Software as a Service (SaaS) is such a buzzword these days. It seems like everyone from established companies to start-ups are emphasizing how their products are SaaS-enabled and placed in the cloud. With all of this buzz, surely there is something about SaaS that makes it something all IT Professionals should at least take a look at. But why? What’s the big deal with SaaS and how does it provide real value to IT Professionals?
The fact of the matter is this: IT Professionals are busier than ever. Economic conditions have led to many layoffs, yet company’s business objectives have not changed. Companies need to show their stakeholders that they will hit their business objectives, regardless of how many resources they have. That means that even though IT Professionals were stretched thin before, they are even busier today. Where there was once the luxury of specializing in a strategic niche area, companies are asking their employees to stretch and take on more responsibilities.
This is an area where SaaS can really help. For traditional solutions, not only do you have to invest a lot of time in the evaluation phase of a project, but you also have to invest a considerable amount of time in the design and implementation phase. SaaS solutions help you reduce the investment in the design and implementation phase of a project. Now it would be irresponsible to say that it eliminates this investment because knowing how a solution works and is implemented is key to any evaluation, but it can certainly help reduce this investment. Rather than having to worry about network requirements, hardware requirements, and the technical expertise needed to implement a project, IT Professionals can focus on the key areas that bring strategic value to the business.
Nonetheless, each organization should perform a cost/benefit analysis when investing in a SaaS solution vs. an on-premise solution. Here are a few key areas where a SaaS may provide savings:
- Hardware costs – At minimum, the SaaS server infrastructure will be in the cloud, so there is no need to purchase hardware, hardware space or power consumption.
- IT Specialists – A SaaS solution may reduce the requirements to have someone specialize in this area. You’re paying a vendor to provide the expertise and they should be a trusted partner you can count on.
- Software costs – Most SaaS solutions are subscription based, so you usually pay per user and per year or per month. The licenses are not perpetual.
- Support costs – If the solution provides support as part of the fee structure, then that means less resource costs for Help Desk and other layers of support. Also, there is less to worry about from an operations management or change and configuration management perspective.
There is another aspect to SaaS that organizations should think about: peace of mind. Knowing that a trusted partner is backing the solution, and provides the expertise necessary to support it, means that you can worry less about a 2am call to your mobile that something isn’t working. That’s something that is hard to put a price tag on.
There are many SaaS solutions out there. Every organization should take a look at areas where they can optimize their business by implementing SaaS where appropriate and focus their IT workforce around projects that provide business value. If you’re currently thinking about implementing a SaaS solution, let us know what you think so far.
I look forward to your comments as we start this new blog on AlertSec.