Software on demand – Geschäftsmodell mit Zukunft

Software on demand – Geschäftsmodell mit Zukunft

Software on demand – Geschäftsmodell mit Zukunft

Software on demand – Geschäftsmodell mit Zukunft

Eines fällt direkt ins Auge: Immer mehr Softwarehersteller bieten ihre Produkte "on demand" an. Global Player wie IBM, Microsoft und SAP, aber auch kleinere Anbieter scheinen einen wachsenden Bedarf nach Software on demand zu registrieren. Die Argumente für dieses Geschäftsmodell liegen auf der Hand: geringeres Investitionsrisiko, maßgeschneiderte Volumen und schnelle Reaktionsfähigkeit auf unternehmensinterne Veränderungen. Doch was bedeutet es für den Anwender, Software on demand zu beziehen, anstatt sie zu kaufen? Welche Vorteile bietet diese Lösung und worauf sollte man achten?

Der Pionier in Sachen Software on demand war wohl das 1999 gegründete USUnternehmen Salesforce.com. Während SAP die Verbraucher ausdrücklich vor on demand Modellen warnte und auch Microsoft den on demand Markt nicht für zukunftsfähig hielt, baute Salesforce.com ein kleines Imperium auf – mit durchschlagendem Erfolg. IBM und Siebel erkannten 2004 die enormen Erfolgsaussichten von Softwarelösungen on demand. Seit letztem Jahr bieten auch Microsoft und SAP Software on demand an und kleinere Anbieter schließen sich zu on demand Plattformen, wie beispielsweise office4business, zusammen.


Was genau bedeutet Software on demand?

On demand ist vom Prinzip her gleichbedeutend mit dem schon früher angewendeten Konzept des Application Service Provider (ASP). Hierbei wird eine Softwareanwendung durch einen Dienstleister betrieben und dem Kunden über öffentliche Netze, wie beispielsweise dem Internet, zur Verfügung gestellt. Der Dienstleister kümmert sich um die gesamte Administration, wie Softwarepflege, Aufrüstung, Lizenzen, etc. und bietet oftmals optional eine Benutzerbetreuung an.

Der interessante Punkt liegt in der Verschiebung des Geschäftsrisikos. Da die benötigte Software nicht gekauft, sondern im Bedarfsfall über das Datennetz für die Nutzung angemietet wird, minimiert sich das Investitionsrisiko des Kunden. Häufig geht es dabei nicht um einzelne Anwendungsprogramme, sondern um zusammengehörige Bereiche wie Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Dokumentenmanagement (DMS), Kontaktmanagement oder Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Mit Hilfe von ASP-Dienstleistungen können Unternehmen auf diese Weise ganze Verwaltungsbereiche oder Prozessschritte auslagern.


Woher kommt die Durchschlagskraft, die on demand Lösungen in wenigen Jahren zum Marktstandard macht?

In der Vergangenheit mussten sich Unternehmen in aufwendigen Entscheidungsprozessen für eine spezielle Software und einen Hersteller entscheiden. Dokumentenmanagement und Kontaktmanagement weisen zwar klare Vorteile für ein Unternehmen auf, ebenso ein automatisiertes Workflow- oder Umlaufmanagement. Doch die Lösungen erforderten bislang hohe Anfangsinvestitionen und viel Einsatz an Manpower. Oft muss die Infrastruktur eines Betriebes an die einzusetzende Technologie angepasst, Organisationsstrukturen und Arbeitsprozesse überarbeitet und in Einklang mit der neuen Softwarelandschaft gebracht werden. Probleme traten immer dann auf, wenn man sich auf veränderte Markt- und Unternehmenssituationen einstellen musste. Selbst wenn die Software angepasst werden konnte, entstanden wiederum hohe Kosten und die bereits getätigten Investitionen gingen als Sunk-Costs in die Bilanz ein. Genau hier lag das Risiko einer Investition in Informations-Management Software. So verblieben viele Unternehmen lieber in den alten, wenn auch weniger effizienten Strukturen.


Software on demand löst dieses Problem

Bei Software on demand müssen sich Unternehmen keine eigene IT-Infrastruktur aufbauen. Von Beginn an zahlt der Kunde eine Mietpauschale für die Nutzung der gebuchten Services. Diese können jederzeit angepasst werden. Auf diese Weise arbeiten die Anwender immer mit den modernsten Technologien und nutzen die neuesten Features.

