Business as a Service. Software as a Service Billing and Business Models

According to Gartner, Software as a Service (SaaS) is software that is owned, delivered and managed remotely by one or more providers. This means that the application users are not licensed and charged for software availability in extended periods of time, but only billed for the amount they actually use. In most scenarios, the software is either available in the form of web applications or terminal services. In the first case, the entire application is hosted on the provider’s hardware and no client software except for a web browser is needed. In the latter case, the only difference is a requirement for the customers to download a client application, but the core of the system is also hosted by the provider.

Benefits from SaaS

These facts combined mean vast savings for the consumers. The lack of an initial license fee and hardware requirements can reduce the CAPEX significantly. It is also easier to plan the spending and adapt over time. The actual cost of ownership (TCO) depends on how much the applications are used at a particular time and not on future capacity. This flexibility and affordability of the model are especially vital for businesses in today’s economy.

As for the software vendors, the SaaS model offers equally valuable benefits. Initially lower, but recurring revenue streams are much more predictable and provide the ability to plan the budgets more effectively and precisely. Due to the centralized hosting, the software is also much easier to maintain and support. All upgrades are limited to one environment and have instant effect for all users. In addition, direct access to the application logs facilitates bug fixes. Finally, SaaS can help overcome sales difficulties in
a period when businesses reorganize and freeze their IT budgets, so they cannot afford the lack of flexibility and expenses of software based on EULA licensing models.

These advantages are clearly confirmed by good results of the market leaders and optimistic projections of its researchers. Contrary to mostly negative growth forecasts coming from all over the economy, the global SaaS market is expected to grow in 2009 by as much as 30% (Gartner) to 40% (IDC).

Billing and other challenges

The positive aspects of SaaS for software vendors are unquestionable. However, a number of topics need to be addressed before an application can be offered in this model.

The inevitable challenge faced by all Software as a Service providers is setting up the billing process. Whereas traditional IPR or EULA-based sales required simple license invoicing and handling of usually long-term maintenance contracts, the “pay-per-use” model and proper management of frequently recurring transactions impose a requirement for a rating and billing engine, as well as a set of procedures. This means additional analyses and investments need to be made in order to kick off the provision of SaaS.

The necessary infrastructure is offered by many vendors (e.g. Verax Systems with its OSS/BSS Billing). In order to achieve good results, software businesses are required to develop a profitable and competitive usage billing model. One of the first steps is defining the main billing units and UDRs (Usage Data Records) related with them or software license key limitations. The most commonly used aspects are:

• Number of users and sessions per user
• Number of concurrent sessions
• Number of enabled modules / functionalities
• Number of business artifacts generated by the application (e.g. reports, invoices etc.)
• Number of objects created or stored in the application (e.g. articles, contacts etc.)
• Number of emails sent

Obviously, the rating and billing must cater for the business value of the applications, service maintenance costs (like customer support and SLAs), as well as the hardware required to host it (e.g. CPU and storage capacity). The diversity of the parameters may be a difficulty alone. However, this is where another critical challenge occurs.

It is the scalability required to handle a varying number of customers and users. Obviously, a well-established business can make long-term customer base growth plans and set sales targets in order to adapt the infrastructure on time. However, the recent economic reality has made it increasingly difficult for companies to reach those targets. In addition, some of the services offered to customers have a very seasonal nature (e.g. consumer e-commerce usually booms in the Christmas season). This means businesses need to make upfront spending on hardware capacity which is likely to be redundant for extended periods of time. A related challenge is also the provisioning of the services, which also requires appropriate infrastructural solutions to be in place.

A conclusion from the above is that it is not easy for a specialized application provider to offer their software in the SaaS model on their own. Fortunately, the market is rich in solutions similar in the idea, but oriented on hardware infrastructure. It is usually referred to as Infrastructure (or Platform) as
a Service, and a combination of the services is commonly named Cloud Computing.

“Hardware as a Service”

The Infrastructure as a Service providers reduce most of the CAPEX required from software vendors in order to start offering SaaS. Their huge data centers cater for the flexibility allowing for instant multiplication of the hardware resources as the needs grow. The dynamic scalability and provisioning is achieved with the latest platform virtualization monitoring infrastructure (hypervisors), out of which the most commonly used are Cytrix Xen and VMWare (Information Week Analytics, Sept. 4, 2009). Costs are kept down to the minimum due to built-in load balancing mechanisms.

