Bob Cramblitt reports on Rick Chapman’s talk from Business of Software 2007. To sign up for BoS 2008, visit www.businessofsoftware.org
It’s coming, and many software companies will either ride it or drown in it. It’s the SaaS tsunami, and its success is inevitable, according to Rick Chapman’s presentation today at Business of Software 2007.
The success of SaaS is evidenced by a 21% a year growth rate. It will be a $21B market by 2009, according to Gartner. Ironically, Microsoft has supplied two key drivers for SaaS success: The failure of Microsoft Vista, and Microsoft WGA copyright protection, which, in Chapman’s words, makes Microsoft look like an "old fart company" interested only in circling the wagons around its fiefdom.
Companies buy Saas for the following reasons:
new capabilities — 59%
operating, not capital expense — 16%
other — 14%
replace client/server — 11%
For those interested in following the SaaS tsunami and other software issues, subscribe to Rick Chapman’s Softletter: http://www.softletter.com/