FEATURE: SAAS
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Michael Cade, Senior Global
Technologist, Veeam
protection. I think there will be a lot more
SaaS work that will appear over the next
few years and if anyone is looking at
offering that service, it should be around
a Saas or PaaS type of solution.
KR: I think the core right now is around
productivity. It’s emails and file sharing
and, from our customers’ perspective, the
productivity apps.
How do you see the future in
one or two years?
KR: You will see a continuation of what
has begun here, like the core productivity
apps. When you think of SaaS, you think
of subscription. We’ve seen a significant
transition to subscription. If you look
at Veeam, even though we’re a private
company, we share our top financial
numbers in terms of bookings because
that was how you used to measure
professional software companies.
Even though we don’t run a SaaS, we
know that the subscription is now a very
big part of our business and, instead of
talking about bookings, we’re talking
about annual recurring revenue and I
think that will shift.
There are still businesses that run
on budgets that go up and down on
a yearly basis and don’t like to buy
professionally, but I think SaaS has
driven that whole buying process.
Companies now want things consumed
as an ‘as-a-Service’ model. n
48
INTELLIGENTCIO
nterprises require solutions that
meet their unique requirements.
Irrespective of whether it is enterprise
application software (EAS) or software-
as-a-service (SaaS), Ian McAlister, General
Manager at CRS Technologies, says that an
enterprise-focused approach is fundamental
to business success in the digital world.
Contrary to software for small to medium
businesses, EAS is used to satisfy the needs
of an organisation rather than individual
users. This can include private or public sector
entities. Services provided by enterprise
software are typically business-oriented tools,
such as online shopping and online payment
processing, interactive product catalogues,
automated billing systems, security, business
process management, and enterprise
content management.
“As enterprises have similar departments
and systems in common, enterprise software
is often available as a suite of configurable
programmes,” said McAlister. “It is in this
configurability where organisations can
unlock the true potential of the software.
Off-the-shelf solutions might work well for
smaller companies, but large entities require
sophisticated tools capable of managing
their growth demands.”
SaaS is a popular option for users needing
to take care of a very specific purpose. In
this software model, users typically rent
the software and never own it. SaaS is
often hosted in the cloud, requiring users
to be connected to the Internet to use the
software and access the data.
“While SaaS can provide quick universal
access to software that offers specific
actions, traditionally its drawbacks include
lack of configuration,” added McAllister. “This
means it cannot be specific enough for large-
scale, enterprise-wide implementations. Yes,
this approach is convenient and quick to
implement, but the long-term ramifications
far outweigh any immediate gains.”
In terms of configuration, EAS is typically
owned outright, giving users considerably
more parameterisation ability. Enterprises
often have in-house developers and
programmers configure the software
according to predetermined parameters to
make it match enterprise needs.
“Given this flexibility, developers can more
easily adapt the solutions to any problems
that may incur during implementation or
when the needs of the organisation change,”
said McAllister. “It gives decision-makers the
freedom to tweak as their strategy evolves,
while the scalability inherent to EAS makes it
a perfect fit.”
EAS is generally hosted on physical servers and
the software relies on a computer network
to connect to its many users. Some parts
of the software may also rely on Intranet
and occasionally Internet connections.
Because enterprise software installs directly
on organisational servers, the connection is
generally more private and secure.
Recent years have seen SaaS offerings
designed for the scalability and
customisation required in enterprises. The
arrival of multinational data centres in South
Africa has given further impetus to a richer
SaaS experience for enterprises.
“Yet, many decision-makers want to
keep their mission-critical information
and solutions on their own servers, given
the privacy and security concerns of
transferring information to the cloud,”
explained McAlister. “Additionally, with the
complexities of the continually changing
regulatory environment to consider, they feel
more comfortable being in control of where
their data is stored and how it is managed.
Consequently, enterprises must carefully
evaluate their software requirements and
expectations. Chances are, the smaller
business-focused offerings will simply not be
up to the task.” n
Understanding what
makes software
enterprise-ready
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