Web Services & SaaS…..truly ubiquitous technologies

While driving between meetings today, it struck me how ubiquitous Software Services and SaaS “apps” have become. It is pretty astounding. When HP first started discussing “Web Services” around 1999, I was interested in the concept, but didn’t fully grasp the implications and power back then. So, it is amazing to see how quickly web services and web apps have the norm rather than the...

Wow – what a shift in SaaS/Cloud adoption

When starting Celarix in 1998, the term ”SaaS” hadn’t been coined yet and we called ourselves an “ASP” or application service provider. But like the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. Celarix was a SaaS provider through and through and one of the very first enterprise SaaS providers in the the Logistics / SCM...

Cloud Computing is THE SaaS killer…with a little help from some friends.

Did the title make you go “HUH”? Let me explain. First a couple of definitions: SaaS or Software as a Services [from Wikipedia] – “is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand.” Key characteristics:  network-based access to, and management of, commercially available software activities managed from...

A SaaS Go-To-Market Segmentation Framework

While SaaS is a relatively new deployment option (since ~1998), it is still governed by the fundamental rules of B2B marketing: understand your customer (research), make sure that you connect with them (lead gen), and then provide them with a value proposition that they can’t refuse (product positioning). Sort of like the Godfather movie but without the terminal consequences. It’s a terribly summarized...

Only Possible With SaaS………

In a couple of my past posts, I pointed out that SaaS is not a one-size-fits-all deployment option. However, I do believe that there are some types of solutions that can only be effectively delivered as a SaaS solution – call it the “SaaS only” option. Typically, “SaaS only” is applicable when the software/service meets one of four functional criteria: (1) “SaaS only”...