Comments on: SaaS 101: The Drawbacks http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/ Understanding the Software as a Service Revolution Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:14:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: John from Credit Card Debt Reduction Services http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-50694 John from Credit Card Debt Reduction Services Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:38:41 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-50694 I think SaaS should work off-line but we have to be honest here, I live in Portugal and it's not that advanced in terms of broadband and internet penetration as the USA, but nowadays you can have a 3G connection in many places, and in a very recent future it will be almost a 100% coverage area. That will benifit SaaS for sure! I think SaaS should work off-line but we have to be honest here, I live in Portugal and it’s not that advanced in terms of broadband and internet penetration as the USA, but nowadays you can have a 3G connection in many places, and in a very recent future it will be almost a 100% coverage area.

That will benifit SaaS for sure!

]]> By: Abe Sultan http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30634 Abe Sultan Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:54:57 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30634 Hi Tiago, Unfortunately we don't have any posts that deal with SaaS and Supply Chain Management (SCM) integration but I'll make sure that we write one in the very near future. Keep an eye for it, Regards, Abe Hi Tiago,

Unfortunately we don’t have any posts that deal with SaaS and Supply Chain Management (SCM) integration but I’ll make sure that we write one in the very near future.

Keep an eye for it,

Regards,
Abe

]]> By: Tiago Matos http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30607 Tiago Matos Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:41:06 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30607 Do you have any post about the integration of SaaS with the SCM? Sorry the bad english. Thank you very much. Do you have any post about the integration of SaaS with the SCM?

Sorry the bad english.

Thank you very much.

]]> By: Abe Sultan http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30447 Abe Sultan Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:58:45 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30447 Hi Tiago, I think that SaaS will do exceptionally well in the Supply Chain Management vertical. Even today ERP/PLM/SCM applications represent the second largest segment of SaaS applications behind CRM. There are many issues that plague SCM that SaaS is built to support out of the gate but like any other obstacle, one of the biggest things that will have to be solved before it succeeds to its fullest potential is a seamless integration with all the additional on-premise hardware devices that are part of the supply chain. I think that SCM is one segment to keep a very close tap on and I’m very sure we will see a couple more poster child success SaaS stories coming out of this segment. Cheers, Abe Hi Tiago,

I think that SaaS will do exceptionally well in the Supply Chain Management vertical. Even today ERP/PLM/SCM applications represent the second largest segment of SaaS applications behind CRM.

There are many issues that plague SCM that SaaS is built to support out of the gate but like any other obstacle, one of the biggest things that will have to be solved before it succeeds to its fullest potential is a seamless integration with all the additional on-premise hardware devices that are part of the supply chain.

I think that SCM is one segment to keep a very close tap on and I’m very sure we will see a couple more poster child success SaaS stories coming out of this segment.

Cheers,
Abe

]]> By: Tiago Matos http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30419 Tiago Matos Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:52:46 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-30419 What you think in the SCM area? Will SaaS grow and survive there? What you think in the SCM area? Will SaaS grow and survive there?

]]> By: links for 2007-12-01 « The Adventures of Geekgirl http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-25507 links for 2007-12-01 « The Adventures of Geekgirl Sat, 01 Dec 2007 03:23:42 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-25507 [...] SaaS Blogs - » SaaS 101: The Drawbacks (tags: saas business) [...] […] SaaS Blogs - » SaaS 101: The Drawbacks (tags: saas business) […]

]]> By: Abe Sultan http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-19091 Abe Sultan Sun, 28 Oct 2007 13:49:51 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-19091 Troy, You are absolutely right. CRM is a definite candidate for supporting offline functionality, and like this, many others. We are still not in the days where internet connectivity is available everywhere anytime so for the time being some SaaS providers should consider offering a hybrid solution that allows you to use the application in a disconnected fashion. This goes back to understanding your target market and choosing the right implementation for your needs. Troy,

You are absolutely right. CRM is a definite candidate for supporting offline functionality, and like this, many others. We are still not in the days where internet connectivity is available everywhere anytime so for the time being some SaaS providers should consider offering a hybrid solution that allows you to use the application in a disconnected fashion.

This goes back to understanding your target market and choosing the right implementation for your needs.

]]> By: Troy Wing http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-19019 Troy Wing Sun, 28 Oct 2007 04:01:11 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-19019 Hi Abe, I believe the issue of being able to run your SaaS application offline (and synchronize data) is greater than just internet connectivity in the office. When I moved from On-Premise to SaaS I thought the offline days were behind me, but if your app targets sales reps and managers (eg CRM) as primary users who are out on the road a lot, then a occasionally connected scenario is very common. Many of our customers insist on this functionality and prospects still do. Just a thought... Hi Abe,
I believe the issue of being able to run your SaaS application offline (and synchronize data) is greater than just internet connectivity in the office. When I moved from On-Premise to SaaS I thought the offline days were behind me, but if your app targets sales reps and managers (eg CRM) as primary users who are out on the road a lot, then a occasionally connected scenario is very common. Many of our customers insist on this functionality and prospects still do.

Just a thought…

]]> By: Gabriel http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-18351 Gabriel Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:51:00 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-18351 Good start but I think you're missing some bits from both consuming and providing S+S. Here are a couple of blogs which I wrote covering some of the basics: http://blogs.msdn.com/gabriel_morgan/archive/2007/07/18/business-analysis-for-consuming-saas-services.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/gabriel_morgan/archive/2007/07/18/business-analysis-for-providing-saas-services.aspx Good start but I think you’re missing some bits from both consuming and providing S+S. Here are a couple of blogs which I wrote covering some of the basics:

http://blogs.msdn.com/gabriel_morgan/archive/2007/07/18/business-analysis-for-consuming-saas-services.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/gabriel_morgan/archive/2007/07/18/business-analysis-for-providing-saas-services.aspx

]]> By: Abe Sultan http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-18288 Abe Sultan Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:28:39 +0000 http://www.saasblogs.com/2007/10/16/saas-101-the-drawbacks/#comment-18288 Semih, The trust issue is not just hard for the small ISVs, it certainly is harden than for the larger ISVs but it is still hard for all SaaS ISVs to convince customers that their data will be safe. To be honest, there isn’t much you can do except for to use every success story as a building block to foster trust. This is something that only time will ease as more and more companies get comfortable with SaaS. In the meantime you could try to ease some of the concerns by getting your applications certified by 3rd party vendors. You could also encrypt the persisted data but this could have a severe impact on performance and it is probably unnecessary unless your market requires it. One of the best things you can do is to treat the data as if it were yours and keep security as one of your top priorities implementing checks at every point of the application. Keep an eye for a future article where we’ll address ways to minimize trust concerns for SaaS ISVs. Regards, Abe Semih,

The trust issue is not just hard for the small ISVs, it certainly is harden than for the larger ISVs but it is still hard for all SaaS ISVs to convince customers that their data will be safe. To be honest, there isn’t much you can do except for to use every success story as a building block to foster trust. This is something that only time will ease as more and more companies get comfortable with SaaS.

In the meantime you could try to ease some of the concerns by getting your applications certified by 3rd party vendors. You could also encrypt the persisted data but this could have a severe impact on performance and it is probably unnecessary unless your market requires it.

One of the best things you can do is to treat the data as if it were yours and keep security as one of your top priorities implementing checks at every point of the application.

Keep an eye for a future article where we’ll address ways to minimize trust concerns for SaaS ISVs.

Regards,
Abe

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