Auf Veränderungen kann flexibel reagiert werden, indem man Softwaremodule hinzugemietet oder abstößt. Gleichzeitig steht dem Kunden, wie bei gekaufter Software, die Möglichkeit eines Supportvertrags offen, sodass ihm ständige Hilfe per Internet und Telefon zugesichert ist. Unternehmen haben also mehr Möglichkeiten bei geringeren Anfangskosten und die gleichen Vorteile wie beim Kauf der Software. Hat sich ein System etabliert und es wird eine langfristige, speziell angepasste Nutzung angestrebt, ist der Erwerb der Softwarelösung meist problemlos möglich.


Was man beachten sollte

Bei der Entscheidung für ein on demand Produkt sollte die gleiche qualifizierte Auswahl getroffen werden, wie beim Kauf einer Software. Zwar ist die finanzielle Anfangsinvestition deutlich geringer als beim Softwarekauf, doch jede Software erfordert eine Einarbeitungszeit der Mitarbeiter. Hinzu kommen die Abstimmung von Software und Betriebsablauf und die Interaktion mit dem Anbieter. Daher ist davon abzuraten, eine Software einfach mal auszuprobieren, nur weil die Kosten niedrig sind.

Stattdessen empfiehlt es sich, ein exaktes Anforderungsprofil zu erstellen und sich ausführlich über verschiedene Produkte innerhalb des Bedarfsfeldes zu informieren. Bei einer reinen Archivierungslösung mit geringem Budget reicht oft eine ausführliche Internetrecherche, gefolgt von Beratungsgesprächen. Auch die Nachfrage bei Unternehmen mit ähnlichen Strukturen wie der eigenen ist sinnvoll. Geht die gesuchte Lösung jedoch über die Archivierung hinaus, sollte die Recherche tiefer reichen und über eine Expertenberatung nachgedacht werden.

Ist eine engere Auswahl von Anbietern getroffen, spielen Bonität und Zuverlässigkeit des Anbieters eine wichtige Rolle, damit die langfristige Lieferung sowie der vertrauenswürdige Umgang mit geschäftskritischen Anwendungen und unternehmenssensiblen Daten gesichert sind.

Weiterhin sind Anbindungsmöglichkeiten an andere Softwareprodukte von Bedeutung. So wird die Ganzheitlichkeit und Zukunftsfähigkeit der Softwarelandschaft garantiert. Optimal sind Anbieter, die eine Anbindung an andere Softwareprodukte zwecks Informationsaustauschs bereits von vornherein anbieten und empfehlen, um so genannte Informationsinseln auszuschließen.


Fazit

On demand Lösungen erfordern nur geringe Anfangsinvestitionen, binden wenig Eigenkapital und sind schnell einsatzbereit. Die Lösung entspricht außerdem stets den aktuellen Anforderungen und wächst gegebenenfalls mit dem Unternehmen mit. Bezahlt wird lediglich der tatsächliche Bedarf. Zu Spitzenzeiten können Ressourcen zu- und anschließend wieder abgeschaltet werden. Nicht verwendete Features müssen nicht mehr im Kaufpreis mitgetragen werden. In Anbetracht dieser Vorteile ist es wahrscheinlich, dass Anwender in Zukunft verschiedenste Services per Web aufrufen können und werden. Das reicht vom ERP, CRM und DMS bis hin zu Workflowmanagement.

Die Risiken des Software on demand Geschäftsmodells entsprechen denen des Softwarekaufs – faktisch abgeschwächt durch das geringere Investitionsrisiko. Zusammengefasst ist Software on demand besonders für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen interessant. Sie können mit diesem Modell hohe Anfangsinvestitionen vermeiden und ihre Konkurrenzfähigkeit durch ein softwarebasiertes mehr an Service und Information behaupten. So stellt die Tendenz zu on demand Software einen weiteren Schritt in Richtung Dienstleistungsgesellschaft dar - ganz im Trend der heutigen Zeit.

11/2006, Pia Heine

Pia Heine arbeitet nach beratenden Tätigkeiten innerhalb des Produkt- und Kundenmanagement als Leiterin Marketing bei der TNCS GmbH & Co. KG, einem Hersteller von Software der Bereiche Customer Relationship Management, Dokumenten- und Workflowmanagement.