The dynamic growth of interest in SaaS had turned providing scalability, redundancy and provisioning for its purposes into a core business of many companies. Even though, as the concept is relatively new, the implementations and market offerings differ quite considerably. The most commonly listed three services – Amazon’s EC2, Google’s App Engine and Microsoft’s Azure represent different philosophies, with hardly any platform restrictions and added services in the first case, very restrictive policies for a low price in the second, and single platform with value added services in the last example.

With specializations ranging from virtualized and scalable web hosting and disaster recovery through provision of SaaS and test environments for software vendors to leasing high-performance computing resources for research and industrial simulations, the leaders in the most common appliances include Amazon (EC2), Rackspace and GoGrid.

A majority of the providers impose a minimum service duration, although in most cases it is as low as monthly. The services are usually billed according to utility-based or availability models. The charges are commonly applied for the following parameters:

• Hours of virtual machine availability (e.g. Amazon)
• CPU cycles (e.g. Rackspace, Google)
• RAM-hours (e.g. GoGrid)
• Data transfer
• Storage

Additional services, such as monitoring, load balancing, software license fees etc. are also offered and billed for as part of bundled plans or separately. Some providers offer pre-paid plans and monthly or annual subscriptions, although their practical aspect is a price discount or a fee for the “reservation” of
a machine (either virtual or physical) with additional per-use pricing on top of it.

One of the most frequently raised disadvantages of entrusting the hosting of applications to 3rd party companies is the aspect of data security and uptimes. This is addressed by most providers who offer suitable service level agreements (SLA) with uptime levels exceeding 99%. However, it is the small-print that matters. For example, Amazon’s SLA guarantee of 99.95% is calculated on an annual basis, which means a critical system may be down for a few hours within a week with no obligation from the provider. As another one, GoGrid’s 100% SLA level refers to availability as indicated by the operator’s proprietary monitoring tools.

Service separation model

In this model, the software vendor hosts its applications in a selected Data Center providing platform or infrastructure services. The software is offered and sold to end users directly by the application provider and the data center is not part of the process. The application provider is billed for the infrastructure usage. The application sends usage reports to the provider’s billing engine. The entire billing and invoicing process is also handled by the application provider.

The main advantage of this model for the application provider is that the scalability and provisioning is entirely taken care of by the data center. This means a significant cost reduction, as no hardware needs to be purchased and set up in order to provide the service. The sales is directly between the software vendor and the customers. Both the data center and the application provider offer their core business services only.

Despite offering undoubted advantages, this model is not without flaws from the software vendor’s perspective. The requirement of running dedicated sales & marketing departments has been enough of a struggle for many software engineering businesses. The billing and invoicing on top of that may be too much for some executives to handle in a short timeframe.

Revenue sharing model

This is why an alternative and less conservative model is proposed by Verax Systems. It is based on the assumption that it is easier for a large service provider (i.e. data center) with existing billing infrastructure and procedures in place to integrate additional application usage billing processes into it than setting up two separate engines.

The advantages of this model are clearly evident for both the data centers and the application providers. As the revenue is shared between the two parties, both of them have a common business goal, so there is an obvious synergy effect. Also the total cost of this model seems to be lower, so a more competitive and profitable offer can be directed to the customers.

Application providers without the need to handle billing, invoicing and collection processes can put more focus on what they do best. This should result in lower prices for the service, as well as in development of new features or applications. Many small and rather unheard of software companies can vastly benefit due to the service provider’s footprint and market recognition. It also means a safer business with less investments in expensive infrastructure and processes.

The data centers as service-as-a-whole providers gain an opportunity to increase their market share and recognition. First of all, they can expand their customer base by attracting more application providers due to a convenient business model. In a time of increasing competition among infrastructure providers, more of them aim to find market differentiators. This objective can be met by offering added value – clearly achieved by directly providing applications in the SaaS model. Value Added Services at a low expense combined with additional revenue from commission should provide a quick ROI and increase the company’s footprint.

