Chapter 9: Software as a Service
Software as a service is when an application is hosted on a server so that clients can connect to and use that application without having to have a physical copy on their side. This can be split into two categories that are a line of business services, which are business oriented applications that are subscription based, and customer-oriented services, which usually have the option for free usage with ads rather than pay-only subscriptions and are geared toward the public.
Advantages
There are many advantages to using SaaS. These include lowered costs in installation and labor since all of the applications are in one place, lower licensing costs, tighter security, and the most up to date versions. This can also benefit the vendor too, since the use of SaaS places less concern on hard copies of the software and pirating issues.
There are, however, some limitations that are presented. Since SaaS is something that has to be built so that everyone can use it everywhere, it can be difficult to create the necessary software.
Driving Forces
SaaS has become very popular and this is due, in part, to the rise in cloud computing. Both software vendors and enterprises have come to welcome SaaS, one reason being the lightened work load when the applications being used area part of the cloud. Virtualization has also increase the ease of using SaaS as well as service-oriented architecture or SOA, which is allows companies to increase the internal and external availability of their systems.
Company Offereings
Other Industries
Software as a service is when an application is hosted on a server so that clients can connect to and use that application without having to have a physical copy on their side. This can be split into two categories that are a line of business services, which are business oriented applications that are subscription based, and customer-oriented services, which usually have the option for free usage with ads rather than pay-only subscriptions and are geared toward the public.
Advantages
There are many advantages to using SaaS. These include lowered costs in installation and labor since all of the applications are in one place, lower licensing costs, tighter security, and the most up to date versions. This can also benefit the vendor too, since the use of SaaS places less concern on hard copies of the software and pirating issues.
There are, however, some limitations that are presented. Since SaaS is something that has to be built so that everyone can use it everywhere, it can be difficult to create the necessary software.
Driving Forces
SaaS has become very popular and this is due, in part, to the rise in cloud computing. Both software vendors and enterprises have come to welcome SaaS, one reason being the lightened work load when the applications being used area part of the cloud. Virtualization has also increase the ease of using SaaS as well as service-oriented architecture or SOA, which is allows companies to increase the internal and external availability of their systems.
Company Offereings
- Intuit - Quickbooks
- Quick and easy access to financial data 24/7
- Online hosted software for low maintenance and overhead
- Simple retrieval of information
- Mobile capabilities
- Google Apps with free and business-oriented models
- Offers storage, business APIs, and reliability for a low cost
- Apps include Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, and mobile solutions
- Microsoft - Live Small Business
- Includes many free resources such as web hosting, productivity applications, and custom domain names
- Online Store Manager that allows for a personal marketplace
- Along with domain name comes a business email service allowing 100 accounts with 5 GB each
- Simple activation, integration, and synchronization with current Microsoft products
- IBM - Blue Cloud
- Built for corporate data centers to allow an easier distribution of its data across connected machines
- Includes a testing environment for different applications such as those made in Web 2.0
Other Industries
- Healthcare
- Microsoft HealthVault - A medical data SaaS
- Advanced MD - A medical billing software
- Collaboration
- WebEx - A set of collaboration software built for meetings, event, sales, etc.
- Construction
- CMiC - Software solution for architecture, engineering, and construction
- Retail
- Epicor - A pay-as-you-go solution for store retailers for merchandising, allocation, replenishment, etc.
- Banking
- OpenChannel
- Online banking through many services including mobile devices
- Also includes electronic bill payment, value-based routing/payment preference, and high security
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