SAAS
CITATION IN BUTTON
Embedded Files
Software as a service
Software as a service
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Software as a service (SaaS /sæs/[1]) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.[2][3] SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software.[4]
SaaS is considered to be part of cloud computing, along with infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), datacenter as a service (DCaaS), integration platform as a service (iPaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).
SaaS apps are typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS became a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization,[5] accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), management information systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, field service management, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), geographic information systems (GIS), and service desk management.[6]
For example, with software as a service (SaaS) products, you can deploy software hosted on AWS infrastructure and grant buyers access to the software in your AWS environment. You can be responsible for managing customer access, account creation, resource provisioning, and account management in your software.[7]
SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all enterprise software companies.[8][9] Gartner forecasted that software as a service (SaaS) remains the largest market segment on public cloud services and is forecast to reach $122.6 billion in 20.
However, the rate of churn is also higher, and this is big problem for SaaS company[10].
Centralized hosting of business applications dates back to the 1960s. Starting in that decade, IBM and other mainframe computer providers conducted a service bureau business, often referred to as time-sharing or utility computing. Such services included offering computing power and database storage to banks and other large organizations from their worldwide data centers.[11]
The expansion of the Internet during the 1990s brought about a new class of centralized computing, called application service providers (ASP). ASPs provided businesses with the service of hosting and managing specialized business applications, to reduce costs through central administration and the provider's specialization in a particular business application. Two of the largest ASPs were USI, which was headquartered in the Washington, DC area, and Futurelink Corporation, headquartered in Irvine, California.[12]
Software as a service essentially extends the idea of the ASP model. The term software as a service (SaaS), however, is commonly used in more specific settings:
While most initial ASP's focused on managing and hosting third-party independent software vendors' software, as of 2012 SaaS vendors typically develop and manage their own software.[13]
Whereas many initial ASPs offered more traditional client–server applications, which require installation of software on users' personal computers, later implementations can be Web applications which only require a web browser to use.[14]
Whereas the software architecture used by most initial ASPs mandated maintaining a separate instance of the application for each business, as of 2012 SaaS services can utilize a multi-tenant architecture, in which the application serves multiple businesses and users, and partitions its data accordingly.[citation needed]
The acronym first appeared in the goods and services description of a USPTO trademark, filed on September 23, 1985.[15] DbaaS (database as a service) has emerged as a sub-variety of SaaS[16] and is a type of cloud database.
Microsoft referred to SaaS as "software plus services" for a few years.[17]
The cloud (or SaaS) model has no physical need for indirect distribution because it is not distributed physically and is deployed almost instantaneously, thereby negating the need for traditional partners and middlemen. Unlike traditional software, which is conventionally sold as a perpetual license with an up-front cost (and an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers generally price applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly fee or an annual fee.[18] Consequently, the initial setup cost for SaaS is typically lower than the equivalent enterprise software. SaaS vendors typically price their applications based on some usage parameters, such as the number of users using the application. However, because in a SaaS environment customers' data reside with the SaaS vendor, opportunities also exist to charge per transaction, event, or other units of value, such as the number of processors required.[19]
The relatively low cost for user provisioning (i.e., setting up a new customer) in a multi-tenant environment enables some SaaS vendors to offer applications using the freemium model.[19] In this model, a free service is made available with limited functionality or scope, and fees are charged for enhanced functionality or larger scope.[19]
A key driver of SaaS growth is SaaS vendors' ability to provide a price that is competitive with on-premises software. This is consistent with the traditional rationale for outsourcing IT systems, which involves applying economies of scale to application operation, i.e., an outside service provider may be able to offer better, cheaper, more reliable applications.[20]
Most SaaS providers offer a multi-tenant architecture. With this model, a single version of the application, with a single configuration (hardware, network, operating system), is used for all customers ("tenants"). To support scalability, the application can be installed on multiple machines (called horizontal scaling). In some cases, a second version of the application is set up to offer a select group of customers access to pre-release versions of the applications (e.g., a beta version) for testing purposes. This is contrasted with traditional software, where multiple physical copies of the software — each potentially of a different version, with a potentially different configuration, and often customized — are installed across various customer sites.[21]
Although an exception rather than the norm, some SaaS providers do not use multitenancy or use other mechanisms—such as virtualization—to cost-effectively manage a large number of customers in place of multitenancy.[22] Whether multitenancy is a necessary component for software as a service is debatable.[23]
Horizontal SaaS and vertical SaaS are different models of cloud computing services.[24] Horizontal SaaS targeting a broad variety of customers, generally without regard to their industry. Some popular examples of horizontal SaaS vendors are Salesforce and HubSpot. Vertical SaaS, on the other hand, refers to niche market targeting a narrower variety of customers to meet their specific requirements.