Predicts 2007: Software as a Service Provides a Viable Delivery Model

Predicts 2007: Software as a Service Provides a Viable Delivery Model

Workday's Initial HCM Offering Is Intriguing but Unproven

Workday's Initial HCM Offering Is Intriguing but Unproven

Marc Benioff and the Future of Software (AMR)

This week Rob Bois and I were in San Francisco to attend Dreamforce, the annual user conference hosted by salesforce.com. If you’re curious about the future of applications software, you may want to visit the company’s website and watch the video replay of the keynote from Marc Benioff, the company’s founder, CEO, and master showman. Behind the bravado, I see 10 ideas that every software vendor should copy. Why? While salesforce.com is different from vendors with its software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, platform, and relatively narrow product offering, its approach in indicative of where the software market is headed in terms of technology and community.

salesforce.com Sets Its Sights High With Apex (AMR)

salesforce.com further clarified the company’s intent to move even further into the role of software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform provider at its annual Dreamforce user conference in San Francisco. While the details of the new winter 2007 quarterly release of the core CRM application outlined a solid set of new functionality, the announcement of the Apex SaaS development tool generated the most buzz at the event.

Gartner: 'Kwart van software in 2011 online' (AG)

In 2011 zal 25 procent van de bedrijfssoftware via een online constructie gebruikt worden, verwacht Gartner. Dat is ongeveer vijf keer zoveel als in 2005. SaaS (software as a service) maakt volgens Gartner-analist Robert DeSisto een ontwikkeling door van basisfunctionaliteit naar geavanceerde configuratiemogelijkheden. En terwijl het tot dusver vooral lijnmanagers zijn die de IT-afdeling omzeilden met het aangaan van een SaaS-contract, zullen IT-afdelingen zich in de toekomst meer met deze...

Software as a Service neemt vlucht (Vnunet/computable)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is in 2011 doed voor zo'n 25 procent van de bedrijfssoftware, voorspelt Gartner naar aanleiding van onderzoek. In 2005 was dat nog 5 procent.

Centive's New Focus on SaaS Poses Both Risk and Promise (Gartner)

Centive has sold its on-premises sales compensation software business to focus on its Compel software-as-a-service product. Despite the risks of this move, Centive should retain its leading position in Compel's market.

RightNow Drinking Its V8 (AMR)

RightNow Technology revealed the results of a two-year, $25M research and development investment at its recent user conference. CEO Greg Gianforte’s keynote solidified the company’s competitive direction and announced the December release of the 8.0 version of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) CRM application. The new release embraces RightNow’s roots in targeting customer service organizations, and helps more clearly position the company within the increasingly complex SaaS landscape.

Google joins corporate software fray (FT)

Google on Monday fired the opening shot in a new long-term battle with corporate software giants like Microsoft and IBM, as it launches new versions of Gmail and some of its other consumer internet services designed for workplace use.

The initiative takes the internet company into a new market called “software as a service,” where companies rely for some of their technology on services delivered over the internet, rather than buying software to run on their own machines.

“I think it’s an incredible opportunity: software as a service is really taking off, because you only buy what you want,” said Dave Girourd, general manager of Google’s enterprise group. “Our view is that a lot of our consumer applications over time really make sense as corporate applications.”

Corporate Gmail, which companies will be able to brand with their own names, will carry advertising, like the consumer version. Google said that by the end of the year it planned to offer a separate version that companies would pay a subscription for.

However, while the rapid growth of new companies like Salesforce.com has demonstrated the appeal of software as a service, this is still a nascent market where most big companies are still treading carefully, analysts warned.

“Companies won’t drop everything and move en masse to Google,” said Matt Brown, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. Particularly when it comes to the communications and collaboration tools used by office workers, “they face all kinds of security and privacy issues” that will make them hesitant to switch, he added.

Defending the reliability and security of its services, Mr Girouard said: “All of these are very important to consumers as well.” He added, though, that Google would also seek to make its products more appealing to big companies, for instance with a support service and with features designed to meet regulatory requirements that public companies have to follow.

He also suggested that Google is likely to extend other services to the corporate market, such as word processing and spreadsheets, which offer lightweight alternatives to some of the features of Microsoft’s Office package of PC software. Referring to Google’s online word processor, Mr Giroard said: “It’s pretty clearly a good candidate, as are other Google applications.”

Microsoft has created online services of its own under the Windows Live brand, but has so far stopped short of offering an online word processor or other services that could be seen as competitors to Office. However, some of the communications and file-sharing tools it has already made available online are more advanced than those that Google is launching on Monday, said Mr Brown.

While they are unlikely to appeal to big companies, Google’s online applications may be taken up by “small businesses, families, educational institutions, ones that don’t have big budgets for IT departments,” said Mr Brown.

Google began a limited limited trial of the Gmail service for corporate users earlier this year. Other services offered beginning Monday are Google Calendar, Google Talk and Page Creator, a tool for creating web pages.

