How to rapidly deploy application software under SaaS

Opportunities

Now , Many companies use software as a service （Software as a Service,SaaS） To quickly deploy software , It only needs less initial investment and very little IT Human resources . Use on demand mode （on-demand model） More and more application software , They are making full use of it .

Speed time to market 、 Reduce operating costs , This makes CIO They were able to keep their jobs . The management and operation of the software are transferred from the company's internal IT The Department is handed over to a provider who is familiar with software functions , This can also bring maximum benefits to the company .

SaaS Both the number of services and the type of application software are increasing day by day , But most of the new applications come from small-scale start-ups that have not been established for a long time . In the long run , Buy traditional licensed software with capital budget , Then apportion it over the years , This scheme is usually better than SaaS Alternatives are economical . Many companies are still reluctant to give up their existing investments in key applications , Or unwilling to IT The control of resources is entrusted to a third party .

however ,SaaS It is bound to grow rapidly . indeed , Licensed software will continue to dominate the market . According to the Gartner The research company claims ,SaaS The income will increase from last year 63 Billion dollars to 2011 Year of 190 Over US $100 million , At that time, it will account for% of the total software market share 25%.

McKinsey consulting recently conducted a survey of members of the association of service and support professionals , Results found , Consider a SaaS Of CIO from 2006 Year of 38% It has soared to this year's 61%. The investigation also found that , In the investigation and analysis 34 Among the application software aspects , Only including financial changes and configuration management 9 Software cannot be in 2008 Adopted... Years ago SaaS.Gartner Analysts Robert Desisto say ：“SaaS It is obviously a disruptive force , Urge almost all software manufacturers to provide some kind of service solution .” exactly , Microsoft 、Oracle and SAP And other software giants have added on-demand software to their product portfolios , Or will soon enter SaaS market .

Now many companies require software manufacturers to provide software procurement and management options , And major manufacturers think they mix and match service-based software products with licensed software products 、 The ability to enable users to migrate is the strongest . There are some SaaS Emerging companies may become the acquisition targets of traditional manufacturers , And many of these companies will eventually fail , This makes some companies reluctant to actively accept this uncertain model . however , The risk of using service-based products is getting smaller , And the decision to abandon is based on SaaS The loss of the project is generally smaller than abandoning the licensed platform .IT Consultancy, THINKstrategies The founder of Jeff Kaplan say ：“CIO We are looking for our own IT Need to outsource tasks （out task） Instead of outsourcing （outsource） Methods . Recently, this stock IT The wave of change is , Leave as many difficult problems as possible to a third party . Now ,CIO We selectively look for tasks that can be solved through software service .”

A typical example is ：2005 year , Internet security professional company SurfControl Customer relationship management at that time （CRM） The system suddenly failed . The rapid growth driven by the acquisition has scattered the company's engineering and sales operations around the world , Each department runs different versions of Goldmine Customer relationship management software .SaaS Allow the same software to be used everywhere in the enterprise , therefore SurfControl The person in charge of was Salesforce.com Provided on demand CRM The solution attracts . More Than This , They also employ Salesforce Vice president of system architecture Max Rayner As a SurfControl Executive vice president of products and services , Let him be responsible for the difficult reconstruction IT Operations .

Rayner say ：“ There was no system control . For each version of the software , Business processes vary greatly from country to country . This is a big burden for the company . Just trying to get the predicted result is like the meeting of the cardinal college in Rome to elect a new pope , A few weeks later, the results .”

last year 12 month ,SurfControl Implemented this program ： For the company in Europe 、 The United States and Asia Pacific 300 Employees deploy in stages Salesforce CRM.2007 year 2 month , The system has been put into full use throughout the company . In the first quarter after use ,SurfControl Sales increased 10%, And reduce the number of appointed representatives .Rayner say , The company also reduced the number of IT Personnel needs . Before ,IT People spend months trying to coordinate different Goldmine platform .

SurfControl It was later used Salesforce For sale 、 marketing 、 Functions such as technical support and internal task allocation . Staff meetings are now fruitful , All departments use the standard platform , It's easier to distribute upgraded software , Use “ modernization ” Of CRM The platform improves the recruitment of sales personnel . He said ：“ In the past, whenever we wanted to change business processes , Or introduce a new business process , It always takes several months to coordinate different places . Now after the marketing activities get sales leads , We can get useful data directly . And in the past , The corresponding documents need to be disassembled , Load into a specific program ; Two months later, the clue failed , We just saw the information .”

inquiry CEO： Do we know about the communication between the regional departments and task oriented departments within the company ？ Ask the salesperson ： Your understanding of salesperson automation software and CRM Are you satisfied with the availability and scope of application of the software ？

Strategy chapter

A compromise needs to be made between rapid deployment and the long-term cost of software procurement . If inside the company IT Personnel resources are very scarce ,SaaS Maybe it can provide an opportunity .