Although not all software-as-a-service applications share all the following traits, the characteristics below are common among many of them:
SaaS applications similarly support what is traditionally known as application configuration. In other words, like traditional enterprise software, a single customer can alter the set of configuration options (a.k.a. parameters) that affect its functionality and look-and-feel. Each customer may have its own settings (or: parameter values) for the configuration options. The application can be customized to the degree it was designed for based on a set of predefined configuration options.
For example, to support customers' common need to change an application's look-and-feel so that the application appears to be having the customer's brand (or—if so desired—co-branded), many SaaS applications let customers provide (through a self-service interface or by working with application provider staff) a custom logo and sometimes a set of custom colors. The customer cannot, however, change the page layout unless such an option was designed for.[citation needed]
SaaS applications are often updated more frequently than traditional software,[25] in many cases on a weekly or monthly basis. This is enabled by several factors:
The application is hosted centrally, so an update is decided and executed by the provider, not by customers.
The application only has a single configuration, making development testing faster.
The application vendor does not have to expend resources updating and maintaining backdated versions of the software, because there is only a single version.
The application vendor has access to all customer data, expediting design and regression testing.
The service provider has access to user behavior within the application (usually via web analytics), making it easier to identify areas worthy of improvement.
Accelerated feature delivery is further enabled by agile software development methodologies.[26] Such methodologies, which have evolved in the mid-1990s, provide a set of software development tools and practices to support frequent software releases.
Because SaaS applications cannot access a company's internal systems (databases or internal services), they predominantly offer integration protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs) that operate over a wide area network.[27]
The ubiquity of SaaS applications and other Internet services and the standardization of their API technology has spawned the development of mashups, which are lightweight applications that combine data, presentation, and functionality from multiple services, creating a compound service. Mashups further differentiate SaaS applications from on-premises software as the latter cannot be easily integrated outside a company's firewall.
Inspired by the development of the different internet networking services and the so-called web 2.0 functionality, many SaaS applications offer features that let their users collaborate and share information.
For example, many project management applications delivered in the SaaS model offer—in addition to traditional project planning functionality—collaboration features letting users comment on tasks and plans and share documents within and outside an organization. Several other SaaS applications let users vote on and offer new feature ideas.
Although some collaboration-related functionality is also integrated into on-premises software, (implicit or explicit) collaboration between users or different customers is only possible with centrally hosted software.
OpenSaaS refers to software as a service (SaaS) based on open-source code. Similar to SaaS applications, Open SaaS is a web-based application that is hosted, supported and maintained by a service provider. While the roadmap for Open SaaS applications is defined by its community of users, upgrades and product enhancements are managed by a central provider. The term was coined in 2011 by Dries Buytaert, creator of the Drupal content management framework.[28]
Andrew Hoppin, a former Chief Information Officer for the New York State Senate, has been a vocal advocate of OpenSaaS for government, calling it "the future of government innovation." He points to WordPress and Why Unified as a successful example of an OpenSaaS software delivery model that gives customers "the best of both worlds, and more options. The fact that it is open source means that they can start building their websites by self-hosting WordPress and customizing their website to their heart’s content. Concurrently, the fact that WordPress is SaaS means that they don’t have to manage the website at all -- they can simply pay WordPress.com to host it."[29]
Several important changes to the software market and technology landscape have facilitated the acceptance and growth of SaaS:
The growing use of web-based user interfaces by applications, along with the proliferation of associated practices (e.g., web design), continuously decreased the need for traditional client-server applications. Consequently, traditional software vendor's investment in software based on fat clients has become a disadvantage (mandating ongoing support), opening the door for new software vendors offering a user experience perceived as more "modern".
The standardization of web page technologies (HTML, JavaScript, CSS), the increasing popularity of web development as a practice, and the introduction and ubiquity of web application frameworks like Ruby on Rails or Laravel (PHP) gradually reduced the cost of developing new software services, and enabled new providers to challenge traditional vendors.
The increasing penetration of broadband Internet access enabled remote centrally hosted applications to offer speed comparable to on-premises software.
The standardization of the HTTPS protocol as part of the web stack provided universally available lightweight security that is sufficient for most everyday applications.
The introduction and wide acceptance of lightweight integration protocols such as Representational State Transfer (REST) and SOAP enabled affordable integration between SaaS applications (residing in the cloud) with internal applications over wide area networks and with other SaaS applications.
