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What is a SaaS client? February 28, 2008

Posted by stephenpech in General SaaS, SaaS Application Improvement, SaaS Applications.
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Does SaaS have to be Web only? Phil Wainewright picked up on this point in his blog SaaS client reaches functional parity with client-server where he talks about RightNow’s use of a .Net based managed client.  So where do Java, AIR/FLEX, Silverlight and .Net sit in the SaaS model?

I agree with Phil in that SaaS is more than just web technologies.  The main push of SaaS is “as a service” – so applications that provide a maintained and managed client side interface are definitely SaaS.

AIR/FLEX, Silverlight, Java and other client side technologies are already part, or are becoming part of the accepted web eco-system just like JavaScript and server side page scripting was added to HTML in the early days.

My definition of SaaS is a service that provides a better service to the customer through

  • Web or network-based access
  • a Multi-tenant architecture to permit multiple clients to access the same system
  • Payment flexibility and advantages over the traditional software model
  • External and centrally controlled hosting and management by the service provider

Ideally standard, cross-platform technologies like the web are the preferred method of delivery.  By using .Net, RightNow’s customers are restricted to using their service on only the Windows platform, however that is 80%+ of all devices and if it means a better customer experience and a happier customer then this is definitely a version of the SaaS model.

It is a SaaS variation but is it a good model in the long term?  The future of application access is mobile devices like the mobile phone, Blackberry, Palm, iPhone, Andriod, and Windows Mobile.  Note that Windows is only one of these access points and definitely a minority.  By tying their SaaS offering to windows technology like .Net, RightNow are investing in a platform that provides a good customer experience today, but that is likley to provide a limited one tomorrow.

Force.com goes with Air/Flex February 27, 2008

Posted by stephenpech in SaaS Application Improvement, SaaS Applications, SaaS in Asia Pacific.
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Yesterday Salesforce.com’s SaaS platform play, Force.com, announced it was going to support applications made with Adobe’s FLEX and AIR technologies on their platform.

This is a very good move by Salesforce.  It means they are allowing AIR/FLEX to be the presentation layer and also taking advantage of the offline functionality that AIR/FLEX will bring.  It means that they are leveraging the impact and drive that Adobe has brought to the web already with flash, shockwave et al., along with the extra it will be bringing to the web application space with AIR and FLEX.  It also means that strategically they are really opening themselves up to other technologies other than their own processes and user interface components which, although useful were never going to be able to keep up with the pace of change in the wider SaaS / web application community.This hook-up also means that the offline functionality that AIR and FLEX are developing immediately steps salesforce.com into the forefront of the drive to take SaaS apps offline.  The ability for applications to work effectively in both a connected and an unconnected mode is essential to effectively supporting business processes and our increasingly mobile work habits.

It will also allow the applications developed to be listed on their AppExchange, which on top of the technology based criteria for choosing the force.com platform, also provides a marketing and sales incentive by providing a built in route to the customer and marketing avenue. 

Force.com’s saleforce.com based customer interface layer was always going to be the Achilles heel of their platform.  It works well for sales management and database driven applications but not well enough for the wider array of web applications.  Adding AIR and FLEX is like selling a car with the option to snap the body off of the chassis and exchange it for one with a different look, feel and interior.

This really gives Force.com the opportunity to become the defacto standard web platform that Salesforce.com wants it to be.

Interestingly today also brought a big AIR/FLEX update in my neck of the woods, the Asia Pacific.  Australia’s biggest bank, the CBA, has chosen AIR/FLEX for the customer facing component of it’s home loans (Mortgage) processing system.  This will mean that the same user interface is available when offline or online and that mortgage data captured offline will be synchronised when the computer is next online.  A great example of what this technology can be used for.

SaaS Office Productivity – Buzzword February 27, 2008

Posted by stephenpech in General SaaS, SaaS Application Improvement.
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SaaS in the office is the next big hurdle for the Software as a Service model.  Progress is being made, however to convert users of the application we use the most everyday, the offline and collaboration questions need to be solved well.

I am using buzzword at this moment to write this article and I am able to do everything I need to do simply and easily. It does not have all the features you may possibly need but 99% of my requirements are a couple of clicks away, many less clicks away than in MS Word. Just as important as that is that I WANT to use it, it’s attractive, inviting and COOL.

buzzword (http://www.buzzword.com/) is built on Adobe’s offline platform and uses  AIR and FLEX, and built so well that Adobe recently purchased the company that built it.  It manages both online and offline access pretty well by allowing full use of application when offline, auto-saving constantly when online, and instantaneously picking up when it is no longer connected. It didn’t  however allow me to ‘save’ my document while I was offline ready for a synchronization when I next connected.

buzzword demonstrates many of the facets that I believe the next wave of applications should as well as some of the power of the offline web concept touted by organisations like Firefox, Adobe, and Google recently.  The offline web needs to be bulletproof for SaaS to hit it’s (enormous) potential – offerings like buzzword are encouraging me to think that the offline web will be here to help that sooner rather than later.

There are many other shining example of quality SaaS offerings in this area, Zoho, Thinkfree, and Google Apps are some that I have personally used, but the one example that has impressed me the most has to be buzzword.

There has been a lot of progress made towards SaaS taking over in the office productivity area.  The next importantly steps are full offline functionality and unlocking the collaboration potential that a SaaS model provides.  None of the products I have used do this effectively enough to make the Software as a Service model impossible to pass up, however we’re quickly getting close, and quickly.

* I also post versions of relevant AsiaPacific articles from this this blog on the SaaS Asia Pacific Community site.

What is this Blog about? January 13, 2008

Posted by stephenpech in Entrepreneurial Experiences, Personal, SaaS Application Improvement, SaaS Best Practices, SaaS Channels, SaaS Industry.
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I have started this Blog to note the ideas, thoughts, experiences, advice, and drives that are created as part of my entrepreneurial and business life. I have a passion for making things better and that is brought to the fore in my positions as a founder and director of NexGen, and founder and moderator of the new SaaS-Asia Pacific community website, a company who’s vision is to improve business life through Software as a Service – a better way of delivering applications to improve support business processes.

You can expect to see posts about my entrepreneurial experiences, prophesies about the SaaS industry, my ideas on better SaaS applications, and better ways of managing and creating SaaS sales channels.

 Also see about Stephen Pech