Business opportunities may be fleeting 、 Change is uncertain . Flexible response to changes and fluctuations in market demand is related to the quarter 、 Fiscal year results , Even the fate of the company . On premises software （on-premise software） It may take six months to a year to deploy , and SaaS The project can start in a few days , It can be fully deployed in a few weeks . If business opportunities flash away ,SaaS So that the company can use very little investment , Can achieve certain success . If it turns out that the project cannot continue , To abandon on the basis of SaaS It may be easier to terminate projects based on on premise licensed software 、 Save money .

Grocery retailers C&S Wholesale With the acquisition of companies as a development strategy , At that time, there was a data center site selection project ready to start , And launched a number of projects within the company to improve sales and productivity . Companies need a comprehensive approach to quickly manage these projects .

C&S Is an annual income of more than 200 A billion dollar private company , It was considering using an on premises portfolio management package , But then it turned out , It takes at least two years and 180 Days deployment cycle . The retailer later chose an on-demand service provider eProject Portfolio management software package .C&S The company's IT executive director Madeleine Kerr say , The application software was put into use within six weeks , And immediately effective , Improved efficiency .Kerr say ：“ The deployment schedule is critical . In just a few short years, we found projects that are overstocked to the bottom but need to be paid attention to 、 The importance of the project is not as important as we thought , It is also found that a lot of time and energy are wasted on repeated Planning .”

Kerr Express , Getting this valuable information immediately makes C&S Saved not to use eProject Software does not necessarily fail 、 But there are several projects that will certainly not be paid attention to and will not be a great success . In addition, she estimated , If these functions are implemented internally , The cost is as high as SaaS Twice the solution .

Distributors of promotional products Gemline I decided to use SaaS To manage the company's headquarters in Lawrence, Massachusetts 、 All assets of the production base and mobile salesperson in southern China , Cost is also a factor .IT executive director Ben Messar say ：“ Our company has developed very rapidly in the past few years , But like any medium-sized company , We also don't have sufficient resources . There are several best products in the market , But the price is not cheap , I also have no staff to understand and use this product .”

Gemline So it was installed in stages Everdream Asset management software for , Start with asset tracking , In order to be familiar with the platform ; Then the application scope was extended to software distribution 、 Patch and anti-virus management and online backup .

Once the company records its technical resources in all places , You can deploy the enterprise resource module .Messar It is estimated that , adopt SaaS Provided Everdream The cost of software is less than that of Symantec subsidiary Altiris Half of the on premises solutions provided , He estimated the cost of the latter as high as 5 Thousands of dollars , Also pay the administrator to manage the software installation .

And Gemline equally ,Gevity Of this listed company IT Resources are also very limited . This human resources service company is in 2006 Annual income is close to 6.48 Billion dollars , Not only to comply with the company's internal policies and procedures , And abide by it 《 Sarbanes － Oxley Act 》 And other regulatory requirements .Gevity I was looking for a IT software package , Policy training used to control and record the gradual implementation , In particular, policies related to anti fraud measures .Gevity Hope to deploy quickly , Without affecting the existing IT requirement . According to the Gevity Vice president and legal counsel of Eddie Hightower claim , although SaaS The solution seems reasonable , But several executives of the company expressed concern about handing over their key operations to a little-known company .

Gevity Selected by Axentis Development 、IBM Managed on-demand governance 、 Risk and compliance management software ,Hightower He believes that this scheme has increased his confidence in the reliability and security of the application software .Axentis Software in 30 Tianzhi internal deployment is completed .Gevity From policy 、 Training, certification and other functions , Then expanded to compliance tracking and regulatory functions .Hightower say ：“ According to federal guidelines , Companies should not only speak well about compliance , And do well , It's important . We now not only have a way to release information and training plans , It also has fully auditable records , Prove compliance .”