Verax SaaS provisioning and billing infrastructure

Verax Systems positions itself as an infrastructure enabler for the provisioning and billing of SaaS applications supporting various business models, including the revenue sharing in particular. The Verax OSS/BSS Suite covers important areas of building SaaS infrastructure, including:

• Defining new services (Product Catalogue)
• Provisioning (Provisioning Service)
• Customer self management (Self Care Portal)
• Billing of both infrastructure and application usage (Billing)
• Monitoring of the service infrastructure and measuring SLA compliance (NMS)

What is worth mentioning is that Verax Systems’ applications are not limited to the SaaS platform – all our products are oriented at carrier-grade services for IP-centered, convergent telecommunications.

Defining the services

In order to be able to efficiently handle the billing of any kind of services, they have to be precisely defined. What could be just a one-off exercise for a small business offering a limited number of rarely-changing services is usually not the case. Strong market competition enforces introducing new ways of attracting customers and thus, new services. This means that the configuration of new applications becomes a daily routine. The challenging economy is also a time when acquisitions or mergers become very common, resulting in an increase of the number and complexity of the product packages offered. In order to handle the product and service offerings in an efficient and error-free manner, a sophisticated product catalogue, capable of handing SaaS specifics is required.

The Verax Product Catalogue offers a flexible tool to define the SaaS services and means of their billing, such as:

• Service name
• Activation times
• Eligibility criteria
• Billing criteria:
  • Platform usage, such as storage, CPU cycles, data transfers and others
  • Additional application criteria, resembling more a classic license, such as the number of users, sessions, modules enabled, etc.

The Product Catalogue offers an easy, intuitive interface for not only defining the technical details of the services, but also allowing to categorize them for easier browsing, create service bundles (with mandatory and optional products), provide descriptions and photos for the customers and define multi-currency pricing.

Provisioning the services

Provisioning of individual applications is likely the most complex process of a scalable and flexible SaaS infrastructure. In order to attract customers, the offering must be tailored to the needs to the maximum extent. The resulting wide range of pricing and licensing models needs to be reflected in the provisioning mechanism. An indication of the potential challenges is that the provisioning of various SaaS applications may include the following:

• Instantiating a virtual machine from a template
• Setting platform parameters such as storage, database and others
• Setting DNS names
• Managing HTTPS certificates
• Configuring a default administrative account
• Configuring the application license, e.g. three modules for five concurrent users
• Activating the service and billing notification

Verax Systems has been working on a Provisioning Service solution to meet all the challenges faced by our current and potential customers.

Managing the services

A wide range of applications and a large number of users make for an excellent business aspect, as they directly affect the revenue gained. However, the management of customer service becomes more difficult and expensive as the customer-base grows. It is not just a question of instantiating the particular applications, but also responding to the customers’ changing needs.

The easiest way of reducing the customer service costs and making it more manageable is providing the customers with a front-end, where they can manage the parameters of their services on their own. It not only helps to improve and reduce the call center costs, but also increases customer trust and loyalty.

The Verax Self Care Portal allows this and much more, by providing enhanced possibilities of customer communication (e.g. broadcasting news, events, new products), improving the service with a service rating feature and accelerating the cash flow by presenting outstanding payment information to the customers.

SLA compliance

The provider’s liability and proposed Service Level Agreements are one of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to managed services. Security concerns are the main argument against using SaaS for 30% of decision makers surveyed by Forrester in 2009. This is why it is essential for any SaaS provider to deploy the right tools and procedures to maintain the required level of availability and data security, as well as to demonstrate them to their current and potential customers.

It is not just the hardware infrastructure that matters. In order to avoid dropping below the SLA-declared parameters by reacting to problems before they become critical, the SaaS providers need to have
a proper monitoring system in place.

Verax Systems’ Network Management System is a perfect match to those needs, both for the platform as well as the applications. The Verax NMS provides proven SLA compliance and features full FCAPS (fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security) functionality to help maintain the highest level of availability and provide tools for fault prevention. Due to support of rules-based business logic and pluggable architecture, it can be integrated with any existing platforms and applications.

Integration challenges

SaaS applications are usually built on top of existing infrastructures and services. This means that there may likely already be some systems in place. Be it existing client databases, some forms of billing systems or other environments, Verax Systems can integrate with them via:

• SOA-ready architecture with pluggable services – e.g. it is possible to replace the integrated Verax OSS/BSS database and modules with a custom plug-in connecting to an existing database
• Verax mediation, which can be used to relay the UDRs to and from the existing billing system.

