SaaS gets hit by SaaS-querade

It is only natural that a when a new buzz word gets created it attracts the attention of marketers. SaaS and Cloud computing are amongst the most popular buzz words when it comes to IT industry.

If you are new to these buzz words you can read about SaaS and Cloud computing here and here and here, these are all excellent blogs and will give you great insights.

In this post I will explore some of the confusion that is going around in the market and what companies need to do to separate the truth from marketing jargons.

SaaS = Software as a Service. So any company which is giving software to you as a service should be called a SaaS company. Maybe there is some merit in keeping the definition so simple.

Let’s now focus on the second S of SaaS - the Service aspect – different people will have different connotations to Service. I take a simple example of owning a car vs renting a taxi cab. With a taxi cab you don’t have to pay the for total cost of the car but only for the kms you travel – albeit on a much higher rate. So SaaS is like your software cab service with a significant difference that it is supposed to be always there when you need it (since it is on the web).

So how do you know that the vendor you are talking to is a genuine SaaS vendor without peeking inside the hood. I would recommend three simple tests
- You should be able to use a trial (preferably through self service sign on) almost instantaneously. If a vendor is asking you to register and then informs that they will setup a custom demo or if they insist that they will take your data and do a demo for you be very careful. Some applications are not easy to configure so you might need help and vendors do not offer these services free so you might have to invest time and effort to configure and test but nevertheless the demo should be available.
- There should be minimal entry and exit barriers. The cost of activating a new account or user for a SaaS vendor is not prohibitive and these cost savings compared to traditional software should be passed to you as a customer. You should be able to export your data whenever you want for a small fee if not free
- Check their upgrade frequency – single application and common database allows the SaaS vendors to roll out much more rapid upgrades and these are also bundled in the subscription price. So you as the customer will benefit from the application being always current.

I would love to hear your views and experiences. We at EazeWork genuinely believe that SaaS is changing the way companies are using software applications and would like to invite you to participate in this revolution. Please visit us at http://www.eazework.com to know more about our offerings.