Software as a Service (SaaS) Providers

March 24, 2011 Aerocom

 

  • Definition: Instead of purchasing software licenses for the most popular software applications and then running these software applications on internal servers, a company can simply pay a monthly fee (per user), to use that same software, accessing it through the Internet or a WAN connection. This service is called Software as a Service (SaaS), and it is one of the fastest growing services in the IT industry.
  • Best Fit: A business that either: A) No longer wants to own, manage and maintain a separate server (and software licenses), for some of their common software applications (such as Microsoft Office, Adobe, QuickBooks, etc.); or B) Has a culture of change and therefore, doesn’t want to purchase software outright, with a high likelihood they could end up with many unused software licenses as needs quickly change.
  • Benefits:
    • Save capex cash for other needs. Change software from a capex cost to a monthly operating cost.
    • Flexibility. Quickly scale up and down without wasted time when growing or wasted software licenses when downsizing. You only pay for what you use.
    • Lower IT spending. Less money spent on purchasing, storing, managing and maintaining servers.
    • Less costly downtime. Losing a major application server is much less likely in a hosted environment. Because SaaS is hosted off-site, the application is also available to all sites, regardless of what happens to a company’s hub site.
  • Available Features with Select Providers (Long List on Document)
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