SaaS is growing in small to medium businesses as companies realize the savings in the cloud.
SaaS is Growing
There is an ongoing trend in the office workspace. This trend removes some the chains that bind users to desktop applications on their workstations. User interfaces and overall functionality of web-based applications continue to develop. The reliability of applications that run in the cloud continues to improve. Software as a Service (SaaS) applications have entered the realm of being a viable option for businesses. It has been said that 80% of Microsoft Word users only leverage 20% of the application. These users do not require a full-blown desktop application to manage their word processing needs. A less costly, yet compatible solution could better meet their requirements without paying for parts of a product that they do not require. This is more common for small to medium businesses for whom IT departments are a significant investment. Larger enterprises are more reluctant to adopt hosted solutions as they probably already maintain the infrastructure to manage their own needs. The cost savings per user for a larger company moving to SaaS for certain applications would be much smaller.
Microsoft and Google Lead the Way
Google Docs has emerged as an easy to use, ubiquitous alternative to the equivalent desktop applications. Microsoft has countered with Office Live (and in the near future, Live Mesh) which represents their online office productivity suite. So far, both Google (Docs and Live Office provide interfaces for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation slide decks. For Microsoft, this means Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. For Google, this means the ability to import Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Workers who are inclined to take their work home with them can now leave it in the cloud. No more floppies, USB Flash drives, burned CDs or emailing large files to and from the work address. Wherever they are when they log into Google Docs or Office Live, their work if they chose to store it on these host servers, can be available to them. They can collaborate on documents simply by sharing the URL. They can even restrict access to read-only for certain viewers.
Often workers must share and collaborate with peers, partners, or clients that do not share the same physical office. Collaborative workspaces online are both common and popular. The trend toward SaaS will continue, at least for small and medium businesses.