SaaS Is the Perfect Solution to Software Problems [#Infographic]
Cloud-based software is growing quickly, along with other cloud services.
Software as a service is growing in popularity and demand. Because software is needed only to perform specific actions and because it changes frequently, it often doesn’t make sense for governments to purchase licenses for packaged software used by their employees. Software as a service, better known as SaaS, is chipping away at the software market more each year. Before we go any further, here’s a brief definition of SaaS from CIO.com:
It’s software that’s developed and hosted by the SaaS vendor and which the end user customer accesses over the Internet. Unlike traditional packaged applications that users install on their computers or servers, the SaaS vendor owns the software and runs it on computers in its data center. The customer does not own the software but effectively rents it, usually for a monthly fee. SaaS is sometimes also known as hosted software or by its more marketing-friendly cousin, “on-demand.”
Read Software as a Service (SaaS) Definition and Solutions on CIO.com.
Software as a service has seen strong growth in the last years, and the future looks bright, according to TechTarget.
Ongoing budgetary pressures and long-time frustration around the complexity and escalating costs (in particular, excessive maintenance fees) associated with legacy enterprise systems are the primary drivers prompting companies to consider SaaS cloud computing applications for a variety of business software needs. Furthermore, companies' increasing familiarity and comfort with the SaaS model and some of the better-known SaaS software players, in addition to growth in the related PaaS (platform as a service) cloud segment, is also making the delivery paradigm less of a risk and priming IT shops and business areas to take the plunge, according to Sharon Mertz, a research director at Gartner, who recently released figures on SaaS adoption.
Gartner projects global spending on SaaS to rise 17.9% this year to hit $14.5 billion and remain strong through 2015 when it is estimated to reach $22.1 billion.
Read SaaS cloud computing's future looks bright on TechTarget.
The infographic below offers a look at the growth of the SaaS industry and compares SaaS to packaged software.