Verax Systems has broad experience as an integrator of applications for telecommunications (including Tier-1 operators) and financial markets.

Growing with the needs

It seems obvious that building a proper SaaS infrastructure is an investment. While some businesses can afford to create it within a short period of time, others may need to prioritize and get going with only the most essential parts in place in the start-up period.

Verax Systems understands this and offers delivery of a perfectly-suited solution over time. The suggested and most common order would be to first deploy the provisioning service, followed by automating the billing process, and finally improving SLAs with the NMS and the customer service with the Self Care Portal at a later stage. However, we are open to any needs and ideas.

Summary

Building a SaaS platform is undoubtedly a complex and demanding task. However, setting up the necessary infrastructure around it in order to provision and bill particular applications is also a challenge. Verax Systems with its OSS/BSS Suite offers a perfect set of applications to address these challenges.

For more information please visit our website www.veraxsystems.com or contact us.

About the Author

(ArticlesBase SC #1493451)

Article Source: SOA Service Oriented Architecture, SOA Web Services, SOA Software as a Service, SaaS. http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Business as a Service. Software as a Service Billing and Business Models

Software as a Service (saas) - Change is Imminent

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is receiving a lot of attention in analysts’ briefings and technology trade press articles. In the past year, SaaS has emerged from its pioneering group of start-ups and medium-sized vendors to be embraced, albeit awkwardly, by software giants including Oracle and SAP. Much of the attention SaaS has garnered in recent months has focused on the new business model that on-demand software enables. However, some veteran technologists who’ve adopted SaaS for their own livelihood, and analysts as well, say that the phenomenon might well be the catalyst for a far wider-ranging discussion on software development for the next generation. The highly interactive Web 2.0 model and iterative development have dovetailed to force even the most traditional programmers to at least consider the end of lengthy development cycles. Software as a Service develpment companies are now perfectly positioned to provide all business software applications delivered via the clooud - no software to download, no risk of piracy, and no risk of hard drive failures.

Technology and culture driving business One major technological factor in advancing the new development models might be the rise of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services standards. The ASP model, championed in the late 1990s and early years of this decade, never took off because its one-to-one architecture was inherently difficult to scale. SaaS technology, however, takes advantage of a one-to-many SOA-enabled architecture that can offer customized services to different customers, and even different branches of the same enterprise. One example is a customer relationship management application offered on a SaaS basis by LiveCRM LiveCRM enables companies to drive sales productivity, increase visibility, and expand revenues with an affordable, easy-to-deploy service that delivers success to companies of all sizes. The beauty of a product like LiveCRM lies in its ability to adapt to different business practices and provide a unique customised solution to each without rebuilding the interface each time - This is where SaaS becomes so powerful. Deploying a SaaS application means a major culture change within the organisation. The change comes not just in how things are seen and reported on through aq software product, but also how the product itself is used. Many large organisations (predominantly the older ones) have spent a significant amount on training personnel and getting them used to the current systems and software products used. In my experience, many of these personnel are not as skilled as some of the younger counterparts which presents a very steep learning curve for businesses. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. SaaS can be deployed in bite sizes; module by module and as people get more used to it, a full scale deployment can be considered. Also, a carefully managed implementation including change management, workshops and solution recipes are also a great way to minimise this learning curve. So a change in technology, in this case, also demands a change in culture. But a change in culture is already happening The technological advancements underpinning the new methodologies are being complemented by a new “ground up” ethos that will force academic program leaders and enterprise strategists to retool their own thinking. In fact, the shift is a generational shift. Just as the young technologists of the late 1980s created both ad hoc and formal transitions of enterprise data from mainframes to PCs and client-server architectures, the next-gen architectures of on-demand software are being pioneered by those who have grown up working with instantly available Web-based applications. From an executive perspective, SaaS is less about how software is going on-demand, and more about how the generation of users who have grown up with the Web as a technology are coming into the workforce. And this crowd expects the tools that allow things they’re used to—collaboration, immediate ubiquitous access, and so on—SaaS will make sure they get what they want. Web 2.0 and socially-oriented computing, as most people think of it, is about Facebook and mashups and things like that. While that’s a big component of the overall discussion, what I try to do is take those concepts and say, ‘How do I take those ideas, which are incubated in the Internet kiddies’ domain, and put that in real business terms—enterprise quality of service, or levels of security, compliance, audit, control and so forth—that are enterprise-worthy or government-worthy, and still keep all the beauty and openness and free-flowing nature of the Web 2.0 world? Uneasy transition Gartner’s Norton says the transition to SaaS-based architectures is still in its early phase. “By 2010, 15 percent of large companies will start projects replacing their ERP backbone with a SaaS offering,” he says. “A little later, Tier 1 consultancies will offer SaaS services, and 30 to 40 percent of vendors offering SaaS service by 2012.” Norton estimates about half of the Web 2.0 projects visible to end users are still developed using noniterative development methods, but he sees that changing. However, Norton says he has seen the promise of some flexible projects run aground just as they might become more useful in a cross-enterprise manner, because corporate executives lose their nerve and fall back on old development methods as projects get larger. “They don’t know what they’ve got, and it’s easier to say, ‘If we put the standard controls in place, we can control this beast.’ They only have the illusion of control.” In all but the most daring organizations, it will take time to realize that the illusion of control might best be modified in favor of a collaborative, nonhierarchical approach. Vandervoort says the next generation of developers is coming out of universities well-informed of these technologies, but are receiving little to no formal training in how to use them in enterprise settings. “The shift that has to occur, both in academic training and in enterprise thinking, is to move away from the idea that IT builds the answer for the user,” he says. He sees Web 2.0 enabling IT to shift its thinking toward enabling users to build their own solutions. In doing that, he says users will find their own answer via the path of least resistance, or POLR. What do you think?

