June 7, 2011 at 00:39Myths about SaaS, Cloud Platforms, and Cloud Computing
The term “Cloud computing” or SaaS (Soft as a Service, software as a service) appeared relatively recently, but is rapidly gaining popularity. The very idea of outsourcing computing (that is, placing them on a remote server instead of the user's computer) is not new, it has been used for a long time and no one doubts its effectiveness.
Nevertheless, many have a clear distrust of online products based on SaaS platforms and prefer popular boxed solutions. For example, my friend once hesitated for a long time what to choose - 1C or Sugar CRM.
Conservatism prevailed, and he acquired 1C. As a result, after two years, having been to Silicon Valley and seeing the opportunities of Shugar CRM, which is developing rapidly and would now suit him much better, he very regretted the short-sighted decision made in due time.
What prevents companies from taking advantage of SaaS platforms now, increasing their profits and saving money?
Of course, for a small company, the SaaS platform is primarily an opportunity to get a professional solution at a much lower price. But the low cost is not due to weak functionality, but to the SaaS business model.
The lower cost of SaaS solutions compared to boxed ones is subconsciously associated with weakness in many. Everyone is used to the fact that the more expensive the product, the better and more powerful it is, and vice versa. Meanwhile, it is large companies that can get the biggest savings using the SaaS platform.
Judge for yourself. Let's say a small print shop needs a website. If you order a website from a web studio, you will have to pay $ 400, and if you use a SaaS solution to create a website, the annual payment will be about $ 100 for a similar website. Thus, after 4 years, the print shop will spend the same money as if he ordered a website in the studio.
A completely different situation in a large company that has several dozens or even hundreds of jobs, each of which requires a boxed licensed software (for example, the same 1C or Sail). In addition to paying for the initial licenses, it is necessary to pay for constant system upgrades, employee training, and troubleshooting.
Using a SaaS platform can in this case bring huge cost savings (the payback period may already be not 4 years, but tens, if not hundreds of years) and will significantly accelerate the implementation and updating of the system as a whole.
Do not forget that when using SaaS money is not withdrawn from circulation, which means they bring additional profit. The SaaS solution is always the most up-to-date version of the software, it is maintained by third-party engineers, and users do not need a penny of additional costs.
One of the huge advantages of cloud SaaS solutions in any field is just the ease of updating and improving them. The core of the system, located on a remote server, is constantly updated by developers, and all users instantly get access to all new features.
No need to install patches and updates on your computer, wait for the release of new versions of programs - users of the SaaS platform always use the latest version of the product.
Indeed, everyone is used to it - here is the disk, there Photoshop is installed and working! You can touch the disk, look at its cover, and the program is located on the user's computer, you can find it in Explorer and verify this.
But the SaaS-solution is not clear where, there are no disks, there is nothing to touch. And no licenses, and no need to install anything on your computer.
But the site located on the server of the provider is not located on the user's computer either. And nothing, no one is afraid or worried about this.
SaaS in this case is no different from a regular site. SaaS provider owns only its solution, and all content belongs to the client and, as a rule, can be exported at any time in any convenient format.
The ability to connect multiple users to the SaaS platform is often a concern. Placing the software on your own computer creates the illusion of security, while in fact the vulnerability is just much higher in this case. After all, a hacked program may contain a trojan or backdoor, which is already on the user's computer! And he can do anything with it, up to formatting the hard drive.
At the same time, the SaaS solution is hosted on a remote secure server, and none of the users have access to the source codes, so the probability of hacking is an order of magnitude lower. Users have access only to the terminal, and they do not need to place any code on their computer.
Information protection is much weaker precisely in those companies that store it at home, because any offended or simply “mishandled” employee can simply take out all confidential data on a regular flash drive, or steal passwords (according to statistics, this is usually the case of information leakage, and not at all as a result of the actions of virtuoso movie hackers).
Nevertheless, many have a clear distrust of online products based on SaaS platforms and prefer popular boxed solutions. For example, my friend once hesitated for a long time what to choose - 1C or Sugar CRM.
Conservatism prevailed, and he acquired 1C. As a result, after two years, having been to Silicon Valley and seeing the opportunities of Shugar CRM, which is developing rapidly and would now suit him much better, he very regretted the short-sighted decision made in due time.
What prevents companies from taking advantage of SaaS platforms now, increasing their profits and saving money?
SaaS platforms are designed for small businesses, not for large companies
Of course, for a small company, the SaaS platform is primarily an opportunity to get a professional solution at a much lower price. But the low cost is not due to weak functionality, but to the SaaS business model.
The lower cost of SaaS solutions compared to boxed ones is subconsciously associated with weakness in many. Everyone is used to the fact that the more expensive the product, the better and more powerful it is, and vice versa. Meanwhile, it is large companies that can get the biggest savings using the SaaS platform.
Judge for yourself. Let's say a small print shop needs a website. If you order a website from a web studio, you will have to pay $ 400, and if you use a SaaS solution to create a website, the annual payment will be about $ 100 for a similar website. Thus, after 4 years, the print shop will spend the same money as if he ordered a website in the studio.
A completely different situation in a large company that has several dozens or even hundreds of jobs, each of which requires a boxed licensed software (for example, the same 1C or Sail). In addition to paying for the initial licenses, it is necessary to pay for constant system upgrades, employee training, and troubleshooting.
Using a SaaS platform can in this case bring huge cost savings (the payback period may already be not 4 years, but tens, if not hundreds of years) and will significantly accelerate the implementation and updating of the system as a whole.
Do not forget that when using SaaS money is not withdrawn from circulation, which means they bring additional profit. The SaaS solution is always the most up-to-date version of the software, it is maintained by third-party engineers, and users do not need a penny of additional costs.
SaaS solutions are inferior to boxed ones
One of the huge advantages of cloud SaaS solutions in any field is just the ease of updating and improving them. The core of the system, located on a remote server, is constantly updated by developers, and all users instantly get access to all new features.
No need to install patches and updates on your computer, wait for the release of new versions of programs - users of the SaaS platform always use the latest version of the product.
SaaS platform is in the middle of nowhere
Indeed, everyone is used to it - here is the disk, there Photoshop is installed and working! You can touch the disk, look at its cover, and the program is located on the user's computer, you can find it in Explorer and verify this.
But the SaaS-solution is not clear where, there are no disks, there is nothing to touch. And no licenses, and no need to install anything on your computer.
But the site located on the server of the provider is not located on the user's computer either. And nothing, no one is afraid or worried about this.
SaaS in this case is no different from a regular site. SaaS provider owns only its solution, and all content belongs to the client and, as a rule, can be exported at any time in any convenient format.
SaaS platforms are open and unsafe to use.
The ability to connect multiple users to the SaaS platform is often a concern. Placing the software on your own computer creates the illusion of security, while in fact the vulnerability is just much higher in this case. After all, a hacked program may contain a trojan or backdoor, which is already on the user's computer! And he can do anything with it, up to formatting the hard drive.
At the same time, the SaaS solution is hosted on a remote secure server, and none of the users have access to the source codes, so the probability of hacking is an order of magnitude lower. Users have access only to the terminal, and they do not need to place any code on their computer.
Information protection is much weaker precisely in those companies that store it at home, because any offended or simply “mishandled” employee can simply take out all confidential data on a regular flash drive, or steal passwords (according to statistics, this is usually the case of information leakage, and not at all as a result of the actions of virtuoso movie hackers).