Some limitations slow down the acceptance of SaaS and prohibit it from being used in some cases:
Because data is stored on the vendor's servers, data security becomes an issue.[30]
SaaS applications are hosted in the cloud, far away from the application users. This introduces latency into the environment; for example, the SaaS model is not suitable for applications that demand response times in the milliseconds (OLTP).
Multi-tenant architectures, which drive cost efficiency for service providers, limit customization of applications for large clients, inhibiting such applications from being used in scenarios (applicable mostly to large enterprises) for which such customization is necessary.
Some business applications require access to or integration with customer's current data. When such data are large in volume or sensitive (e.g. end-users' personal information), integrating them with remotely hosted software can be costly or risky, or can conflict with data governance regulations.
Constitutional search/seizure warrant laws do not protect all forms of SaaS dynamically stored data. The end result is that a link is added to the chain of security where access to the data, and, by extension, misuse of these data, are limited only by the assumed honesty of third parties or government agencies able to access the data on their own recognizance.[31][32][33][34]
Switching SaaS vendors may involve the slow and difficult task of transferring very large data files over the Internet.
Organizations that adopt SaaS may find they are forced into adopting new versions, which might result in unforeseen training costs, an increase in the probability that a user might make an error or instability from bugs in the newer software.
Should the vendor of the software go out of business or suddenly EOL the software, the user may lose access to their software unexpectedly, which could destabilize their organization's current and future projects, as well as leave the user with older data they can no longer access or modify.
Relying on an Internet connection means that data is transferred to and from a SaaS firm at Internet speeds, rather than the potentially higher speeds of a firm's internal network.[35]
Ability of the SaaS hosting company to guarantee the uptime level agreed in the SLA (Service Level Agreement)
The standard model also has limitations:
Compatibility with hardware, other software, and operating systems.[36]
Licensing and compliance problems (unauthorized copies of the software program putting the organization at risk of fines or litigation).
Maintenance, support, and patch revision processes.
According to a survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society , 83% of US IT healthcare organizations are now using cloud services with 9.3% planning to, whereas 67% of IT healthcare organizations are currently running SaaS-based applications.[37]
Software as a service data escrow is the process of keeping a copy of critical software-as-a-service application data with an independent third party. Similar to source code escrow, where critical software source code is stored with an independent third party, SaaS data escrow applies the same logic to the data within a SaaS application. It allows companies to protect and insure all the data that resides within SaaS applications, protecting against data loss.[38]
There are many and varied reasons for considering SaaS data escrow including concerns about vendor bankruptcy,[39][40] unplanned service outages, and potential data loss or corruption. Many businesses either ensure that they are complying with their data governance standards or try to enhance their reporting and business analytics against their SaaS data.
One notable criticism of SaaS comes from Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation, who refers to it as Service as a Software Substitute (SaaSS).[41] He considers the use of SaaSS to be a violation of the principles of free software.[42] According to Stallman:
With SaaSS, the users do not have even the executable file that does their computing: it is on someone else's server, where the users can't see or touch it. Thus it is impossible for them to ascertain what it really does, and impossible to change it.
^ Panker, Jon; Lewis, Mark; Fahey, Evan; Vasquez, Melvin Jafet (August 2007). "How do you pronounce IT?". TechTarget. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
^ Turner, Brian. "What is SaaS? Everything you need to know about Software as a Service". TechRadar. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
^ "Definition of Software as a Service (SaaS) - Gartner Information Technology Glossary". Gartner. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
^ "What is Software as a Service (SaaS): A Beginner's Guide - Salesforce". Salesforce.com. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
^ "IT Channel Glossary". CompuBase. March 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
^ "Saas startup ideas". Startup. 24 June 2021.
^ "Software as a service (SaaS)–based products - AWS Marketplace". docs.aws.amazon.com. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
^ "IBM cloud strategy". www.ibm.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-13.
^ Fox, A.; Patterson, D. (3 Jan 2014). Engineering Software as a Service: An Agile Approach Using Cloud Computing. Strawberry Canyon LLC. ASIN B00CCEHNUM.
^ Mahalle, Abhishek; Yong, Jianming; Tao, Xiaohui (2021-05-05). "Challenges and Mitigation for Application Deployment over SaaS Platform in Banking and Financial Services Industry". 2021 IEEE 24th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD). Dalian, China: IEEE: 288–296. doi:10.1109/CSCWD49262.2021.9437798. ISBN 978-1-7281-6597-4.
^ OECD (2015-10-05). OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy, Action 1 - 2015 Final Report. OECD Publishing. ISBN 978-92-64-24104-6.