About the Author

Manas is CEO of Genesis Interactive, an Auckland based SaaS vendor and technology innovator.

(ArticlesBase SC #712170)

Article Source: Software as a Service (SaaS), SOA Service Oriented Architecture, SOA Web Services, SOA 2010. http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Software as a Service (saas) - Change is Imminent

Software as a Service - Change is imminent

Much of the attention SaaS has garnered in recent months has focused on the new business model that on-demand software enables. However, some veteran technologists who've adopted SaaS for their own livelihood, and analysts as well, say that the phenomenon might well be the catalyst for a far wider-ranging discussion on software development for the next generation.

The highly interactive Web 2.0 model and iterative development have dovetailed to force even the most traditional programmers to at least consider the end of lengthy development cycles.

Software as a Service develpment companies are now perfectly positioned to provide all business software applications delivered via the clooud - no software to download, no risk of piracy, and no risk of hard drive failures.

Technology and culture driving business

One major technological factor in advancing the new development models might be the rise of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services standards. The ASP model, championed in the late 1990s and early years of this decade, never took off because its one-to-one architecture was inherently difficult to scale. SaaS technology, however, takes advantage of a one-to-many SOA-enabled architecture that can offer customized services to different customers, and even different branches of the same enterprise. One example is a customer relationship management application offered on a SaaS basis by LiveCRM

LiveCRM enables companies to drive sales productivity, increase visibility, and expand revenues with an affordable, easy-to-deploy service that delivers success to companies of all sizes. The beauty of a product like LiveCRM lies in its ability to adapt to different business practices and provide a unique customised solution to each without rebuilding the interface each time - This is where SaaS becomes so powerful.

Deploying a SaaS application means a major culture change within the organisation. The change comes not just in how things are seen and reported on through aq software product, but also how the product itself is used.

Many large organisations (predominantly the older ones) have spent a significant amount on training personnel and getting them used to the current systems and software products used. In my experience, many of these personnel are not as skilled as some of the younger counterparts which presents a very steep learning curve for businesses.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. SaaS can be deployed in bite sizes; module by module and as people get more used to it, a full scale deployment can be considered.

Also, a carefully managed implementation including change management, workshops and solution recipes are also a great way to minimise this learning curve.

So a change in technology, in this case, also demands a change in culture.

But a change in culture is already happening

The technological advancements underpinning the new methodologies are being complemented by a new "ground up" ethos that will force academic program leaders and enterprise strategists to retool their own thinking. In fact, the shift is a generational shift. Just as the young technologists of the late 1980s created both ad hoc and formal transitions of enterprise data from mainframes to PCs and client-server architectures, the next-gen architectures of on-demand software are being pioneered by those who have grown up working with instantly available Web-based applications.

