Saturday, April 26, 2008

"Delivery over the Internet"

One of the key concepts of SaaS is that the application is "delivered over the internet". 

This seems simple enough, however there are some significant talking points hidden in that sentence. This is not boxed software that is purchased at some retail outlet, in fact this means the only way to purchase this software at all is through whatever sales channel the SaaS organization has set up. In most instances this means directly from the organization that has produced the software. 

Another challenge is licensing and pricing. Unlike boxed software that can be controlled with required serial numbers it is not possible to limit. This poses challenges to an organization to secure their IP. There is also additional risk assumed by the organization in terms of having confidential information for users.

The primary means of limiting use/controlling access to features, etc is through the application of roles and privileges. This requires users to log into the application which now necessitates the need for the application to store that information in some way. This also means that it is possible for the application to track usage and behavior patterns which boxed software companies would normally not have access to.  What additional legal / moral / ethical obligations does that entail? 

Another factor around delivery over the internet and that is around performance. As a company cannot be responsible for performance of any of the vat network that makes up the total access to the application it is impossible for an organization to truly control any performance related issues and end user may have.

The final thought is around security. Any application that is delivered via the internet must contend with all the security issues that entails.

SaaS Defined

I am the SaaS Master. This is tongue in cheek of course, however there is an awful lot of discussion lately around the notion that SaaS is taking over the world. I am endeavoring to define what exactly SaaS means. This seems like a reasonable starting point.

This definition is from wikipedia:

"Software as a service (SaaS) is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a web-native software application and hosts and operates (either independently or through a a third-party) the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Customers do not pay for owning the software itself but rather for using it. They use it through an API accessible over the Web and often written using Web Service or REST. The term SaaS has become the industry preferred term, generally replacing the earlier terms Application Service Provider (ASP) and On-Demand."

This sounds simple enough, although I have some doubts around the issue of Web Service / REST as requisite to be considered SaaS but I will leave these doubts aside for the moment. I don't have any doubt that to be a successful SaaS organization this would be required, but to make this part of the definition seems to be limiting.

The key concepts here are the delivery over the internet, developed and hosted by a vendor, possibly some ability for the application to be extended in some manner using APIs and the notion of a fee to access the application as opposed to a one time cost to own a copy.

What I think it interesting is that the ASP term is being used in a manner that indicates it is interchangeable with SaaS. I am not so convinced that is true.

Over the next few posts I want to explore how each of those key concepts actually work as well as the differences between SaaS and an ASP organization.