Software As A Service - SaaS Is Growing In Popularity

The terms Software as a Service - SaaS is referring to a growing trend in software where the application is hosted on a remote server and accessed through the internet or a thin client. The computer resources upon the host machine are used by clients granted license to access the program. The client normally pays less initially to access the program than in buying a license to install programs on their own machines.

Computer programs and software have become more complex and the cost to develop them has increased commensurately. Even critical software may well stretch the small business budget when purchasing the programs for installation on their own PCs. This business approach helps spread the cost of development over many users and make the initial investment cost more affordable for marginally profitable or start up businesses.

The customer finds benefits in this method of software distribution in that their own machines are freed of the necessity of running sometimes conflicting software. The updates and patches to many programs can be onerous for smaller businesses to keep up with, particularly those without an IT department. While security is always an issue in business, the onus for providing adequate security measures for the software is placed upon the developers and hosts for the software rather than the computer owner.

When an employee needs to use a particular business program at another machine or from the home computer, a new license was often required for the new machine. With the SaaS distribution model, programs which are licensed to a company or a particular number of users from a group, may be accessed from any machine. The removal of the necessity for a licensed software installation on each machine allows the customer a lot more freedom in where and when they can utilize a particular program.

Software as a service has grown rapidly in popularity and subscribers. Software conflicts which may have been an issue in the past are not frequent with in this program delivery solution, since usually no new applications need to be added for the remotely hosted software to work. A more powerful processor with more memory may be necessary for other applications for a business but with software as a service, the computing power of a machine may not factor in at all.

Software hosted remotely can be convenient and cost effective but it also can pose some concerns. A customer using an application provided as a service must depend on the expertise and security measures of the remote host. The host may hold data pertaining to time sheets, payroll, taxes and more and most of this is very sensitive information. Also changes and patches can affect the way software operates and this in turn can affect the service provided. Remotely hosted software which presents a single interface for multiple users may lack the ability to customize configurations. However, despite these drawbacks, the delivery solution is useful and very effective.

The positive aspects of this method of software deployment are so overwhelming that the few negatives are generally outbalanced. Many companies offer an SLA which outlines the level of service that is to be maintained by the software provider. Many of these developers also engage the services of security experts to help keep information stored on the server safe from external attacks or intruders.