I do agree with both of you that Hosting Providers do need to take the bull by the horn and we ARE actually seeing that in the marketplace.

There is a third element to this SAAS marketplace that business consulting firms need to get a grasp on.

You see, Traditional ISVs know that they have to acknowledge the SAAS delivery model.

What they lack is the management expertise, business impact understanding & resources to actually enable their current application to a SAAS model. These ISV will need the help of consulting firms that understand the impact on both the technical & business point of view. These are SAAS enablers that fit technology enablers very well.

Just my two cents

Uri Lederman
http://www.Konverge.com

I’m glad you bring up ‘hosters’ within the context of SaaS adoption, because it is my belief that hosting companies and MAP/MSPs hold THE KEY to growth in SaaS adoption.

Obviously, the market is driven by demand from customers and supply from ISVs. But as has been a common idea here on SaaSBlogs, SaaS is all about the delivery channel. A huge proportion of the margin to be had in delivering SaaS solutions is found in the delivery mechanism, and it is silly to believe that individual ISVs, whose expertise and infrastructure support the development of software, can somehow leverage the delivery of that software themselves. Hence the need for enablement platforms and ‘hosters’ to supply the pipe.

Additionally, let’s not forget the mitigation factor that ‘hosters’ bring to the table. Many customer concerns re: data security, hosting reliability, application availability, etc. can be quelled by an ISV confidently working with a hoster or MAP/MSP whose business IS security, reliability, and bandwidth.

You are right, the supply and demand sides of SaaS are aligned. It is the combination of good enablement technology and established hosting infrastructure (together, the ‘pipeline’), that have a bigger effect on further SaaS adoption.