The search engine company launched its first product for corporate customers, a “search appliance” that can be plugged into a corporate network and be used to search a company’s internal data, two years ago.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006

salesforce.com and The Long Tail; Umbria Tracks Word of Mouth (AMR)

I recently talked to salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff about some of the new developments in the market, and how his company is taking advantage of them. I also met with Mr. Kaushansky of Umbria, a unique firm that’s combing the web to see what people are saying about your company and products so you don’t have to.

Inside the On-Demand World of RightNow Technologies (AMR)

We caught up this week with Greg Gianforte, founder and CEO of RightNow Technologies. RightNow, the leader in providing customer service applications via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) or on-demand model, is the second largest CRM on-demand provider after salesforce.com.

SMEs: Is it time to adopt software as a service? (FT)

For small and mid-sized companies outside the IT industry, running IT infrastructure is rarely a core competence. All too often it is an area – and a cost – that senior management feels it cannot control.

One group of technology companies believes it has the answer. Just as few businesses run their own power generators, water plants or telephone exchanges, these companies argue that software should also be a service.

The appeal of this to mid-sized companies is clear. Rather than develop the IT infrastructure and expertise to run business applications, companies go to a service provider to hire the application.

There is no need to pay in advance for software licences or for hardware; a web browser and broadband connection is all the IT infrastructure most companies need. This leads to low initial costs and quick payback periods.

“We have seen a return on investment within 16 months,” says Jim Benson, chief technology officer at KP Corporation, a California-based direct mail and printing company.

Such advantages have made software as a service one of the fastest growing segments of the IT market.

Selling software-as-a-service (Saas) are companies such as Salesforce.com and Netsuite. SAP has a Saas offering and the IT vendors HP and IBM also have significant interests.

But software as a service does not provide all the answers to management teams who want to regain control of IT spending – not yet, at least.

Although some multinational companies are using Saas, smaller businesses are more cautious. According to Forrester Research, 59 per cent of US businesses with between 500 and 999 employees would consider Saas. But for companies with fewer than 100 staff, that falls to 44 per cent.

One reason could be that it is still a fairly young market. The choice of applications is more limited than for inhouse software, and there are concerns about customisation, integration and security.

The entry of large companies such as SAP, as well as blue-chip customers buying from the newer providers, will give directors of smaller companies more confidence. “Small companies have been told to use small company products. But we are running Cisco and Merrill Lynch and ABN Amro on the same server as thousands of SMEs,” says Marc Benioff, chief executive of service-based CRM vendor Salesforce.com.

Access to large company software at an affordable price is a persuasive argument in favour of Saas for SMEs. But Mr Benioff notes that the technology is about more than price. It is also about removing risk. “It is common to hear of failures in large software implementations,” he says. “Customers don’t fail with us.”

Saas has so far focused on a handful of applications, mostly sales and marketing and CRM. A mid-sized company wishing to move most, if not all, software to a service-based model will find it hard.

That could change, and the market could extend well beyond back office applications. Even Microsoft, with its Office Live and Windows Live launches, is testing the waters for Saas.

“The next generation of software applications will look like the internet,” says Zach Nelson, chief executive of Netsuite. “One by one, the objections to using net-based software are falling away.”

Many mid-sized businesses already use net-based applications, from hosted e-mail to search services such as Google. Salesforce is also, through its AppExchange platform, promoting other Saas products.

But there are vital practical considerations when moving to Saas. Businesses need to consider the robustness of the service, and how easy it would be to extract their data, should they part company with the service provider.

Here, software vendors with both service and conventional offerings score, because there is the option to run the application inhouse.

Businesses might also be happy to run CRM as a service because it is relatively easy to set up, and there is a choice of vendors.

But other applications, such as enterprise resource planning may be more difficult to buy as a service because of the need for tight integration with internal business processes, cautions Liz Herbert, an expert on Saas at industry analysts Forrester Research.

She adds: “Because software as a service has made it so easy to buy [technology], companies might not be thinking about security, long-term integration or other practicalities. The buyers are not IT people and have never written a contract for IT services,” says Ms Herbert.

Business Essentials: Geschäftsanwendungen im Browser (contentmanager.de)

Innovation Gate ist mit seiner neuartigen Hosting-Lösung Business Essentials auf großes Interesse bei kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen gestoßen. Bereits während des Betatests haben sich über 150 Unternehmen zur Nutzung Ihrer Instanz von Business Essentials registriert. Seit dem 2. Mai ist Business Essentials nun offiziel als Version 1.0 verfügbar.

