SaaS to SaaC: True Software as a Service is about Choice

by, Vance Brown, Chairman and CEO | Cherwell Software

What is SaaS?

The term "SaaS" is an acronym for "Software as a Service." Forrester Research reports that fifty-four percent of all organizations are interested in SaaS deployment. According to Gartner, even though only approximately five percent of the IT Service Management (ITSM) software market today has embraced SaaS, it is estimated that ten percent of this industry will do so by 2012.

So while it certainly appears that many organizations are demanding the benefits offered by SaaS, evidence indicates many organizations are confused about what SaaS truly entails, and whether or not it is the best choice for their software needs.

Summary

The purpose of this article is to help define and eliminate some of the confusion about SaaS. After looking at a brief history of SaaS, we'll explore SaaS from its three major components: (1) a financial model; (2) a deployment model; and (3) a user interface model. Some believe that SaaS is limited to subscription pricing, off-site hosting, and browser-only access. We believe SaaS is about customer choice. We'll examine the "once size fits all" SaaS approach versus SaaS that offers choices in its core components. Finally, I believe so strongly in implementing SaaS with user optimized choices that I propose a new concept that may more accurately describe what most mid-to enterprise-sized companies are demanding - Software as a Choice (SaaC).

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