See just how much SaaS can save you!

I'm often asked for ballpark figures on just how much money can be saved by going the SaaS route rather than with traditional on premise applications. For a while I've used a hacked together spreadsheet that lets me simply demonstrate the cost savings by plugging in a few key figures. These usually yield impressive results!

Well I thought it was about time I created a SaaS version of this (practice what you preach and all!) so even when I'm away from the office and/or don't have my laptop in front of me I can still do these quick calculations and demonstrate the savings to people.

I also thought it may be of interest to others so feel free to use it yourself. I have obviously had to make some assumptions on some of the fixed costs and the ROI is based on 3 years but it is great for ballpark figures. If anyone has any questions then feel free to ask.

Anyway, try it for yourself at http://www.saasroi.co.uk/

Any feedback is appreciated and I hope this will help other people demonstrate what a compelling argument there is for SaaS if only from a cost point of view!

Thanks

Richard

SaaS - A Verizon hot trend for 2009

This time it is Verizon endorsing SaaS as a hot topic for 2009.

The whole article (worth a read) is at http://www.computingsa.co.za/article.aspx?id=903520 but of most interest to us is the following...

"
Getting SaaSy

The network becomes king once again in 2009, making it the perfect platform for software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery. Serving content, applications and security in a centralised online environment will become the rage. Buying computing resources a la carte will help companies control costs while attaining the security, performance, scalability and reliability required for the enterprise. Consuming IT resources (connectivity, server and storage) on an as-needed basis will keep IT costs in control and eliminate the need, time and effort to outfit every desktop. Centralisation will keep IT departments on top of their game in 2009.
"

Thanks

Richard
http://www.saasforum.com/

Want SaaS? Get Integration First

This article discusses one of the barriers not often thought about by companies keen to produce a SaaS solution. SaaS is great if used for a new project with no previous data but what happens when a legacy system is moved to SaaS? What happens to your customers existing data? This has to be addressed otherwise your migration will fall at the first hurdle when your customer says "this is all great but I have 5 years of figures I need to move across"!

The full article is here:

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Web-Exclusives/Viewpoints/Want-SaaS-Get-Integration-First-51857.aspx

And it would be interesting to hear other people's views on how you are tacking this. Is it just a case of import functionality from all the existing legacy apps out there or is there a smarter way?

Thanks

Richard
www.saasforum.com

A dedicated SaaS forum now online!

I have just launched http://www.saasforum.co.uk/ which (as the name suggests) is dedicated SaaS forum for anyone interested or involved in Software as a Service.

I'd really value people's input and would like to make this a hub of SaaS discussions. I had a look around the net and amazingly there don't seem to be any other forums dedicated purely to SaaS!

At the moment there are sections for news, events, products, reviews, jobs, and a place to introduce yourself and your company.

Anyone can read the forums and to post you just need to register a username/password (to avoid those pesky bots/spammers) which takes no time at all and you can post straight away.

http://www.saasforum.co.uk/

I look forward to your feedback and please let me know if there is anything else you'd like to see or any problems you encounter.

Many thanks

Richard

How SaaS Helps Cut Small Business Costs

Here is an interesting article discussing how SaaS can help when you have to downscale your operation and make staff cuts. Particularly relevant in today's marketplace.

The article claims that "hosted software can bring cost savings of 25% to 60% if maintenance and IT staff are factored in." which would be music to most people ears!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_72/s0812025631431.htm

Thanks

Richard

IDC: Economy Will Force IT to Transform

Here is IDC's take on what 2009 holds for the IT industry. As expected with the current financial climate, companies are looking to freeze budgets and are simply trying to survive rather than grow. The problem with that is they are standing still which is never a good thing in our marketplace.

The smart cookies are looking to change the way they do things and generating new revenue streams which is where we come in with SaaS. IDC certainly seem to think so and their article includes statements such as ""In 2009, the pace of adoption of the cloud will accelerate with Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud storage players among the first major beneficiaries".
The full article is here and is worth a read.

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3789131/IDC+Economy+Will+Force+IT+to+Transform.htm

Thanks

Richard

SaaS helps in UK VAT change

Here is a great article outlining how SaaS is already proving why it is such a good model for software delivery.

In the UK late last week the government announced that the VAT rate (a sales tax) would be dropped from 17.5% to 15% starting this week. This was obviously a major headache for retailers, suppliers, accountants etc especially with such a short time frame (less than 5 days!).

The article explains how it wasn't an issue for this SaaS accounting solution.

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=192075&d=1025&h=1073&f=1026&dateformat=%25o%20%25B%20%25Y

Thanks

Richard

Gartner say "SaaS to grow in 90% of organizations"

Here is some good news for us SaaS professionals in these financially insecure times!

There are some interesting numbers in the report and Gartner are one of the biggest, well respected names out there.

http://www.itworld.com/saas/58645/gartner-saas-grow-90-organizations

Thanks

Richard