INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
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SaaS – What’s in it for
customers and vendors?
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Krupa Srivatsan, Director,
Product Marketing at
Infoblox, says Software-as-
a-Service is going nowhere
with the model offering
‘something for everyone’.
S
aaS (Software-as-a-Service) is here
to stay. This is evident from the
widespread adoption of business
applications hosted in the cloud such as
CRM, payroll processing, collaboration and
human resource management software over
the last decade.
And it is not just business applications these
days. Increasingly, networking and security
has also moved to the cloud.
SaaS is a delivery model where the software
is centrally hosted by a vendor and buyers
consume the service from the cloud.
Whether you are an organisation using
applications to run your business or a vendor
providing critical software as a service to
your customers, there is something for
everyone in a SaaS model.
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What’s in it for consumers of SaaS:
• Reduced IT overheads – Organisations
consuming services from the cloud do
not need to install or maintain expensive
hardware or infrastructure on-premises.
If consuming security from the cloud, this
is a big advantage because now security
can be deployed even in locations where
no IT expertise is available.
• Immediate access to functionality –
Customers get access to the SaaS service
immediately upon sign-up without having
to wait for shipment and installation
of hardware or software. For example,
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organisations can immediately improve
their security posture by signing up for a
cloud-based security offering.
Flexible licensing/payment options
– SaaS model provides companies an
alternative to the traditional CAPEX
model where they pay upfront for any
hardware needed and a perpetual
software license. By shifting to an OPEX
model, they can take advantage of lower
upfront costs and more predictable
recurring costs thereafter.
Seamless upgrades – Customers don’t
need to worry about updates for latest
features or patching their software for
vulnerabilities. The SaaS provider always
has the latest secure code in the cloud.
This enables customers to get immediate
access to new innovations and features.
Scale as you grow – Organisations don’t
have to plan for peak capacity like they
do when purchasing infrastructure. They
can scale by purchasing higher tiers of
the service as they grow.
Extend reach – Since SaaS services are
delivered from the cloud, it is possible to
extend the usage of the services to beyond
the traditional on-premises network. For
example, security delivered from the cloud
can easily be applied to devices on or off
premises which greatly expands the use
cases that can be addressed.
What’s in it for vendors:
• Latest code for all customers – Vendors
can allocate resources to provide the
latest and greatest to all their customers
at the same time, without having to
worry about a legacy of old software they
may need to support.
• Speed of innovation – The speed
of innovation is also much greater as
vendors can make available new features
and functionality to their customers much
faster than with a traditional six-month
release cycle for on-premises software.
• Better customer insight – Companies
with SaaS offerings are much closer to
the customer than companies with only
a traditional model because of more
frequent involvement with users of their
service. This means they can provide
features that the customers actually need
based on the feedback loop.
Many businesses are in the process of
making a shift to consuming services from
the cloud because they see greater business
value through SaaS. n
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