SaaS: No recession here either

SaaS is a revenue booster

Cyn.in ( http://cyn.in )is a group collaboration software created by Cynapse. We recently introduced Small package at just $99/month with shared infrastructure and unlimited users.
We have seen a steep increase in demand for our SaaS edition since fears of the economic slowdown have been mounting.

Second and most important factor for the increased demand for cyn.in saas edition is that we do not charge "Per User". Plan details are here:

http://cyn.in/get-cynin/get-cynin-on-demand

At this time, for us, Saas is a revenue booster.

The Great Sorting Out

even amongst saas enterprise 2.0 companies there shall be a sorting out. companies which are not cash flow positive and revenue makers will have a problem getting hold of free venture capital, while on the other hand, companies which have been around for a while like HyperOffice , and are revenue makers, are more likely to stay afloat.

SAAS Advantage

We provide hosted CRM services, we have seen a big shift in hosted crm. Our customers cite the main advantage is low upfront costs and rapid deployment. User adoption tends to be much higher as well. There are cost advantages over on-premise with regards to software, hardware upgrades, minimum IT resource requirements and much more.

Hosted CRM solutions

SaaS

Just a quick reply to the other comments. In the CRM sector, we have found that our Hosted SaaS solution is out pacing our on premise product not do to a economic downturn, but simply do to the rapid deployment of software as a service. We have customers with operations around the world who have determined that deploying SaaS is faster and easier then traditional desktop software, but not necessarily less expensive in the long run.

Larry Caretsky
CEO
Commence Corporation

SaaS for Supply Chain Applications

This is a good dicussion on SaaS. MCA Solutions (www.mcasolutions.com) has done on-premise implementations of service supply chain planning software for large customers such as Cisco, Boeing, Briggs & Stratton, etc, and offered a hosted solution for smaller companies so that they could receive the benefits that larger companies do with less IT effort and without large up front costs. Despite several articles I have seen that SaaS is not a fit for more complex integrated solution such as supply chain, this model has been of great interest, and we have had several very successful implementations with ROI's in less than two months. Interestingly, many of the larger companies are also interested in the offering to better manage constrained IT resources and so that the software is an operating rather than a capital expense. As Mark notes, the ability to drive faster returns makes this kind of offering counter cyclical in that it can become more compelling during difficult economic times like these.

The only issue with SaaS is

The only issue with SaaS is not whether it will take off in 2008, but will your company choose the right provider. After 10 months of research, I went with Phase2int.com. I'm currently in my 3rd week of service and 90% of my employees have embraced the technology. My advice, no matter who you choose as a SaaS provider, make sure they offer a high level of personal service.

Recession Is One Reason On-Demand Services Will Soar

Your commentary, and many others like it recently, reinforces the prediction I made in December that the on-demand services market, including managed services and software-as-a-service (SaaS), will soar in 2008. (http://thinkitservices.blogspot.com/2007/12/top-ten-reasons-why-on-demand-services.html)

SaaS and Recession

Wall street pundits and economists are now predicting a recession in 2008. Tech companies like IBM have expressed positive outlooks despite the predictions.

Software companies are probably concerned that a recession may affect revenues. SaaS companies have a distinct advantage now because their licensing model reduces the up front capital expenses for the buyer. The buyer also has reduced expenses of installing the application, operating the data center, and training staff. All these, I'm sure are welcome in difficult economic times.

Additionally, Buyers only need to commit to defined monthly charges and have the option of pulling out of the contract at the end of the term.

SaaS Percentages Increasing

At Metafuse, we have seen our SaaS offering of Project Insight increase every year since 2002. We have always offered an on premise or installed edition as well as a hosted or SaaS solution. When we began in 2002, our installed customer base was 60% of our total base. Now, at the end of 2007, our hosted customer base is 60%. So, we have seen the numbers basically ‘flip-flop.’

We are just starting to hear the same conversations as LiveOffice mentioned above, where decision makers are more reluctant to present capital expenditures than service expenses (like hosting fees). Regardless of the economic situation, however, we see instances where politics plays more of a role than economics. For instance, we work with many Fortune 1000 customers whose IT departments were simply too overloaded to set up a new server. As hosted environments become more trusted, we will see these solutions continue to grow.