Many people still laugh when I say that on-demand, SaaS accounting, customer and project based applications are going to cause real shockwaves in the business community and it is going to be sooner rather than later. That’s OK.
I’ve discussed this recently with Phil Wainewright who reminded me of the days of the PC and how that was feared among companies and seemed only to be for super geeky types. David Tebbutt often reminds me about the time it has taken for technologies to take hold. All true. Except for three things:
- The pace of change is accelerating and the younger 12-18 year old generation are sucking the current crop of consumery on-demand social computing led services like they’re in a drought. How many Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 (or whatever the current buzz says) are there springing up?
- The cost of market entry is now so low that you can pretty much get going on your credit card. Even in the UK, the appetite for starting up is not diminishing.
- Industry analysts are starting to show models that indicate SaaS is more cost effective than on-premise. Forrester for example says:
Businesses with 100 to 249 employees and 50 users typically look beyond accounting packages and point solutions. In many cases, these organizations are experiencing rapid growth and regional expansion and seek immediate CRM capabilities. At this stage of growth, SaaS solutions fulfill the dual capital-deferral objectives regarding upfront software costs and related IT infrastructure investments. Based on the assumptions for a 50-user enterprise, SaaS models provide a better TEI throughout the 10-year life cycle of software ownership, as well as lower cumulative costs.
TEI = Total Economic Impact.
I have little doubt this is true. Contrary to what some might believe, the implementation costs alone at this level, compared to Microsoft for on-premise applications might be worthy of study. Along with the need to configure the M$ platform stack to include for whatever business apps Microsoft chooses to throw into the Internet alone should be enough to get you thinking.
The reduced requirement for piloting. The SaaS provider is ‘always-on’ so can afford to let you play with the system – at no cost if you wish.
From a benefits perspective – which does not get addressed in most economic analyses, the mutually improved efficiencies between professionals and clients alone should be enough to get you thinking about how this approach could become a core part of a rejuvenated service offering where the client really is at the centre of what you do – and not as an objectified fee note.
