Strategies for SaaS, Cloud Computing, Open Source and Governance

Open Source software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) represent the two real disruptions in the arena of enterprise software. In the last decade both have experienced real success and challenged the inertia that persisted in the enterprise software controlled by proprietary vendors. New business models, Product offerings have provided consumers with choices on both the price-performance as [...]

As SaaS becomes increasingly the preferred way for delivery and consumption  for all things software, incumbent on-premise vendors are feeling the heat to come up with their own version of SaaS application. Customers unequivocally convinced of the  cost efficiencies of the SaaS model are resenting the hefty support contracts.
The challenge of coming up with a [...]

In my previous post in this series Graduating Cloud to the Enterprise, I covered Infrastructure-as-a-Service and highlighted some of the key gating factors for mass adoption by large enterprises. In this post I will analyze the benefits and challenges of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).
To give you good sense of what Platform-as-a-Service would mean I will start with [...]

Companies large and small added Cloud Computing as an agenda item to every key decision they made around IT last year. As companies continued to combat the budget pressures stemming from the financial downturn the cost-efficiencies delivered by SaaS, PaaS, IaaS are becoming increasing irresistible. These topics are no longer fancy acronyms that are restricted [...]

2009 was a banner year for SaaS. With all the banter around Cloud Computing as an advancement in technology and it glories bandied around I would still be hard pressed to find a more compelling reason behind the larger success of SaaS – than the distressed economy. Companies with dwindling IT budgets ratcheted up the [...]

I know every one and their grandfather has their own definition of Cloud Computing. As we go through the blogs, marketing paraphernalia we keep seeing the definition of cloud computing evolve or disintegrate. So I thought what would some of the top technology leaders feel and think of Cloud Computing. (No I did not pick [...]

Established companies venturing into SaaS business or newbies starting off as SaaS companies have to deal with a lot of new and evolving challenges. Everything that you can possibly think of is different with SaaS model. To say that it is changing the software business is an understatement.
Starting with delivery model, architecture, sales, support [...]

One of the key drivers of the SaaS model has been the transfer of risks, burden and costs of ownership from the software buyer to the software vendor. In a way, by adopting SaaS the customers are telling the software industry to get their act together and bear the risks for their own doing.
For the [...]

“Cost Savings” has been the key rallying point behind SaaS sales strategy and has been credited with much of  SaaS adoption to date. Most SaaS sales pitches  highlight the cost savings in the areas of licensing, implementation, and on-going support/maintenance. Some variant of the following value proposition have made up the slide deck.

Lower upfront costs…no [...]

SaaS delivery model brings with a variety of benefits to customers. The financial benefits of going with SaaS becomes a key focus point during the Sales cycle. Some are obvious some are not so much. Here are some strategies to adopt to drive home the advantages of SaaS

Selling a SaaS solution requires a different perspective when compared to traditional software sales. Online-marketing, customer acquisition cost, metered billing, return-on-investment are all key. In fact, it is a whole lot different from traditional software sales you might have made so far. Here are some strategies to adopt to gain an edge over your competition.

In the last decade or so with Salesforce.com leading the charge SaaS has made deep inroads into every area of commercial business. Starting with  Sales applications then moving onto collaboration applications like Project Management, Document Management and now into core processes like Human Capital Management (SuccessFactors) and now with companies like Intacct, even into financial [...]

John Wookey, executive vice president of SAP On-Demand shared his vision for SAP’s SaaS strategy in an interview with  InformationWeek. Given the multiple SaaS/on-demand strategies SAP has presented to date this new one creates some confusion.
In the past SAP has always portrayed Business ByDesign as its on-demand offering albeit making it available only in a [...]

I recently read a post from Sranama Mitra where she makes a excellent case for a impending SaaS consolidation wave. She initially posited that Intuit and ADP were due for acquisitions in the payroll, billing space. As if that was the nudge Intuit needed, it promptly announced a deal to acquire PayCycle. Now ADP it [...]

Mountain View, California based Intuit, the leader in SMB solutions, announced that it is acquiring Palo Alto based payroll service provider PayCycle for $170 million in cash thereby expanding its presence in payroll services. Intuit already owns Intuit Online Payroll and QuickBooks Payroll.
PayCycle, founded by two ex-Intuit and headed by ex-Intuit Chief Financial Officer Jim [...]

Going with SaaS comes with a set of concerns around Data Security. Intrusion Detection, Prevention and Penetration Testing should allay those fears to a large extent.