SaaS: Promises and Politics
SPECIAL REPORT

There's no lack of coverage in the tech press about the impact that Software as a Service (SaaS) is having on IT and the business. Where will the trend go next? The financial benefits and promises of quick start-up times are a couple of the largest draws, but loss of control holds some IT shops back from adoption.

:: EXECUTIVE BRIEFINGS ::

Keep SaaS Expectations in Line with Reality

Jeff Kaplan, managing director for THINKstrategies, discusses their recent SaaS survey, completed in conjunction with the Cutter Consortium.

 

SaaS and the Open Source Influence: Is Open SaaS on the Way?

Paul Gillin, a business-to-business marketing consultant and author of "The New Influencers," talks about how the trend toward software-as-a-service will affect the expanding enterprise open source market, how open source has impacted software-as-a-service, and if ever the twain shall meet.

 

The Politics of SaaS

Chris Dixon, a senior analyst with INPUT, a research and consulting firm specializing in the public sector, says that politics make software-as-a-service a more complicated choice for government agencies than for their private sector counterparts. But there are also key areas of opportunity where SaaS makes a lot of sense for them.

 

How Real Is the Software as a Service Phenomenon?

Our partners at Info~Tech Research Group surveyed more than 1,900 IT pros and found that SaaS will command 20 percent more of budgets than it did just a year ago. Desktop productivity and financial applications seem to be among the most ripe markets for on-demand delivery.

 

:: INSIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB ::

What to Include in Your SaaS Contract |CIOUpdate
Obtain service level agreements on availability, response times and notifications of outages.

'Huge Jump' in CIOs Considering SaaS |HPCwire
From 38 percent in 2005 to 61 percent in 2006.

How Are SaaS Providers Like Babysitters? |Gianpaolo's blog
Will they keep your data safe as a baby?

When Using SaaS Makes Sense |IndustryWeek
Can you answer "no" to this question: "Do we care if our competitor can use the same application to achieve the same benefits?"