Excerpt from the Cloud Computing Journal, Dec 20, 2016.
Is SaaS Dead? Are We Headed to a World of ASP 2.0 or Dedicated SaaS?
The emergence of hyper-scale Infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) is challenging the traditional Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) value proposition. SaaS CEOs, investors and SaaS buyers must carefully evaluate the implications of “all-in” migration to hyperscale IaaS platforms that offer value-added platform services that go beyond simple infrastructure services. This article provides a point of view and insights into changes in the SaaS market, which has three principal drivers 1) technical, 2) business, and 3) security and compliance.
History of SaaS
SaaS solutions were born in 2000 with the promise of web-based delivery of hosted software delivered over the internet. SaaS solutions helped reduce the pain and cost associated with upgrades and maintenance headaches of “shrink-wrapped” software. The SaaS business over the last 15 years has disrupted major software platforms and in many ways helped set the stage for wider enterprise adoption of cloud services.
The early success of SaaS helped change customer behavior. Customers became comfortable with data and software running outside of their firewalls. The concept of management by SLAs was in many ways driven by the initial success of SaaS. In the past few years the trend towards SaaS creation and adoption has exploded with the adoption of hyperscale IaaS platforms by SaaS vendors.
This is the great paradox.
The emergence of public cloud IaaS platforms on the one hand is fueling the explosive growth of SaaS, but at the same time it will kill (or dramatically disrupt) SaaS as it destroys the fundamental value proposition.
Will SaaS Work In The Public Cloud Era?
The explosive and constantly accelerating growth of IaaS platforms such as AWS Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) is changing the economics of SaaS.
Continue reading article on Cloud Computing Journal’s site.
