A sea change at more than one level

I see that CNet is now banging the SaaS drum. More significant is the fact that more larger businesses are looking at the SaaS delivery model. In thinking about this, it struck me there’s something glaringly obvious I’ve missed when discussing the value of a SaaS model.

 

If you can get information over the wire and, in a short time, over SMS, then think about what you could offer your management accounting clients. Instead of sending letters or making calls you could maybe trigger an SMS out of the accounts, saying they need to login to look at the last period’s figures so you can discuss a sudden increase in GPM or an unusual fall in customer service costs. What value could that bring to everyone? And at what cost? 30-50p? What if your client was on vacation and you needed to discuss something urgently? Doesn’t the same delivery mechanism short circuit all those frantic calls? How much does that cost? 60p? What value does it deliver?

 

Now tell me this. Just how are you going to do that with the existing applications you use? ( I sincerely hope all those that think SaaS is only about a price battle are reading carefully.)