The Web Design Bureau of Mauritius. Bringing web design back home since 2008.

Saas: your new business model?

Web Design Mauritius | 09/12/2008 | 2 comments

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What are Saas?

Saas means Software As A Service. It might seem obscure and you but you might also be using saas equivalents without noticing it. The other question is also, why Saas on a web design site? Simply because it might trigger ideas and change your way of seeing the services or solutions you are building for each client. As far as I know, Saas solutions are not actually offered by Mauritian companies.

Saas concept.

The idea behind Saas is simple. It is a full blown application that is hosted on a remote server and which is accessed through the Internet meaning that the user has access to the service only and is not hindered by the issues of upgrades, server versioning, OS compatibility or all the minor glitches that might crop up when dealing with a desktop software.

Saas example.

A simple real life example of Saas is “free” web based email offered on the Internet such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or Microsoft Hotmail/Live. Each system follows a same scheme, the application is developed, maintained, managed and hosted by the vendor and the user subscribes to the service via the Internet. The software is thus maintained by the vendor and the service it offers is the only thing the user has access to.

On a much much simpler basis, an extranet can be considered as a Saas. Thus Saas can be used either by end users such as free web based email users, facebook users or blog platform (blogger or wordpress for example) users in the same way as companies can do it. For example, Campaign Monitor is an email marketing service built on the Saas concept.

How does it work and the advantages?

Contrary to traditional softwares, the Saas work on a subscription basis (free or paid, free being supported by advertising) compared to the one-time fee offered. The software is not the property of the user and s/he does bit have to download and install a software. This results in:

Lower costs for the user.
Smaller storage requirements.
Fewer personnel to handle and maintain.

The vendor also gains from this as it can rely on a continous stream of income which might be more than traditional licensing. Piracy and unlicensed use of the software are also reduced and, in some cases, cleared resulting in the reduction in losses associated to these.

Interested?

Saas is getting important and more companies are adhering to it. It seems to be the future of web based services and softwares. Below are 3 articles that might help you see how Saas works in real life and what are the pros and cons of such solutions.