Who wants Software as a Service (SaaS)?
Let’s start at the other end: who doesn’t want SaaS? Vendors with an investment in mainframe applications (there are thousands in production every day) might head the list. But close behind are the makers of client-server applications and desktop apps. In short, anyone who collects a software licensing fee and is charging maintenance or upgrade fees will likely see SaaS as a formidable threat.
The evolution of software and hardware is inevitable. A quick high-level review shows us that mainframes lost business to proprietary minis, which in turn lost share to general systems. From there, desktop machines were trumped by PCs. And we could all recite a short history of software that starts with rudimentary programs on punch cards to inexpensive applications that let 8th graders design their own web sites.
At almost every turn, the entrenched business came up with a thousand reasons why the next, latest advance would soon fade away. They were usually wrong. Those who dismiss the SaaS revolution are destined to get it wrong once again.
I believe SaaS will be the best thing to happen to our industry in the last twenty years. Here’s why. The platforms and applications we are running business on were built for a business model that is quickly disappearing. It was a model that supported us driving to the office, sitting down for eight hours, then going home. Few of us do that anymore.
Traditional social and business lines are gone – or are quickly disappearing. SaaS are on-demand applications that are adaptable to the way we work and live – now. They’re flexible enough to support our lifestyles and work missions, yet secure and robust enough to support a global enterprise outside the four walls. The ideal environment is one that allows ordinary people to control their world, to benefit from the seamless association with colleagues, and to access the most extraordinary applications ever developed. SaaS appears to be the keystone to succeeding in that quest.
