Strategies for SaaS, Cloud Computing, Open Source and Governance

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 [...]

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 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 these bullets have made up the slide deck.

Lower upfront costs…no large one-time license [...]

The financial benefits of choosing a SaaS is a point of debate during the Sales cycle. Here are some strategies to adopt to drive home the advantages of SaaS

Selling SaaS solution requires a different perspective when compared to traditional software sales. Here are some strategies that will help you get an edge.

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.

Byron Deeter and Philippe Botteri from Bessemmer Venture Partners came up with 10 Laws of being SaaSy about a year ago. It was a corporate strategy for SaaS companies prepared in a slide deck.
Bessemer 10 Laws Of Being SaaSy Fall 2008
Back when I came across this document in the SandHill Report, I had just taken [...]

Quick Implementation, Quick ROI and Lower Total Cost of Ownership are the premise for SaaS solutions. But challenges abound. Five tips to help.

Dave Duffield’s SaaS startup Workday announced today that they closed a fifth round of funding – a whopping $75Million dollars. If you are a small startup desparately struggling for seed or Series A or Series C funding of a couple of million dollars, this news should feel like someone pouring salt on a open wound. [...]

SaaS adds some twists to the already challenging compliance mandates that companies have to contend with. To address those needs best, clauses in your SaaS subscription contract need to be carefully thought out.

Technology, Ecosystem and the Architecture are the key considerations when evaluating a SaaS solution. Ease of use, user training, integration are dependent on the technology being used.