SaaS Blogs

For all of my technological ranting related to Salesforce.com and Apex, as well as the mini debates that unfurled around it, I would like to take a moment and reflect over the past year and include Salesforce in a congratulation of sorts. I know, its not a new year or anything, but the release of Apex and its surrounding buzz is a milestone. Not because Salesforce.com was the first to release a platform (this is hotly contested, especially by Netsuite and their CEO. And didn’t WebEx release the Connect platform?), but because of what it means for the industry in terms of maturation.

A little more than a year ago, people would talk about SaaS in a very ad-hoc, roundabout way. There was little structure behind some of the online readings or conversations. Now, it seems like the notion of SaaS and its deliverables are much more in tune. The announcements by WebEx, Salesforce, etc. really highlight the fact that SaaS is gaining mainstream momentum, even as we speak. The difference between WebEx’s announcement, NetSuite’s Netflex/SuiteScript announcement, and Salesforce.com’s announcement is that although all claim to be first, Salesforce successfully broke down the barrier and helped define a higher level of acceptance for a platform concept while the others simply “made announcements” of a new product. They drove “platform” home, and not product. In reality, Salesforce’s move is good for the industry, providing a level of SaaS validation that just wasn’t there a few months ago. Now, the question remains on whether any of these platforms can move SaaS from a validation phase to a realization and value derivation phase.