Why SaaS is Ahead of the Rest

As the now preferred deployment model for enterprise applications of all shapes and sizes, there is no doubt why the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry is outperforming all other business software sectors. SaaS is a method of deploying software over the Internet for licensed use of an application in an on-demand fashion. While in times past SaaS hardly made sense to embrace, technology advances and recent economic changes have put it back into the fast lanes of the Information Superhighway. Companies want to focus on what they do best. SaaS such as hosted exchange allows them to focus on their core business directives, outsourcing peripheral tasks to companies that do those tasks better or more efficiently than they could do in-house.

Outsourcing isn't anything new though. In reality, the concept is as old as civilization itself. When it is cheaper and more effective, people rely on others to provide services. Often times items that were once considered "products" become "services" as soon as they are provided by others who prepare them in some way (think fast food). Software is no different in this respect. Although traditionally delivered to consumers as a boxed product, there is no reason why it cannot be delivered as a service. Most people don't buy software for software's sake. As intellectual property, it's not something that can be eaten, driven, or hung on the wall. People buy it because they want it to do something for them. That being said, the very nature of software lends itself towards deployment as a service.

In the 1990s, it may have been cheaper to buy software products and piece them together to build custom, in-house solutions. Since then technologies such as the Internet and virtualization have made SaaS much more appealing. The recent downturn in the global economy has also made SaaS more appealing, as it can be much more cost-effective to run if deployed properly. Software-as-a-service removes the costs associated with hardware, software, and hosting fees. It provides a fast, flexible, low-risk model that is great for users with limited resources. SaaS provides automatic upgrades, relieving end-users of the headaches involved with software migration. SaaS is resource efficient, too. Employing a pay-as-you-go model makes it easy to determine what your costs will be ahead of time, as you only pay for what you consume. There are no additional costs involved other than what you pay when you receive your desired results. Support staff and hardware leases are eliminated. There is no guesswork involved with repair, maintenance, and electric bills.

It would be well worth any companies time to investigate whether or not making the switch to Software-as-a-service models work for them.