security and sovereignty, return on investment, performances, and integration with existing IT infrastructure and system software? In your environment, SaaS may be the perfect solution for you to host your sensitive data and information on the cloud or outside your premises. The adoption of SaaS should never be based on its growing influence in the information technology industry. It should rather be based on your evolving software needs in accordance with the result of a very well informed analysis.
What Is Driving The Shift To The Cloud-Based Technologies?
The concept of more collaborative, “virtual environment” is what drives the shift to SaaS technology. As the cloud continues to dominate the industry with an exceptional margin, the need for companies to cultivate a culture of the collaborative workplace has grown to become the defining principle for sustaining the competitive advantage over others and remaining in the industry for long. This indicates that companies now need to offer their employees easy and flexible access to superior technology like SaaS if they expect to maneuver their business operations brilliantly and stay effective for long. Healthcare is one particular industry that has greatly been influenced by SaaS technology, which has further empowered the consumers to access more vital information and data with ease.
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A Dramatic Shift from Traditional Software to the SaaS Technology!
According to Gartner, SaaS global revenue is expected to cross USD $70 billion (approx. AUD $94 billion) mark in 2018. The reason why its adoption is increasing at a significant rate is that SaaS solutions are engineered to be client-focused and are delivering and yielding greater business outcomes than traditional software. This indicates that professionals need not purchase expensive software applications, which takes a lot of time and mental efforts when installing. SaaS enables companies to work in a virtual, flexible, and reliable cloud environment, which help them focus more on their core or front-end business operations. A traditional software largely varies in prices depending on your business needs, however, normally it costs you around USD $350 (approx. AUD $470) or more. On the contrary, SaaS services have a minimal monthly or yearly subscription fee, which is affordable for SMEs to get instant access to all the applications they require.?
Broadly, there are six pricing strategies on which costs of SaaS services are based; penetration pricing, skimming pricing, prestige pricing, free trial pricing, cost-plus pricing and value-based pricing. In order to find the right price for SaaS services, companies need to make a realistic analysis of their demand and then decide on which one choose from as they all have varying prices.
Bottom Line
Undeniably, the world is moving to SaaS and many private and publically owned companies, corporations, agencies are beginning to adopt the use of this technology. SaaS is cost-effective, scalable, reliable, which ultimately delivers high-performance results and increases the productivity of employees in IT teams. Although email, MS Project, Word, Excel, PowerPoint appears to remain core desktop applications, its integration with SaaS and tools like ERP, CRM, EPMO that need a higher degree of collaboration with static content/information for governance purposes continues to be another driving factor for using SaaS platforms.
The current SaaS model is an improved version of ASP-hosted and managed business applications (an application service provider or ASP is a business providing computer-based services to customers over a network; it allows customers to gain access to a particular software application using a standard protocol such as HTTP or CRM), which makes it uncover new opportunities in SaaS.
In the quest for easy and robust software, companies now acquire cost-effective yet reliable SaaS software and services to up their game in the field of information technology. Moreover, companies now strive to create a culture of the collaborative workplace, where their employees feel more confident about their work and have an easy access to company’s vital information, which makes SaaS a growing appetite of businesses and undeniable an ongoing championing of the platform in the BUA space.
Chief Operating Officer @ Orikan | Parking Technology & Services
6 年Good read, Dean well done
CTO at VISITS | Empowering Business Through Technology
6 年Great article, Dean.