What to Look For in an On Demand Platform (aka SaaS Platform)
The clamor and buzz surrounding on-demand platforms for SaaS has been growing steadily. I recently wrote an article on Marc Benioff’s latest platform position. In the video interview I reference, Mr. Benioff highlights some key, defining aspects of platforms. Although in the article I discuss a prevailing ambiguity in Benioff’s vision, I must say that I agree with most of his statements regarding platforms. I was recently reading an excellent post by Phil Wainewright that summarized panel discussions at the SIIA OnDemand Summit. In the summary, Mr. Wainewright discusses how most of the panelists congregated around the SaaS platform & ecosystem campfire. I realize that the discussions were high level, but the topic coupled with Mr. Benioff’s observations prompted me to think about the next step: what are some of the traits that *might* (notice the * for ‘proceeding with caution’) define a successful platform in the future. I came up with the following, in no particular order:
- Multi-tenancy – A platform like Apex (and most likely WebEx Connect) strive to define multi-tenancy, and generally single instance, for their constituent applications. The importance resides in the notion that multi-tenancy is one of the defining aspects of efficient SaaS in general.
- Security – Any platform worth its salt will make sure that the applications it contains are secure from internal/external attacks as well as purposeful/non-purposeful malicious code.
- Application Portability – The concept that one can build an application, of which some portion of it is portable, will be important. The idea that a lock-in platform will succeed is a stretch.
- “Mash-Up”
& Connectivity Capability – Although I hate the word “mash up”, I love the concept and practice. A platform will be responsible for certain levels of connectivity with the outside world, or for that matter, with other platforms. This is where “Web 2.0″ comes into the picture, and where successful platforms will thrive.
- EcoSystem Offering – The applications and ecosystem offered under a platform’s umbrella will provide a reason for end users to come back. The platform’s ecosystem will be important to its long term survival.
- Reliability – A platform is a foundational construct. What happens to structures on a shaky foundation? This.
- Design Stability – Any dependency between a platform and its applications must be stable. Platforms with frequent design changes requiring application modifications will most likely fail. Engineers won’t put up with this sort of stuff and will look for alternatives (assuming that property 3 is available to some degree).
I don’t consider this list exhaustive by any means, but I wanted to start the topic off. Any ideas on what else should be there? If so, leave a comment and I’ll reply/incorporate it into a later post.
Loading ...
[…] During the keynote panel, a question was asked by an audience member that I ended up fielding (again, paraphrased) – “Do SaaS platforms parallel the telco industry where value is controlled across the entire stack by the telco, or is it closer to the electrical grid where value is at the appliance level, which taps into the distributed power.” The question posed a perfect parallel because of the nature of electricity distribution. My response to it was that the electrical grid provides the best parallel for SaaS platforms – SaaS platforms are responsible for providing the foundational aspects of service delivery and management (i.e. “power grid”) while each application defines the actual value to the end user (where an application is much like an appliance). For example, if I toast bread, my derived value, although powered by electricity, is provided by the toaster oven. When a user uses a SaaS application built on a platform like SaaSGrid, the end user value is provided by the application. So where does the SaaS platform fit in? Well, your toaster comes with a power cord – an interface that encapsulates certain expectation. That power cord and any corresponding regulatory mechanics tap into the electrical delivery grid to make toasting bread possible. With respect to telco’s, value (in present form) is generally introduced by the telco and no-one else. Cell networks tend to be closed, and new functionality is introduced by the telco itself. That parallel is not valid – at least not with SaaSGrid; a platform’s goals should not be to monolithically provide value to the end user, but rather to provide all necessary delivery mechanics to the SaaS provider. SaaS providers – the appliance manufacturer’s – know what their respective customer’s want, and can deliver appropriately. The most important thing to realize in all of this is that most toaster’s do not come with their own power sources;-) Tags: SaaS SaaS platform SaaS Trust SaaSCon SaaSGrid Treb Ryan These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]