In this week’s best in SaaS, we look at the essence of the “as a service” industry, the most efficient pricing strategies for XaaS products, and even discussing two key security risks involving SaaS.
Software Is a Service
In the world of enterprise IT and high-end business computing, the idea of delivering software as a service is relatively old news. In fact, the acronym SaaS (Software as a Service) is now so commonplace there that you rarely, if ever, see it spelled out anymore. Plus, in that world, everyone is rushing to deliver everything as a service—in fact, the new buzzword is “XaaS,” where “x” is like an algebraic variable that can seemingly represent anything.
The likelihood that we will all continue to add to both the quantity and variety of our smart connected computing device collections is extremely high, so the value of these new software services cannot be overstated. By giving us the tools we need across the devices we use, they really can make the process of using all our different devices much easier.
SaaS: Key Pricing Considerations
SaaS solutions are attractive to customers because they substantially reduce the upfront investment and risk associated with licensing and implementing on-premises software and avoid the ongoing costs of maintaining the infrastructure and implementing upgrades for the licensed software. In a SaaS solution, those costs and risks are transferred to the supplier.
SaaS combines elements of software licensing, outsourcing and hosting into an integrated solution. The pricing models for SaaS solutions have certain distinct characteristics that are driven by the economics of those solutions and differentiate SaaS pricing from pricing models for software licensing, outsourcing and hosting services.
This article by Jeffrey Hutchings, is the first of two postings that addresses some of the key considerations relating to SaaS pricing. This posting discusses the underlying supplier-side economics of SaaS services and their implications for how SaaS services are priced. The second posting will identify some key considerations in negotiating pricing for SaaS services that can help lower subscription costs.
Is SaaS Safe? 5 tips for Keeping Data Secure In The Cloud
SaaS Technology brings a new age of collaboration but also a host of problem regarding technology, this cloud based infrastructure is creating some kind of a race in which cloud services are continually working to remain prepared to deal with this threats. Read all about it and even give great tips on how to deal with it.
6 Security Questions to Ask Software as a Service Vendors
The most intrigue security breaches you read about in the newspapers are actually performed by Social hacking. This type of hacking is mostly based on tricking users rather than using technology and software to obtain credentials. A good example is the infamous email announcing your prize in some random lottery or a person claiming to know you. All it takes is one person from within the organization to take the bait and provide certain confidential details, and the whole company is compromised.
This article by Justin Knowles, touches on the legal security implications of SaaS under the threat of social hacking and provides some must ask questions when interacting with any cloud service provider.
3 SaaS Applications to Try in 2015
Top SaaS applications are game-changers that have taken the industry by storm and moved it to the next level by leveraging technology to enhance problem solving, and promote business growth and innovation. Now that programs that were initially installed on premise are today offered online, businesses can save a lot of money and resources on infrastructure and software maintenance. This is a list I have made of my favorite 2015 SaaS platforms.