Software as a service: The next big thing (InfoWorld)

New Office Threat Appears on the Horizon (Client Server News)

Well, by the looks of it, Microsoft is fated to suffer an updated, 21st century, technological version of the legendary Chinese torture – death by a thousand paper cuts.

On the heals of Google buying software-as-a-service start-up Upstartle LLC and its Writely.com beta word processor a couple of weeks ago – which has got to rattle Microsoft’s cage considering it’s Google – Michael Robertson, the guy who started Linspire, née Lindows, the Linux operating system company that managed to defy logic and cop a $20 million settlement out of Microsoft after Microsoft sued it for trademark infringement – talk about the world being topsy-turvy – has just unveiled a thing called ajaxWrite – his idea of an software-as-service alternative to Microsoft’s vaunted cash-cow Office software.

What is Software as a Service? (TEC)

Though born from the ashes of traditional hosting models, software as a service differs fundamentally from its predecessors. Its software is designed to be delivered as a service, security is better, rich user interfaces are available, and it has greater interactivity.

Salesforce.com unleashes Unlimited (InfoWorld)

In a departure from its traditional upgrade schedule that usually coincides with the change of seasons, Salesforce.com (Profile, Products, Articles) today announced Unlimited Edition, a product line that will sit above Enterprise Edition.

Blogwatch: Calling Out Salesforce.com (Line56)

Gartner Michael Maoz says: Crumbs for Research, Millions for Personal Enrichment: This Is No Way to Build Great Software

Need a Salesforce.com Account? (Salesforce.com)

Need a Salesforce.com Account?
30-Day Free Trial of the Leading On-Demand CRM Solution

Register now and for thirty days you'll have full access to all the features and capabilities that make salesforce.com the world's most customizable CRM.

Introducing the World's First On-Demand Application-Sharing Service (Salesforce.com)

Introducing the World's First On-Demand Application-Sharing Service
A new way to browse, share, and install on-demand applications
First came Web sites like Amazon.com and eBay. Then virtual music centers put songs at people's fingertips. So why hasn't someone created an iTunes for business applications?

Now they have. The AppExchange from salesforce.com makes finding and installing new on-demand applications as easy as downloading a song or buying a book online.

With the AppExchange, companies can browse and test drive dozens of new on-demand applications and install them into any salesforce.com account with just a few clicks.

The AppExchange is the world's first on-demand application-sharing service. It's a new online center where salesforce.com subscribers, partners, and developers can share their on-demand applications for everything from handling expense management to tracking purchasing, monitoring recruiting, and beyond. Visit the AppExchange now.

Provisioning Software as a Service (Salesforce.com/Gartner)

Findings From the 'All Software' Research Meeting:
Provisioning Software as a Service
by Jeff Comport
Gartner, Inc.

Recently, salesforce.com raised the bar for the software-as-a-service model by moving beyond the locked-down functionality historically associated with subscription software providers and offering flexible, tool-oriented, multitenancy applications for sales and other CRM-oriented functions.

ANALYSIS
The recently announced salesforce.com AppExchange partner program enables ISVs to publish their applications using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and salesforce.com's infrastructure and tools (a platform lock-in), accessed via a Web front end. The leverage and profitability lie in salesforce.com's architecture and infrastructure delivery framework, a single database, a multitenant host for all customer data, data model variations, and business functionality customization. The tenant-by-tenant variability of both data model and process is achieved through high virtualization, down to a virtual data management service that "floats" above physical DBMS tables. The challenge will be to preserve the leverage of multitenancy as more diverse applications (such as non-CRM) demand high processing power for virtualization layers, possibly requiring a "box" per partner, similar to one-off hosted application models (like ASPs). We'll see a rise in these platforms and exchanges from many sources: Yahoo, Google, Visa, eBay and others (which are offering business function "segments" like shopping carts and credit verification). They will change the way software is built and deployed. Indeed, we expect that the eBay-Skype combination will ultimately produce "network aware" applications (for collaboration) that can be procured over the net, as required. A key challenge for successful delivery of SaaS, however, will be balancing flexibility with the necessary scale and leverage to maintain a robust infrastructure (such as secure separation of rules, definitions and business data in a multitenant business model).

Bottom Line: Users should begin investigating and testing SaaS providers for specific, well-defined business tasks that can be integrated into larger business services.

