Software as a Service Shifts Dollars from Maintenance Toward Strategic IT Initiatives

In the last few years, the business web has clearly taken hold with many successful companies offering applications or software as services. CRM and HR applications, in particular, have paved the way, with companies of all sizes are using software as a service (SaaS) and managed service applications for many strategic business initiatives such as customer management and recruitment management. The success of SaaS and managed services has partly occurred because of market acceptance, but mostly because technology does matter. We are on the verge of a new era of applications resulting directly from the convergence of three trends: web services, XML and service-oriented architectures (SOA).

I. Many Companies Spend Very Little Money on New and Creative Applications

Vicious Cycle of Decreasing Effectiveness, Increasing Costs and Time Bottlenecks

II. SaaS Changes How Companies Purchase, and Vendors Build, Deliver and Support Software

Lower TCO, Faster Deployment and Usability Drive Success

III. The Future Is about Empowering the Business User

The Future of all SaaS and On-Premises Enterprise Applications Must Have Five Core Foundation Principles

IV. Conclusions and Recommendations

Recommendations

V. Further Reading