Acceptance of On-Demand Solutions: SaaS offers significant benefits for customers. Smaller businesses can take advantage of more reliable software solutions with the added benefit of predictable IT costs. SaaS gives businesses the ability to "rent" software on a monthly basis paying only for what they need as long as they need it. Businesses that use SaaS typically do not need to install the software on their servers; they simply use the Internet to access the software eliminating all the headaches associated with buying, maintaining and upgrading in house software and hardware.
SaaS applications are hosted in tier 1 data centers providing better reliability, security, and disaster recovery - all for less money than companies would need to spend to implement and run on-premise software and hardware. The core competency of most businesses is not managing hardware and software, nor should it be.
Several important changes to the way people work, coupled with better access to the Internet have made SaaS rapid acceptance possible.
- Wide Area Network's bandwidth has grown drastically along with improvements in remote access techniques.
- Everyone has a computer: Most information workers have access to a computer and are familiar with conventions from mouse usage to web interfaces.
- Computing itself is a commodity: Today, people know it's the business processes and the data itself-customer records, workflows, and pricing information-that matters. Computing and application licenses are cost centers, and as such, they're suitable for cost reduction and outsourcing.
- Applications are standardized: People spend most of their time using standardized applications that are well suited for SaaS.
- Web systems are reliable: Improved web development technologies can handle much more complex systems.
Financial Benefits for Customers
Saving money and reducing headaches are the big reasons businesses are interested in SaaS applications. Most small businesses have a couple people at best that have sufficient IT skills. Businesses want to focus their resources on increasing revenue rather than performing IT tasks. The following data points highlight the benefits of SaaS from a cost and simplification perspective.
- Saves money: A recent study found the total cost of operating an on demand software package is 50% less than installing, managing, and upgrading software on your in house computers.
- Quick implementation: SaaS applications are ready for configuration in as little as a few minutes. No need to spend days or weeks installing servers, operating systems, and software applications.
- Scalability: Pay only for what you use. When you hire people, simply select the services they need and you're done. When people leave, delete the services they used and you no longer pay for them.
- Data Protection: Over 2/3 of small businesses indicate data loss (stolen laptops, hard drive failure, etc.) would have a significant impact on their business - yet almost 50% of small businesses do not backup their data on a regular basis, most likely due to cost and discipline. Data backup is built into SaaS applications virtually eliminating risk of data loss.
SaaS Market Opportunity
Virtually every analyst is predicting SaaS will gain significant market share when compared to sales of on-premise software. The benefits are compelling for end customers as described above. The benefits are equally compelling for the software development companies resulting in a higher percentage of future applications being developed as a SaaS model rather than on-premise. Significantly lower development costs, tighter relationships with customers, and predictable revenue streams with low churn - which is a big hit on Wall Street.
The following describes the SaaS projections from the key analysts.
- Industry analyst firm Gartner predicts that by 2011, software revenue from SaaS will reach $11.5 billion. From 2007-11 the growth rate of SaaS will double that of enterprise software as a whole
- AMR Research shows that 78% of its survey respondents are either currently using SaaS or plan to in the near future:
- A 2008 study from Saugatuck Research indicates an 84% customer satisfaction rate for SaaS applications.
- Over 50% of VC funded software companies are building SaaS applications and the percentage is growing.
Opportunities for IT Consulting Firms
While SaaS applications are experiencing explosive growth, there are still many businesses, especially smaller businesses that are not aware of SaaS applications. Business owners are focused on running their business and don't have time to search for alternatives to on-premise solutions.
IT consulting firms traditionally generate revenue from on-site installations, break-fix services, upgrades, and in some cases managing on-premise equipment for their clients. While SaaS is not a fit for every client, there are clearly instances where a SaaS solution makes more financial sense than spending capital for an on-site solution. With today's credit crisis, more businesses are open to low up front and predictable IT costs. If you don't propose this option, your competition will.
The big question you're asking - How does my firm generate revenue? Expanding your business to offer SaaS Integration services has to be a win-win situation and must positively impact your bottom line as well as your client's. It's clear that your firm will generate billable revenue from selecting and implementing SaaS applications. Selling from a value perspective rather than hours will lead to significantly higher billing rates increasing your gross margin.
The majority of IT consulting firms only offer their clients on-premise solutions which require a significant up front capital expenditure and unknown IT maintenance costs for hardware and software. For illustrative purposes, let's assume a company wants to implement Exchange for 10 people. Based on discussions we've had with several IT consulting firms, an SBS 2008 installation is $7.5k up front with about 15% going to your bottom line and the remaining 80 - 85% going to the hardware and software vendor. The installation time frame is about 2 - 3 weeks from the time the customer agrees to order the solution until installation is complete.
Let's take a look at a Hosted Exchange offering which is fully redundant with daily backups, includes upgrades, is housed in a tier 1 data center, and managed 24x7 by certified technicians. The customer does not need to purchase servers, software, or backup devices so capital expenditure is not required. However, they do need help configuring the service. If you charge $1.5 - 2k up front to configure Outlook/Hosted Exchange, it is 70% less than the on-premise solution and they have a fully redundant around the clock managed environment. The on-going fee for Exchange is roughly $140 a month with a portion of that going to your bottom line. Let's assume your firm's revenue (excluding hardware and software costs) for the on-site solution is $1 - 1.5k, which is less than the revenue for your firm earned for the SaaS solution. Furthermore, the time required to configure SaaS the application is significantly less than an on-premise solution. As a result, your hourly rate increases dramatically and you have the added benefit of recurring revenue and an experienced staff managing the service.
The benefits for IT consulting firms to offer SaaS Integration Services include:
- Stronger customer relationships
- Increased billing rates
- Ability to interact with & influence customers at a business/application decision making level
- Predictable revenue stream not reliant on billable hours and projects
- Greater range of solution offerings to meet customer needs
- Options to significantly reduce clients' up front expenditures opening up new project opportunities
Why Partner with 19Marketplace
19Marketplace is an aggregator of on-demand business software services (a.k.a. SaaS). We offer a more convenient way to buy-and use-the name brand software services that power today's smart businesses.
We research the industry to find the best on-demand services. We never lock ourselves into one vendor. So you get the benefit of choice. And our unbiased reviews make it easier for you to make the choice that best fits your business needs.
Many IT consulting firms have shared with us that vendor management is one of the main concerns they have about partnering with SaaS application providers. They spend too much time vetting multiple on-demand providers and then on-going vendor management becomes a headache.
19Marketplace eliminates the vetting and vendor management issue. You get one single point of contact. Our support teams receive in-depth training on every service available through our aggregation platform. We also have direct hotline access to engineering-level support from each of our partners. So you can feel confident that no matter what your question or concern is - we can help you.
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