Posts tagged SaaS

A lot has been written and debated about the merits and demerits of a SaaS based engagement of an IT vendor across various industries. Specific to Mobility solutions in the finance and brokerage industry here is something that we felt obliged to put forth.

Picture this:

-There are more than 6 leading Mobile Operating systems.
- Around 2400 form factors.
- Each Mobile OS has multiple versions and newer ones are being introduced regularly.

Fragmentation is here to stay – Differentiation being the key reason.
At this point in time it would suffice to point out the obvious – the mobile market is constantly evolving at break neck speed. It is one of the fastest growing markets and mobile companies are leaving no stone unturned to differentiate themselves and garner as much share of this seemingly ceiling free market. The advent of applications has markedly changed the game in this space. Phones are no longer being bought for ‘calls’ and ‘messaging’, rather for the exciting and limitless possibilities that applications provide to a user at the palm of his / her hand, on the go.

Having said this, now let’s explore what companies may be thinking.

It is indeed in this kind of a dynamic and exciting market place, the true benefits of a SaaS model surfaces to the fore. Today, to develop a comprehensive mobile trading or a mobile banking application, companies are considering shelling out anywhere between a $ 100K to Half a Million! This, just to create on one device. Presuming that the world economy was back on its feet and booming , companies are able to afford this kind of a spend, almost sure of recovering the costs in no time. Still does it make any sense at all? They then spend additional amounts for upgrades, maintenance, newer devices etc. Why?

To borrow from a cliché – Change is the only thing permanent – hence SaaS. Companies operating on this model have managed to disrupt existing business practices and emerged as forward thinking partners of choice.

With these known facts it is not surprising to witness more companies opening up to the idea of engaging an IT partner that operates on a SaaS model.
Consider the following benefits:

- Zero capital Expenditure.

- Pay only for what you use.

- The very DNA of the model allows for it to be the fastest time to market.

- Most agile in adapting to changes.

- With the inclusion of a Cloud Compute package, negligible server infrastructure cost.

- No more mundane ‘change management’ strategies or black-out periods.

- Adapt on the move, running.

- Greater involvement, engagement and commitment of the vendor / partner.

- Least amount of interference with company’s IT functioning. Core competency gains greater mind-space.

- Scale up and down on demand – based on traffic and content

- Save cost on running minimum number of servers during non-traffic hours.

Being improperly forward or bold is what the dictionary describes as being Sassy. Maybe it’s time.