(This research has been independently produced by Gartner research analysts without any review of or participation by any member of Gartner's board of directors, including Maynard Webb, who serves on Gartner's board of directors and is the chief operating officer of eBay Inc.)

Gartner Research G00131696, 29 September 2005.

Provisioning Software as a Service (Salesforce.com/Gartner)

Provisioning Software as a Service (Salesforce.com/Gartner)

Findings From the 'All Software' Research Meeting: Provisioning Software as a Service by Jeff Comport Gartner, Inc. Recently, salesforce.com raised the bar for the software-as-a-service model by moving beyond the locked-down functionality historically associated with subscription software providers and offering flexible, tool-oriented, multitenancy applications for sales and other CRM-oriented functions. ANALYSIS The recently announced salesforce.com AppExchange partner program enables ISVs to publish their applications using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and salesforce.com's infrastructure and tools (a platform lock-in), accessed via a Web front end. The leverage and profitability lie in salesforce.com's architecture and infrastructure delivery framework, a single database, a multitenant host for all customer data, data model variations, and business functionality customization. The tenant-by-tenant variability of both data model and process is achieved through high virtualization, down to a virtual data management service that "floats" above physical DBMS tables. The challenge will be to preserve the leverage of multitenancy as more diverse applications (such as non-CRM) demand high processing power for virtualization layers, possibly requiring a "box" per partner, similar to one-off hosted application models (like ASPs). We'll see a rise in these platforms and exchanges from many sources: Yahoo, Google, Visa, eBay and others (which are offering business function "segments" like shopping carts and credit verification). They will change the way software is built and deployed. Indeed, we expect that the eBay-Skype combination will ultimately produce "network aware" applications (for collaboration) that can be procured over the net, as required. A key challenge for successful delivery of SaaS, however, will be balancing flexibility with the necessary scale and leverage to maintain a robust infrastructure (such as secure separation of rules, definitions and business data in a multitenant business model). Bottom Line: Users should begin investigating and testing SaaS providers for specific, well-defined business tasks that can be integrated into larger business services. (This research has been independently produced by Gartner research analysts without any review of or participation by any member of Gartner's board of directors, including Maynard Webb, who serves on Gartner's board of directors and is the chief operating officer of eBay Inc.) Gartner Research G00131696, 29 September 2005.

Introducing the World's First On-Demand Application-Sharing Service A new way to browse, share, and install on-demand applications First came Web sites like Amazon.com and eBay. Then virtual music centers put songs at people's fingertips. So why hasn't someone created an iTunes for business applications? Now they have. The AppExchange from salesforce.com makes finding and installing new on-demand applications as easy as downloading a song or buying a book online. With the AppExchange, companies can browse and test drive dozens of new on-demand applications and install them into any salesforce.com account with just a few clicks. The AppExchange is the world's first on-demand application-sharing service. It's a new online center where salesforce.com subscribers, partners, and developers can share their on-demand applications for everything from handling expense management to tracking purchasing, monitoring recruiting, and beyond. Visit the AppExchange now.

Need a Salesforce.com Account? 30-Day Free Trial of the Leading On-Demand CRM Solution Register now and for thirty days you'll have full access to all the features and capabilities that make salesforce.com the world's most customizable CRM.

Eight Golden Rules to CRM Success Thinking about implementing CRM? Before you put a solution in place, you need to master the Eight Golden Rules for CRM Success. What are they? Find out by joining us in for a Webinar. Salesforce.com CRM Success Expert Wendy Close will show you how to become a customer-centric enterprise-from setting a CRM vision to selecting the right metrics for tracking success. Don't miss your chance to hear directly from CRM experts including Scott Nelson, VP, and Distinguished Analyst, at Gartner. Take home actionable strategies for CRM success. Register to download this FREE Webinar now at: Eight Golden Rules to CRM Success.

Gartner on the Five-Year TCO for CRM On-Demand A major driver for deploying CRM on-demand is its lower cost of ownership. According to Gartner, "Through 2010, CRM on-demand will provide as much as 10 percent to 13 percent lower five-year TCO than on-premise software for moderately complex CRM deployments (0.7 probability). Companies with simple to moderate CRM complex requirements should consider CRM on-demand services as a way to lower five-year total cost of ownership." For more of this topic visit: Five Year TCO Lower for On-Demand. (Source: Gartner Inc., Gartner CRM Summit, "CRM OnDemand: The Myth and Promise of No Software," by Rob DeSisto, October 31, 2005.)

