All the evidence and expert opinion suggests that
"Software as a Service" (SaaS) technology is going to enjoy a very bright future
The excitement stems from the growing realization of SaaS’s extraordinary benefits, in contrast to traditional installed software, which are proving attractive (even irresistible) across a wide range of business sectors. These benefits include, but are not limited to:
- Low up-front cost
- Rapid implementation
- Minimum risk of failure
- Ease-of-use (“point and click”)
- Quick bug fixes / constant upgrades
- No need for special computing skills/training
- Management control / customizable access rights
- Enhanced spend management
- Enhanced operational efficiency
- Management of regulatory compliance
- Third-party integration / easy flow of data between systems
- Accessible from anywhere there’s an Internet connection
Saugatuck Research is predicting a SaaS “adoption tsunami” – as reported by Phil Wainewright on ZDNet (April 27, 2007) – with “adoption rates of 60-75% by 2010.”
“The cloud opportunity”, according to Merril Lynch (May 2008), “is potentially $95 billion, or roughly 12% of the total worldwide software market, within five years.”
What's more, “Global CRM license sales will grow 9% annually through 2012, reaching $440 million”, according to Datamonitor (March 2008). A growing proportion of this total will come in the form of SaaS applications such as Mach3.
Saugatuck Research (May 2008) predict that “by 2012 70% or more of businesses with greater than 100 employees will have deployed at least one SaaS application.... A tougher economic climate will only exacerbate an already challenged on-premise and traditional perpetual license model.”
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