From an executive perspective, SaaS is less about how software is going on-demand, and more about how the generation of users who have grown up with the Web as a technology are coming into the workforce. And this crowd expects the tools that allow things they're used to-collaboration, immediate ubiquitous access, and so on-SaaS will make sure they get what they want.

Web 2.0 and socially-oriented computing, as most people think of it, is about Facebook and mashups and things like that. While that's a big component of the overall discussion, what I try to do is take those concepts and say, 'How do I take those ideas, which are incubated in the Internet kiddies' domain, and put that in real business terms-enterprise quality of service, or levels of security, compliance, audit, control and so forth-that are enterprise-worthy or government-worthy, and still keep all the beauty and openness and free-flowing nature of the Web 2.0 world?

Uneasy transition

Gartner's Norton says the transition to SaaS-based architectures is still in its early phase.

"By 2010, 15 percent of large companies will start projects replacing their ERP backbone with a SaaS offering," he says. "A little later, Tier 1 consultancies will offer SaaS services, and 30 to 40 percent of vendors offering SaaS service by 2012."

Norton estimates about half of the Web 2.0 projects visible to end users are still developed using noniterative development methods, but he sees that changing.

However, Norton says he has seen the promise of some flexible projects run aground just as they might become more useful in a cross-enterprise manner, because corporate executives lose their nerve and fall back on old development methods as projects get larger.

"They don't know what they've got, and it's easier to say, 'If we put the standard controls in place, we can control this beast.' They only have the illusion of control."

In all but the most daring organizations, it will take time to realize that the illusion of control might best be modified in favor of a collaborative, nonhierarchical approach. Vandervoort says the next generation of developers is coming out of universities well-informed of these technologies, but are receiving little to no formal training in how to use them in enterprise settings.

"The shift that has to occur, both in academic training and in enterprise thinking, is to move away from the idea that IT builds the answer for the user," he says. He sees Web 2.0 enabling IT to shift its thinking toward enabling users to build their own solutions. In doing that, he says users will find their own answer via the path of least resistance, or POLR.

What do you think?

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is receiving a lot of attention in analysts' briefings and technology trade press articles. In the past year, SaaS has emerged from its pioneering group of start-ups and medium-sized vendors to be embraced, albeit awkwardly, by software giants including Oracle and SAP.

About the Author

Manas Kumar is CEO of Genesis Interactive, a New Zealand based Software as a Service innovator.

Source: Software as a Service, SaaS, SOA, Service Oriented Architecture. Source: goarticles.com

Commence Corporation Advocates CRM SaaS

Software as a Services - Commence Corporation Advocates CRM SaaS by Thomas Cutler

The introduction of software as a service, (SaaS) pioneered by companies like SalesForce.com, NetSuite, and RightNow Technologies has inspired more businesses to move forward with CRM. This new deployment model has proven to reduce the initial cost of hardware and software acquisition and alleviate the lengthy implementation cycles that have plagued the CRM industry for years. Industry reports confirm that businesses both large and small are gravitating to the SaaS model, prompting other mainstream companies such as Oracle and Microsoft to enter the space. But, has SaaS solved the real problem with CRM? Despite the reduced cost and deployment time of SaaS, user adoption continues to be an issue and cancellations among the providers remains a serious concern. What then is the problem with CRM?
The answer may be two-fold, beginning with management's failure to recognize that the successful deployment and use of a CRM system requires proper planning, the assignment of skilled resources, and a commitment to its utilization. Let's compare for a moment the implementation of accounting and ERP software to that of CRM. Accounting and ERP systems enjoy a high degree of success with regard to implementation and use even though they require hardware, software and lengthy implementation processes. Yet we said earlier that this was one of the initial problems with CRM. Interestingly enough Accounting and ERP systems due to their complexity and regulatory requirements also require the commitment of management and a team of highly skilled resources to ensure a smooth and successful implementation. Before any implementation begins a great deal of planning takes place, internal procedures are documented and a skilled project team is assigned. The vendor selected will also be required to have an experienced team of people on site before, during and after the implementation. Why are companies willing to make this level of investment in planning and resources allocation? Because Accounting and ERP is serious business and mission critical to the organization. CRM however is often viewed as just software for the sales guys and receives a lukewarm reception from the management team who are unable to connect with its utilization and value.

