Tighter times push more companies to leaner enterprise application solutions:
Revenues from software as a service (SaaS) should reach $8 billion in 2009, up 21.9 percent from last year, according to analysis and consulting firm Gartner.
“The adoption of SaaS continues to grow and evolve within the enterprise application markets as tighter capital budgets in the current economic environment demand leaner alternatives, popularity increases, and interest for platform as a service and cloud computing grows,” said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner.
Given our experience, however, it’s not just about organizations looking for leaner, less expensive app models. It’s also about SaaS as a platform: the model has matured, and early worries about end user SLAs and system availability have diminished. Data security and privacy remain a concern, but many companies are adeptly handling that objection. The new kid on the block is getting invited to some pretty big parties.
In our Workday practice, we talk to clients of all sizes every day about moving to Workday’s software for core HCM, FMS and payroll functions. These are hardcore enterprise application domains, folks. Four short years ago, these conversations were much more tenuous, not because of Workday, but because the model still had to conquer a few ideological bogeymen.
Internally, we use Workday. We were one of their very first customers. It’s because we eat our own dog food, so to speak, that we can have very candid conversations with clients about moving to SaaS for critical business operations. We don’t preach it because we think it can earn us a few bucks. We preach it because we believe in what Workday is doing and we use the technology to govern our own business.
Check out this chart of worldwide SaaS revenue. It’s impossible to debate the trend, which, despite economic rough sledding, is very pronounced:
How much consideration have you given SaaS as it relates to your enterprise applications?
If you want to talk about SaaS or Workday, drop us a line. We can talk to you from the perspectives of either a user or an implementer, both of which can shed a healthy amount of insight into the realities of the platform.
Related posts:
CIOs Say ERP Systems Considerably Underutilized
What Workday’s Cash Infusion Means in Today’s Markets
Workday Named #1 Best Place to Work in Bay Area
Big Hit: Workday Raises $75M in New Funding
How Economic Chaos Can Mean Opportunity for Smart, Daring Firms
Field Notes: Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri Kick-Off Workday Rising ‘08
Workday: Dave Duffield 2.0 Gaining Steam
Salesforce.com and Where SaaS Goes From Here (Eventually)
Related web content:
{ 2 trackbacks }