Guest View: Traversing the SaaS hype cycle
By Karthik Viswanathan
February 15, 2010 —
(Page 1 of 3)
Many software product firms typically focus on developing cutting-edge software that are customized and deployed at the users' locations. It is not uncommon for mission-critical products, like ERP or CRM systems, to go live six or eight months after the contract is signed—perhaps even longer.
But in recent times, SaaS and cloud computing have emerged as disruptive innovations. Some pundits even talk about the death of IT as we know it. The new deal clearly places the day-to-day software operational responsibilities on the vendor rather than on the IT department of the customer.
The most striking historical parallel for this phenomenon is the oft-quoted evolution of electricity as a commodity service over customers having to install power generators. This tectonic movement towards a service-oriented business landscape is driving firms to redefine their core competencies.
To stay competitive and effective, SaaS providers can source their contextual/non-core activities through partnerships. After all, they themselves are in business because their customers have chosen to outsource something, whether it’s e-mail services, office applications, CRM, accounting, or whatever.
What does this mean for software developers?
Given the necessity to shrink go-to-market timeframes, the complexities of building new software are abstracted by using frameworks and reusable plumbing components. For example, Platform-as-a-Service offers a complete platform replete with IDE and visual development methodologies to accelerate development. This phenomenon is a logical progression of how, for example, Java-based software is built with frameworks like Struts and Spring. In fact, PaaS is often proclaimed the Cloud Operating System for SaaS applications.
Similarly, Infrastructure-as-a-Service is an excellent way to expand/contract the computing power and memory based on user traffic. Pay-per-usage is the norm in such xxxx-as-a-Service environments.
These are all significant innovations and offer excellent advantages by simplifying development processes, transferring responsibilities to other vendors who are best equipped to handle such complexities, and shrinking go-to-market times. But the challenge lies in the ensuing tight coupling with the underlying platform.
Your software is not as portable as it will be if you do develop your software from scratch. This leads to the classic build-vs.-buy conundrum. While ground-up-development and PaaS are two ends of the spectrum, there is the middle path too. Some firms provide off-the-shelf SaaS building blocks (e.g., tenant provisioning, license management) in the technology platform of your choice. Such go-to-market accelerators can be leveraged to avoid lock-ins.
Related Search Term(s): SaaS
Share this link: http://sdt.bz/34128
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Zeichick’s Take: Radio moves from analog waveforms to digital packets
Streaming radio highlights the need for streaming applications to be designed to take up as little bandwidth as possible
|
|
Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans
|
|
Appcelerator Acquires Cocoafish to Add Instant Mobile Cloud Capabilities to its Industry Leading Titanium Platform
Appcelerator Offers Messaging, Social, Location and Storage Mobile Cloud Services to All Mobile App Publishers
|
|
ComponentOne Releases a Collection of 40+ UI Widgets Powered by HTML5 and jQuery
ComponentOne has announced the 2012 release of Wijmo: a kit of UI widgets for HTML5 and jQuery development
|
Taking enterprise architecture to the business side
Startup Corso is bringing out a cloud-based planning platform that ties into business plans
|
|
Top five apps to manage your workload
Web applications offer new ways to track your “to-do” lists
|
|
Not so fast when it comes to testing in the cloud
Developers face outsourcing, virtual lab management and mobile devices as obstacles
|
|
Xceed releases UX-focused suite for Microsoft’s WPF
"Blendables" helps match user experiences to developer visions
|
Are you at risk for burnout?
Burnout is a severe problem and it can strike at any time. Here's how to tell if you are nearing the edge.
|
|
Agility, mom, and apple pie
If we're to evaluate the state-of-the-art in software development, we should start with the values espoused in the Agile Manifesto.
|
|
RIM woos developers with free tablet
How do you get more apps ported to the BlackBerry PlayBook? By giving every developer a free tablet, of course!
|
|
GitHire: Use Headhunters to Find Your Perfect Programmer
Are you a hiring manager tired of scouring the job boards? Check out this new service that will find 5 people interested in your jobs.
|
The Hidden Costs of Software Licensing
Moving beyond paper-based software licensing to more flexible, software-based licensing is a business decision. There is a growing trend tow...
|
|
Case Study: You May Need a Development Mechanic
As a contractor for a major financial player in Germany, SOBEGE, a German-based consultancy specializing in embedded IT and web services, wa...
|
|
Ensuring Software Quality at a Major International Bank
One of the world’s leading international banks has adopted AgitarOne technology for delivering generated unit tests for their Java software...
|
|
Load Testing Adobe Flex Applications
Adobe Flex applications may be different from applications you’ve worked with before. For classic HTML web applications, the server does all...
|