Author Archives for Matt Ammerman

Will ‘Beta’ Fly in B2B SaaS?


“Beta”
The word somehow snuck its way into the plethora of Web 2.0 buzzwords. 

GMail and Google Calendar!…beta. 
Windows Live Alerts, Gallery, QnA, Soapbox, Office, and Mail!…beta. 
Flickr!…gamma. (?) 

These services have hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of users and yet they still wear the beta badge.  Some have done so for nearly 2 years.  Clearly, there is an understanding and acceptance amongst […]

The SaaS Investment Landscape


Although many in the SaaS-choir have long since been sold on SaaS, it seems that venture capitalists are finally joining us.  Existing firms are padding their portfolios with SaaS companies.  More interesting, though, is the fact that firms are forming with core strategies focused on SaaS investment.  Why is this?  Perhaps the most definitive evidence comes from market research […]

SaaSCon Recap


Last week was SaaSCon 2007, the definitive conference for B2B Software as a Service (not to be confused with Web 2.0, or Enterprise 2.0, or Office 2.0).  The conference was at the Santa Clara Convention Center Tuesday and Wednesday.  For those that attended, the conference offered a wide spectrum of keynotes and workshops revolving around all aspects of […]

Build vs. Buy and Economies of Scale


When formulating the architectural foundation for a SaaS application, ISVs will inevitably encounter the age old build vs. buy decision.  SaaS enablement is hot right now, giving vendors a plethora of options on the buy side. 
Nick Carr has an interesting argument in support of the buy scenario - specifically urging vendors to buy into a horizontally aligned […]

Live from SaaSCon 2007


Hello from sunny Santa Clara.  We’re at SaaSCon 2007 at the Santa Clara Convention Center today and tomorrow.  From the looks of the exhibit floor and the sound of the early keynotes this morning  there is plenty of opinion and information floating around. An interesting keynote was the ”Evaluating SaaS Infrastructure” keynote which described the challenges of […]

Vendor Perception of the SaaS Platform Landscape


We’ve written quite a bit here about Salesforce’s Apex… and, admittedly, we’ve taken a somewhat critical stance on it.  Questions of identity crisis and ambiguity have boiled down to “Is it a SaaS platform, or a CRM platform? Is there a difference, and does it really matter what they call it as long as it is […]

Let the Real SaaS Discussion Begin!


Despite the many articles about SaaS that we have written, and will continue to write, it’s no secret that the real value SaaSBlogs presents to the community is as a hub for SaaS knowledge sharing and discussion.  All of you subscribers, lurkers and regular commentors alike, have plenty to say that we want to hear.  We’ve had some terrific comments that […]

Get Ready for SaaS, says Gartner


Via Business Two Zero, here is a press release recently issued by Gartner titled Gartner Says Service Providers Must Prepare Now for the Software as a Service Wave. The release opens with numbers: The worldwide SaaS market reached $6.3 billion in 2006, with a forecast of growth to $19.3 billion by year-end 2011.
I want to […]

Impending DST Disruption Highlights the Benefits of One-to-Many Software Delivery


Here’s another spotlight article from Phil Wainewright on ZDNet - DST spells disaster for shrinkwrap software.
The article zeroes in on the impending daylight savings time change (it’s this weekend in case you didn’t know - a date earlier than any prior year), and the havoc that it has wreaked on on-premise, aka ’shrinkwrap’, software end users who must now navigate through […]

Google Apps Premier Edition


This is just a mini-post to aggregate the plethora of commentary surrounding the announcement of Google Apps Premier Edition.  Phrases like “in direct competition with Microsoft Office” abound, but overall it’s apparent that there are still a tremendous amount of questions surrounding the maturity level of the application suite.
Here’s a bit of what’s being said:

Don Dodge - Microsoft Emerging […]

Matt Ammerman

I'm co-founder and CTO at Apprenda. I have a background in network engineering and computer/telephony integration systems. I've also been a successful freelance web application consultant. I enjoy pursuing the goal of building a company that defines software as a service, and drives our vision of the software market into the future.