The key part of this project is , Strengthen the communication of new policies and requirements within the company , And provide a means for organizing and distributing relevant information . The software can also track the information sent by users , So as to provide tracking and review function .

occasionally , In addition to using SaaS, Have no choice but to . Take online advertising service providers LinkShare Come on .2006 At the beginning of year , The e-mail management system developed internally has problems from time to time ; And in those days 7 month , It was simply stopped 18 God . There was no budget to replace the system , And stop using it more and more frequently LinkShare Service levels pose a threat .LinkShare Director of joint venture Services Avik Mohan say , After analysis, the company found , If the software package is deployed internally , It will take several months ; And the return on investment will not be provided until seven years later .

Use funds from the emergency budget ,LinkShare Yes Kana The company's on-demand email management software has been running for two and a half weeks . The deployment took only five days .

inquiry CFO： You can use the operating budget or freely available funds instead of the capital budget to purchase SaaS, So as to speed up the deployment ？ Ask the department head ： Is it because we don't have time to use enough support IT Resources and missed opportunities ？

Deployment

Flexible deployment strategies provide tradeoffs SaaS Value test platform ; If you realize the requirements of the whole company , You can deploy SaaS、 So as to take advantage of other SaaS Products and resources . If applicable , Service level agreements help ensure that goals are met .

Need to be quick 、 Flexibility and cost control , This prompted the holding company OHC In its two subsidiaries ：IT Consultancy, Optimus Solutions And refurbished computer hardware providers Canvas Systems Deploy different CRM. According to the CIO Steve McDonald claim , To 2005 By the end of year , Internally developed CRM The system can no longer meet the development needs of these two subsidiaries , Not only the user interface is clumsy , And it can't meet the growing data demand . He said ：“ In fact, we are still using the original system after it expires . We need a shortcut to deploy as soon as possible , And you need to use simple products , So that employees can give full play to their functions 、 Create expected benefits .”

McDonald look for Salesforce Negotiations were held , But a little afraid . because 2005 year ,Salesforce There have been several service outages . Then it upgraded the device , And provide online access to real-time monitoring and maintenance information , So that solves the problem , but McDonald Delayed deployment , Until the service level agreement of the project is clearly understood 、 Their own IT Employees can use the service . Then in two months , It has been promoted in two subsidiaries in stages Salesforce service .McDonald say ：“ It's kind of like D.B. Of course, some people have reservations , however Salesforce We did a good job ; After we put it into use , There has never been a deactivation .”

A lot of SaaS The ecosystem of providers is expanding , This makes McDonald It can be done to OHC Of CRM Platform customization . He used Salesforce stay 2006 year 1 On demand application platform launched in August AppExchange, Search can be related to Salesforce Platform integration 、 And expand the application software .

McDonald I chose Sxip Access Company's validation software , Realize the identity and password of its company's active directory and Salesforce Synchronization of .Cast Iron Systems The company's application integration software is used to connect to the internal deployment Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP System . And added Eloqua Marketing management software , To handle email and online marketing campaigns .McDonald say ：“ We are SaaS Successful integration with internally deployed applications , This makes me whenever the company starts to face new business challenges , Just run straight to SaaS market , See if there is a suitable solution . I even found that I checked my ERP After the system , I want to have SaaS Version of ERP software package 、 Can meet our requirements , What then ？”

If the operation department needs to expand temporarily ,SaaS It can also be used to supplement internally deployed software . take XM Satellite Radio The company is ： It uses a mixture of on-demand and on-site packages , Help manage call center operations during peak hours . This pay broadcasting company relies on several third-party call centers , They use different software platforms .XM The company strives to control its business operations , So we set up our own... In Washington, D.C 1500 Call center with seats , Used Avaya Call center platform , The platform runs on the company's own server . But in the winter holiday season , The number of customer service representatives needed may double .XM Not buying licensed software for more seats , Instead, I decided to use Avaya On demand services , The second call center in Ellenwood, Georgia, provides the same functionality , from Avaya Supervised operators provide services .

XM Head of technical business Tanya Callaway say , When things change , For example, allocate traffic between two call centers , Try to minimize the possibility of customers hearing busy tones , This second call center allows her to mix and match on-site software and on-demand software . She said ：“ I hope my partner can provide me with some kind of shopping cart , So if I need a service today , There is no need to go outside to buy . Just order through the menu .”

SaaS The continuous development of means that enterprises will have more manufacturers and deployment solutions to choose from . Licensed software will continue to dominate the market , But the strategic deployment of service-based applications will increasingly be IT The favor of the Department .

inquiry IT adviser ： Which? SaaS The manufacturer has been established for a long time 、 Pursue advanced technology ？ inquiry IT staff ： Current SaaS What aspects of the project can be improved , Or it can be combined with another SaaS Product use ？

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