Home topics technology Tech Tech Advertorial: SaaS checklist for your business Mark Beaumont November 13, 2008 Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model of software/applications where a company has external access to a software application rather than having the application residing on its own servers. You have probably seen or heard of some of the larger SaaS providers. Salesforce.com is a good example. SaaS is becoming increasingly mainstream, and with the wide array of products available – everything from CRM and sales tools, to HR applications, accounting software, conferencing and training tools – management needs to assess if they too should be adopting the SaaS model for their business. Here are some things you organisation should consider about SaaS: Consider the total cost of ownership of legacy applications When considering the cost of legacy software applications to your organisation, don’t just look at the cost of the software licenses. Audit the total cost of ownership per person – including training, maintenance, IT infrastructure outlays, the cost of outages. AMR Research* has found that maintenance and management costs can be up to 10 times the original license fees. SaaS may therefore be able to help your company’s bottom line. Ensure your software stays up-to-date The SaaS model provides you with the latest features and benefits, without the cost associated with research and development, and hardware and software upgrades. And unlike legacy software, it does this without the need to for your organisation to plan and execute disruptive system upgrades. Perform