The Top 10 Reasons to Move to SaaS in 2007 (part 1)

According to Nick Carr of "IT doesn't matter" infamy, McKinsey is set to release a study suggesting widespread and robust adoption of SaaS at Global 2000 companies.

"Large companies appear to be jumping en masse onto the software-as-a-service bandwagon, according to a new survey of CIOs by management consultants McKinsey & Company. The survey found that 61% of North American companies with sales over $1 billion plan to adopt one or more SaaS applications over the next year, a dramatic increase from the 38% who were planning to install SaaS apps in 2005."

The most popular SaaS business applications, according to the McKinsey study, are for human-resource management, billing and order entry, and sales management.

What are the top 10 reasons for you to adopt SaaS?

#1 Lower up-front costs – there is no need for you to purchase software or hardware; your infrastructure expenses are not only included in the subscription fee under the SaaS model, but they are also substantially lower due to the significant economies of scale when sharing code base, hardware, and software among customers.

#2 Faster implementation – SaaS solutions eliminate the need to build a stand-alone installation with software and hardware components for each customer. You can deploy most SaaS solutions in a matter of weeks or a couple of months.

#3 Lower total ownership costs – The subscription fee under the SaaS model includes all your expenses related to on-going maintenance, security, upgrades, virus protection, trouble-shooting, and issue resolution. There are no hidden costs and the affordable monthly fee can fit into any operating budget.

#4 Seamless upgrades – You receive seamless upgrades without the need to install, test, and roll out new functionality on an ongoing basis. Upgrades are provided without interruption of your daily workflow and at no additional cost. Since the code base is shared, there are no issues or risks related to reconfiguring a custom installation every time an upgrade becomes available.

#5 World-class security – SaaS solutions allow multiple clients (tenants) to use the same piece of software and hardware, and thus share their cost while enjoying top security and performance. The costs of running a data center with carrier-class security, availability and disaster recovery, are spread among multiple customers. Very few enterprises can actually afford a data center with security of that class.

(List to be continued in the January issue.)

As the leading on-demand sales compensation management solution, Compel® fully leverages the SaaS model. To learn more about Compel and the benefits of SaaS, follow the links below.