Improving Service & Support Operations Lots of organizations use salesforce.com for managing sales operations. However, a rapidly growing number have integrated their sales and service operations by using Salesforce Service & Support (formerly named Supportforce). Salesforce.com has about 1700 customers using Salesforce Service & Support to improve their customer service and support operations and more. For example, they're using the solution to manage a total of 12 million cases. For more of this topic visit: Improving Service & Support Operations.

Misys Banking Systems Deploys Salesforce Service & Support across 10 Countries in 11 Weeks - Anticipates Return on Investment in Less Than 12 Months Every year, more than 100,000 tellers at 450 banks in 100 countries rely on Misys Retail Banking systems to process 10 billion transactions. Business disruption is simply not an option. "Salesforce.com is one of the critical factors in Misys Banking Systems customer support infrastructure, providing support teams around the world with a real-time, accurate and unified view of every customer situation," said Peter Middleton, Customer Services Director, Misys Banking Systems. For more on how Misys is achieving CRM success, visit: Misys Banking Systems Deploys Salesforce. Provisioning Software as a Service is published by Salesforce.com. Editorial supplied by Salesforce.com is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is © 2006 by Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. All Gartner materials are used with Gartner's permission and in no way does the use or publication of Gartner research indicate Gartner's endorsement of Salesforce.com's products and/or strategies. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

Provisioning Software as a Service (Salesforce.com/Gartner)

Findings From the 'All Software' Research Meeting: Provisioning Software as a Service by Jeff Comport Gartner, Inc. Recently, salesforce.com raised the bar for the software-as-a-service model by moving beyond the locked-down functionality historically associated with subscription software providers and offering flexible, tool-oriented, multitenancy applications for sales and other CRM-oriented functions. ANALYSIS The recently announced salesforce.com AppExchange partner program enables ISVs to publish their applications using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and salesforce.com's infrastructure and tools (a platform lock-in), accessed via a Web front end. The leverage and profitability lie in salesforce.com's architecture and infrastructure delivery framework, a single database, a multitenant host for all customer data, data model variations, and business functionality customization. The tenant-by-tenant variability of both data model and process is achieved through high virtualization, down to a virtual data management service that "floats" above physical DBMS tables. The challenge will be to preserve the leverage of multitenancy as more diverse applications (such as non-CRM) demand high processing power for virtualization layers, possibly requiring a "box" per partner, similar to one-off hosted application models (like ASPs). We'll see a rise in these platforms and exchanges from many sources: Yahoo, Google, Visa, eBay and others (which are offering business function "segments" like shopping carts and credit verification). They will change the way software is built and deployed. Indeed, we expect that the eBay-Skype combination will ultimately produce "network aware" applications (for collaboration) that can be procured over the net, as required. A key challenge for successful delivery of SaaS, however, will be balancing flexibility with the necessary scale and leverage to maintain a robust infrastructure (such as secure separation of rules, definitions and business data in a multitenant business model). Bottom Line: Users should begin investigating and testing SaaS providers for specific, well-defined business tasks that can be integrated into larger business services. (This research has been independently produced by Gartner research analysts without any review of or participation by any member of Gartner's board of directors, including Maynard Webb, who serves on Gartner's board of directors and is the chief operating officer of eBay Inc.) Gartner Research G00131696, 29 September 2005.

Introducing the World's First On-Demand Application-Sharing Service A new way to browse, share, and install on-demand applications First came Web sites like Amazon.com and eBay. Then virtual music centers put songs at people's fingertips. So why hasn't someone created an iTunes for business applications? Now they have. The AppExchange from salesforce.com makes finding and installing new on-demand applications as easy as downloading a song or buying a book online. With the AppExchange, companies can browse and test drive dozens of new on-demand applications and install them into any salesforce.com account with just a few clicks. The AppExchange is the world's first on-demand application-sharing service. It's a new online center where salesforce.com subscribers, partners, and developers can share their on-demand applications for everything from handling expense management to tracking purchasing, monitoring recruiting, and beyond. Visit the AppExchange now.

Need a Salesforce.com Account? 30-Day Free Trial of the Leading On-Demand CRM Solution Register now and for thirty days you'll have full access to all the features and capabilities that make salesforce.com the world's most customizable CRM.

Eight Golden Rules to CRM Success Thinking about implementing CRM? Before you put a solution in place, you need to master the Eight Golden Rules for CRM Success. What are they? Find out by joining us in for a Webinar. Salesforce.com CRM Success Expert Wendy Close will show you how to become a customer-centric enterprise-from setting a CRM vision to selecting the right metrics for tracking success. Don't miss your chance to hear directly from CRM experts including Scott Nelson, VP, and Distinguished Analyst, at Gartner. Take home actionable strategies for CRM success. Register to download this FREE Webinar now at: Eight Golden Rules to CRM Success.

