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Software vendors' conversion to SaaS "impossible"
4 comments- TAGS:Gary Steele, Proofpoint, SaaS business model
- IT TOPICS:Management, SaaS & Cloud Computing, Security
A few well-established software security vendors, such as Trend Micro and Symantec, have taken baby steps through acquisitions to offer users software as a service alternatives to their existing products. Gary Steele, CEO of Proofpoint Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., thinks he knows why software security vendors have been slow to get on the SaaS bandwagon.
"Their existing business models don't work in a SaaS model," he says.
He says his company tries to steer all of its users of Proofpoint's range of security services and products to their SaaS offerings, but he understands that not every chief information security officer is willing to give up control of having systems on-premises, and demand products be shipped to them accordingly.
However, Proofpoint's on-premises products are also bought on the same subscription basis as its SaaS tools, so Steele's business model is the same.
"Software as a service and its subscription model is almost a religion with us," he says.
But if you're at a software security company that depends on big license dollars up front and see business slipping away to SaaS competitors, making the shift to SaaS to stay in the game is unlikely.
"Converting to a SaaS model is hard, almost impossible," Steele claims.
Steele's job, then, is to convince customers that his SaaS services are more secure than users can handle it on their own. His on-premises product competitors need to push doubts about this idea along with bells and whistles of their wares. However, with the economic advantages of SaaS in these tough times FUD and features may not be enough.
One proof point of Proofpoint's edge is that even today its revenues continue to grow and, as Steele says, "We're hiring in every department."
The wind continues to blow in SaaS's sails.
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