SearchCIO.com asked it’s readers their views on whether SaaS s a pssing fad, or if it’s here to stay. They also ask whether SaaS is yet another ASP and will go the same, unsuccesful, way. Some good responses, including one from our very own Paul Quickenden who said;
My personal view is that SaaS will survive the hype cycle. I think this for several reasons:
1. The ASP value proposition was much more limited than SaaS. People are buying SaaS for the value it adds. ASP was always an outsourcing deal designed to cut costs.
2. The decisions on buying SaaS are in the business mostly, meaning people buy SaaS because they use it; most other software purchases are different — people use software because they’ve bought it.
3. The flexibility of the subscription model allows a much more flexible adoption approach.
4. Finally, ASPs were undifferentiated; SaaS providers actually have different propositions, fulfilling different needs.
Couldn’t agree more PQ – Vive la difference!
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 
[...] to Ben at Diversity. His colleague, Paul made comment on that article which contained the flickr of SaaS resistance. It [...]
i like it…..saw mint.com whilst i was over here and like what they are doing.
much of it is a question of trust i think in the platform itself and i think P2P will really enable that.
SaaS is here to stay and I predict that 80% of business management apps will be SaaS in 10 years. I have to admid though that NZ still has a way to go before the infrastructure is up to scratch. This is why http://www.proworkflow.com uses US based server facilities… For now….