Selecting the right CRM solution for your business can be a daunting exercise. There are plenty of options and a myriad of consultants eager to offer their advice, but no one has found the magic formula that will ensure your success. The continued growth of this industry sector has attracted some the most prominent software providers, yet the level of dissatisfaction among companies that have implemented these solutions remains high. Clearly something is wrong.

Larry Caretsky is the CEO or Commence Corporation (www.commence.com) a provider of CRM solutions for the Manufacturing, Distribution and Construction sector. Caretsky has authored several white papers including Six Points to Consider, Getting Back to Basics, CRM an Executive Perspective and Practices That Pay, a book that describes how to Leverage Information to Achieve Industrial Selling Results.

Commence Corporation www.commence.com Larry Caretsky Marketing@commence.com 732-380-9100

About the Author
Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines

Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=518459

Beginning of the Dot com boom and birth of SaaS

Software as a Services - Beginning of the Dot com boom and birth of SaaS by Paul

The "dot-com bubble" spanning a period roughly between the late 1990s and the beginning of the century saw numerous upsets and stock market collapses. Companies in the new Internet sector and related fields noticed their value increase rapidly in a short span of time. The period was marked by the founding of numerous new Internet based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms.

Quite a few of these dot-coms were highly successful but most that went bust, ran out of capital and were acquired or liquidated. It looked like all such companies focused to increase their valuation to consequently being funded by Venture Capitalists or being bought over. One primary reason for such companies to fail was that, most such start-ups did not focus on the end-users.

Companies that survived the dot-com bubble were those that provided value-added services to end-users by providing a unique experience or additional value that was either not possible through an offline mechanism or that made a particular job comparatively easier, when made available online.
One such category of companies was dot-coms that offered Software as a Service (SaaS).

What is SaaS and on-demand software?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model of software delivery where a software company provides maintenance, daily technical operations, and support for the software provided to their clients. SaaS is a software delivery model and not a market segment.
The key characteristics of SaaS include:
* Network-based access to, and management of, commercially available software.
* Activities that are managed from central locations rather than at each customer's site, enabling customers to access applications remotely via the Web.
* Application delivery is closer to a one-to-many model to comprise of architecture, pricing, technical support and partnership.

There are two types of SaaS providers. The first has often been referred to as an Application Service Provider (ASP) wherein a customer, primarily a software company, purchases and brings to a hosting company, a copy of software.

The second type of SaaS provider offers what is often called Software On-Demand. This is where a company develops and hosts a suite of software applications to be used by multiple end-users or clients.
One of the biggest success stories of SaaS and particularly on-demand software provider is salesforce.com, a provider of CRM solutions on the web, founded by Marc Benioff, a champion of SaaS delivery model. Today, SaaS is emerging as a preferred option for most software companies due to the inherent benefits that the model provides. Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and many others have been aligning a considerable portion of their business to leverage the benefits. iEmployee, an On-Demand HRMS (Human Resource Management Systems) software provider in the US of A started with a strong service delivery vision to corporate customers and is today amongst the top 10 HRMS provider in the US of A.

The focus in SaaS is more on what the customer wants rather than what the vendor could give, as was the case in an ASP.
ASP applications were hosted by third-parties that basically did not have application expertise, but were only managing servers. Owing to the fact that applications were not written as native internet applications, performance was poor and application updates were no better, either. By comparison, current native internet SaaS applications are updated at much regular intervals than traditional delivery methods. For that matter, updates are done even monthly or daily.

Rather than buying and installing software in-house, companies access the application online. On-demand software allows a business to capitalize on its existing technology investment by outsourcing its other software needs.
An on-demand software company hosts the software and all related data on its servers in a centralized location. Clients pay a monthly or annual fee to access the software, hardware, data storage and even technical support.
In fact, on-demand software providers such as iEmployee may provide several product modules through a single application and authentication system for a complete integrated solution within a domain.

Cheers
Paul
Resource:
Article by Akash Dave (iemployee.com)
Workforce Management Software

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Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=279557