Gartner on the Five-Year TCO for CRM On-Demand A major driver for deploying CRM on-demand is its lower cost of ownership. According to Gartner, "Through 2010, CRM on-demand will provide as much as 10 percent to 13 percent lower five-year TCO than on-premise software for moderately complex CRM deployments (0.7 probability). Companies with simple to moderate CRM complex requirements should consider CRM on-demand services as a way to lower five-year total cost of ownership." For more of this topic visit: Five Year TCO Lower for On-Demand. (Source: Gartner Inc., Gartner CRM Summit, "CRM OnDemand: The Myth and Promise of No Software," by Rob DeSisto, October 31, 2005.)

Improving Service & Support Operations Lots of organizations use salesforce.com for managing sales operations. However, a rapidly growing number have integrated their sales and service operations by using Salesforce Service & Support (formerly named Supportforce). Salesforce.com has about 1700 customers using Salesforce Service & Support to improve their customer service and support operations and more. For example, they're using the solution to manage a total of 12 million cases. For more of this topic visit: Improving Service & Support Operations.

Misys Banking Systems Deploys Salesforce Service & Support across 10 Countries in 11 Weeks - Anticipates Return on Investment in Less Than 12 Months Every year, more than 100,000 tellers at 450 banks in 100 countries rely on Misys Retail Banking systems to process 10 billion transactions. Business disruption is simply not an option. "Salesforce.com is one of the critical factors in Misys Banking Systems customer support infrastructure, providing support teams around the world with a real-time, accurate and unified view of every customer situation," said Peter Middleton, Customer Services Director, Misys Banking Systems. For more on how Misys is achieving CRM success, visit: Misys Banking Systems Deploys Salesforce. Provisioning Software as a Service is published by Salesforce.com. Editorial supplied by Salesforce.com is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is © 2006 by Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All rights reserved. All Gartner materials are used with Gartner's permission and in no way does the use or publication of Gartner research indicate Gartner's endorsement of Salesforce.com's products and/or strategies. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

Salesforce.com Seen As Leader In Software-As-Service (Forbes)

Banc of America Securities analyst Daniel Cummins maintained a “neutral” rating and $38 price target on Salesforce.com after the company reported fourth-quarter results.

On Wednesday, Salesforce.com (nyse: CRM - news - people ) reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2006 earnings of 5 cents per share, in-line with the consensus estimate and the analyst’s estimate. The company reported revenue of $91 million, in-line with the analyst’s estimate and slightly below the consensus estimate of $92 million.

SAP makes CRM hosting move (vnunet)

SAP has finally made its big move into hosted customer relationship management (CRM) software. The German giant’s CRM On Demand Solution will aim for large and mid-market firms with a per-user monthly subscription service hosted by partner IBM.

SAP Enters SaaS Market (webpronews)

Yesterday, the German enterprise software vendor SAP announced it is entering the hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS) market with the expansion of its mySAP CRM offering to include a hosted option.

SAP steps into the software-as-a-service arena (InfoWorld)

It’s as momentous as when the Union Pacific met the Central Pacific and the final, golden, spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah, completing the transcontinental railroad -- not that in high tech anyone would notice an event as significant. I can’t even predict for you all the innovations that will be generated from the recent developments, but I will give you my thoughts.

SAP through the browser (InfoWorld)

CRM OnDemand to be launched

SAP Plans On-Demand Product (Red Herring)

The software giant is expected to announce its Internet-hosted products next week.

Revised: Global Microsoft Resellers Jump to NetSuite On-Demand Model (TechWeb)

New Channel Offerings Move VARs to Fast-Growing NetSuite

SMB opens door to SaaS (searchSMB.com)

... According to a recent survey from market analyst firm Yankee Group Research Inc., software as a service (SaaS), or on-demand software, is a strategy ...

What is Software as a Service? (OpSource)

Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as software on demand, is a new model that is causing a profound shift in the way that applications are delivered and consumed. SaaS refers to software that is accessed via a web browser, typically on a subscription basis. Fundamentally different from the traditional model of application delivery, in which the customer acquires a perpetual license and assumes responsibility for the software's implementation and ongoing management, SaaS presents significant advantages to both customers and vendors.
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Software 2006: Changes Ahead (Red Herring)

While software as a service and open source gain more traction in 2006, large software companies will have to adapt and change.