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Software as a service

9 September, 2015 - 12:28

Since the earliest days of computing, users have had the choice of owning and operating their own computers or running their applications at a remote service bureau. Whether one used the service by submitting a deck of cards or by typing information at a time-sharing terminal, the service bureau owned and operated the equipment. 1

As computer costs fell and millions of computing professionals were trained, in-house computing grew much more rapidly than the service bureau business. Today, nearly every organization operates its own IT department and either purchases software or develops it themselves; however, a trend back to software as a service may be emerging. As network speed and reliability increase, the case for hosted applications improves.

Advantages to running software as a service include

  • The application can be run from anywhere, including by mobile workers
  • There are savings in in-house IT infrastructure and personnel
  • The service provider has specialized expertise and skilled employees
  • The software vendor gets rapid feedback from users and can make changes
  • The software can be continuously upgraded and debugged
  • Upgrades do not have to be installed on client machines
  • Initial investment by the user is minimized

On the other hand, there may be problems with software as a service

  • Intruders may be able to access the application
  • The service might not be as flexible and well tailored as software written in house
  • The service vendors may go out of business
  • The service vendor may alter the service, pricing, etc.
  • Data may be insecure at the vendor's site, particularly if it is out of the country
  • Exporting your data may be difficult or impossible, locking you into the service

It is clear that the decision as to whether to use a software service or to run your own software internally involves both business and technical considerations. Even if a service does everything you want, and it is cost effective, it will be a bad choice if the company servers are frequently down or the company goes out of business. Business contracts and service level agreements are as important as technical specifications.

Internet resources:

SalesForce.com was an early, successful vendor of software as a service. Company founder Marc Benioff expects hosted software to largely replace user-owned and operated software as networks spread and improve. Benioff feels hosted software levels the playing field between large and small organizations by enabling them all to use the same cheap, reliable programs. He also encourages outside programmers to use Salesforce.com tools to develop their own hosted applications. He describes his vision in this conference presentation.

The University of Arizona has turned to Google for electronic mail, and plans to use other Google services. ASU IT director Adrian Sannier explains why he made that choice in this blog entry. Sannier feels that consumer applications, not military or business, are now driving innovation.