The debate around cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) has energized industry conversations on the future of software. But in fact what we are witnessing in the software industry today is not a revolution, but an evolution. Customers are most concerned with how to use software to sustain competitive advantage, align IT with the business and deliver the best experience for users without compromise — regardless of delivery option — whether that is SaaS, on-premise software or a combination of the two. That’s why this evolution of software in a services world is so important for the industry to broadly support, and why customers deserve more than all-or-nothing ultimatums. For more, see Refresh the Net.
Other infrastructure-themed stories that may be of interest:
The Long Tail of IT
Subscription Services: The Future of Our Entire Economy
Architecting for Failure
Five Nines is Still Not Enough
Do You Know What Kind of Cloud You’re Using?
Defogging Cloud Computing: A Taxonomy
The Craft: Automation and Scaling Infrastructure
Is Infrastructure the New Marketing Medium?
Achieving Equality is Critical to the Future of the Internet
Why Google Needs its Own Nuclear Plant
The Geography of Internet Infrastructure
Want to know more about the rapidly changing Cloud Computing landscape? Preview our Cloud Computing Briefing or purchase the full version.
3 comments so far
11:58 AM PT
Interesting point. The customer rarely cares how a solution works as long as it meets their needs and stays within the bounds they set for efficiency/effectiveness, etc.
1:13 PM PT
Guys - thanks for the post, and the handy list of reference posts. While I agree that the tech behind the clouds/SaaS is not revolutionary, I contend that the changes behind the names are in fact revolutionary.
I guess my point is that SaaS in particular is a move to a user-centric and solution-centric design model that does in fact change the paradigm of software.
Finally it’s no longer about the software but about raw and unconstrained data that users can manipulate at will.
So I do think we are seeing a revolution - not in the products we’re using - but in what those products will do for us
Cheers!
7:53 AM PT
SORRY MICROSOFT, ORACLE, SAP… SAAS IS THE REAL DEAL!
This article is a failed attempt to deny that the SAAS movement IS a revolution. In the enterprise business application software world SAAS products like Netsuite, Salesforce win over on-premise, client server (Yes, both SAP and Oracle, among others, STILL sell traditional client server applications (e.g. Oracle Demantra)) applications because of lower (if not zero) upfront investments, predictable and lower costs, reduced maintenance and newer web technologies. In the world of enterprise productivity applications like word processors, spreadsheets etc., SAAS (like Google documents) wins for the same reasons. As for issues like corporate data privacy, security, regulatory compliance, records management - these are issues that are just as challenging for on-premise, desktop apps as they are for SAAS - these are business issues that can be handled by SAAS. With regard to the hybrid model mentioned in the article, yes - companies will be forced to adopt the hybrid model since many of them have to support their older apps. I have been in the enterprise apps business for 18 years - I can see the advantages of SAAS over the older model. Of course, legacy companies like Microsoft, Oracle, SAP etc. have every reason to continue to throw F.U.D (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to thwart the SAAS movement - they have to protect their revenue streams, they are unable to innovate in the area of products and so they are trying other means to sustain their businesses - e.g., acquisitions. It’s not yet game over for them, but let’s be honest about the real deal - SAAS is winning and SAAS is a revolution!
Leave a Comment