^ Gaw, Jonathan (Oct 20, 1999). "Ladouceur Named CEO of FutureLink". Los Angeles Times.
^ Software, Services. "Software as a Service (SaaS)".
^ "What is SaaS (Software as a Service)? Everything You Need to Know". SearchCloudComputing.
^ "USPTO Service Mark". Alexandria, VA: USPTO.
^ Ferrari, Elena (2010). Access Control in Data Management Systems. Synthesis Lectures on Data Management. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-60845-375-7. Retrieved 2012-02-13. [...] a new emerging option is represented by the Database as a Service (DbaaS) paradigm [...]. DbaaS is regulated by the same principles as Software as a Service (SaaS) and basically means the delivery of the typical functionalities of a database management system in the cloud.
^ "Microsoft describes software plus services". InfoWorld. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ Levinson, Meridith (2007-05-15). "Software as a Service (SaaS) Definition and Solutions". CIO. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
a b c Byron Deeter and Ryan Jung (July 2013). "Software as a Service Pricing Strategies" (PDF).
^ "Build vs. Buy: How to Know When to Buy Software or Build It Yourself". Business 2 Community. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
^ Hacigümüş, Hakan; Balakrishna, R. Iyer; Chen, Li; Mehrotra, S. (2002). Executing SQL over encrypted data in the database-service-provider model. Proceedings of the 2002 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data. pp. 216–227. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.64.8974. doi:10.1145/564691.564717. ISBN 978-1581134971. S2CID 6241358.
^ Wainewright, Phil (19 October 2007). "Workstream prefers virtualization to multi-tenancy". ZDNet (World Wide Web log). CBS Interactive. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
^ Carraro, Gianpaolo (21 June 2008). "I can't believe we are still talking about whether saas == multi-tenancy..." MS Developer network (blog). Microsoft. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Muppidathi, Anbu (July 10, 2020). "Horizontal to Vertical to Micro-SaaS". Forbes.
^ Creese, Guy (18 May 2010). "SaaS vs. Software: The Release Cycle for SaaS Is Usually (Not Always) Faster". Blog. Gartner. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Kuhnen, Eric (8 January 2008). "Jumping to SaaS? Take Agile Software Development Along with You". DevX. QuinStreet. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Dulin, Oleg (15 December 2015). "3 sets of APIs your SaaS platform needs". InfoWorld. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
^ Buytaert, Dries (24 January 2011). "Acquia product strategy and vision". Dries Buytaert weblog. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
^ Hoppin, Andrew (9 January 2014). "OpenSaaS and the future of government innovation". OpenSource.com. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
^ Lisserman, Miroslaw (20 December 2010). "SaaS And The Everlasting Security Concerns". Community. Forrester Research. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Arthur, Charles (2010-12-14). "Google's ChromeOS means losing control of the data, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
^ Adhikari, Richard (2010-12-15). "Why Richard Stallman Takes No Shine to Chrome". Linux Insider. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
^ Stallman, Richard (2011-09-20). "Who does that server really serve?". Boston Review. GNU Project. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
^ Hill, Benjamin Mako (1 Feb 2009). "Show Me the Code". Revealing Errors. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
^ Gallaugher, John. "Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology". Catalog. Flat World Knowledge. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
^ "Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS) in Cloud Computing. This is not right. Services". CloudComputingSec. 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
^ "2014 HIMSS Analytics Cloud Survey" (PDF). Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. June 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2020 – via Amazon Web Services.
^ Wilson, Deborah R; BonaPart, Alexa (7 August 2009). "Develop a Framework for SaaS Application Business Continuity Risk Mitigation". Gartner. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ May, Richard. "Software Escrow whitepaper" (PDF). UK: Virtual DCS.
^ "Software Escrow: Is Escrow dead?". 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
^ Stallman, Richard. "Who does that server really serve?". GNU Operating System. The Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
^ Stallman, Richard (18 March 2010). "Who Does That Server Really Serve?". Boston Review. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
CONFIDENTIALITY / COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This site and my information and any attachments contains the PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION of Fred Finkelstein & Irondesigner DBA / LLC mutually, Inc., its affiliated corporations or legal entities, and is intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail or invited to this site, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unlawful interception, dissemination, disclosure, printing or copying of this e-mail or site or any attachments is strictly prohibited under the Electronics Communication Privacy Act (ECPA), 18 USCA 2510, 18 USCA 2511, and any applicable laws. If you have received this e-mail or viewing this site in error, please delete or destroy it & close down, including all attachments or copies, and immediately notify us by e-mail at mechanicalengrg@gmail.com
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse