Earlier this month, THINKstrategies and Datamation teamed up to conduct a quick survey to get a reality check regarding current Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) adoption, satisfaction and expectations.

The results are in. Click here to read about our findings.

As you’ll see, our quick survey has found that SaaS acceptance, deployment and utilization are rising. It also confirmed that most SaaS users are satisfied with the benefits of these solutions.

However, the handful who are not pleased with their SaaS experiences raise important issues which every IT and business decision-maker needs to keep in mind.

Fortunately, the overall SaaS industry is doing a good job satisfying the expectations and needs of customers. As a result, our survey suggests continued growth for the SaaS market, and broader cloud computing services industry.

THINKstrategies announced today that Jigsaw has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
 
The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 by THINKstrategies as an initiative aimed at bringing greater attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.
 
Jigsaw is a leading provider of business information and data services that leverages user-generated content contributed by a global business-to-business community of over one million members to give users access to contact information for 21 million business people and profiles of 3 million companies. Jigsaw provides data-as-a-service (DaaS) through a variety of low-cost and easy to … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that Deposco, Inc.  has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 to bring attention to SaaS companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

Deposco offers next-generation supply chain solutions to manufacturers, distributors, retailers and 3PL’s. Past supply chain solutions were limiting due to their expense, closed architecture, lack of mobility, and inability to share information with trading partners. Deposco’s SaaS delivery model, rapid implementation and easy configuration of customer specific business processes drive quick return-on-investment (ROI) with minimal up-front investment.

Click here to read about the measurable business benefits which Deposco’s customers have gained from the company’s … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that Rosslyn Analytics has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
 
The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 by THINKstrategies as an initiative aimed at bringing greater attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

Rosslyn Analytics’ pre-built applications run on Rapidintel, a web-based automated spend analytics (SaaS) platform that aggregates data from multiple sources, such as accounts payable, procurement, travel and procurement cards, into a single online view of all organizational spending activity. Rapidintel automates the collection, categorization, reporting and monitoring of enterprise-wide spend data.

Click here to read about … Read More »

There are many myths that are propagated by legacy software vendors to discredit the insurgent Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud computing movements. But, the SaaS industry has also harbored its own myths for many years as well.

For instance, many SaaS vendors aren’t truly ‘on-demand’. You can’t acquire and utilize their web-based applications instantaneously because they lack the automated provisioning capabilities. And, in many cases they don’t want you to use their online applications ‘by the drink’ because it undercuts the predictable revenue stream which is essential to the SaaS model.

The second and related myth is that most SaaS solutions are not ‘pay-as-you-go’. Instead, you are often asked to pay for a one-year agreement up front before you can utilize the SaaS app.

Despite these limitations, SaaS solutions have flourished because they are still far more flexible and more cost-effective than their legacy … Read More »

Everyone is talking about Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), but we want to know what you or your clients are really doing with SaaS…and why – and if people like the results.
 
So, Datamation and THINKstrategies are teaming up to conduct a quick SaaS survey to gauge the level of interest and use of these online, ‘on-demand’ services.
 
 We’re conducting this survey because we’d like to learn what types of services are being used or considered, and why or why not organizations are using these services. And, we’d like to know how SaaS users feel about their experiences, and what SaaS providers must do to convince others to take advantage of these services.
 
 The survey consists of eleven (11) quick questions…and a short set of optional demographic questions to help us understand your views based on your company size, location and industry. We are also looking … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that Cloud9 Analytics has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. 

The BoSS Awards program was announced in January 2009 by THINKstrategies as an initiative aimed at bringing greater attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

Cloud9 Analytics is the global leader in on-demand business analytics delivered directly to line-of-business managers. Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator Suite for salesforce.com, enables sales leaders to more effectively manage their opportunities and teams. The result is a dramatic increase in deal conversion rates, higher CRM adoption, and improved forecast accuracy.

Click here to read about Cloud9 Analytics’ … Read More »

My travels this week have taken me from Miami to San Francisco, for Parallels Summit and Pacific Crest Securities’ Emerging Technology Summit to hear and see the latest developments in the ‘clouds’.

In Miami, I witnessed the emergence of a key new player in the rapidly evolving cloud computing industry. Parallels is not a new company, but it has recently realigned its various corporate capabilities into a singular focus on cloud computing enablement.

The company is specifically targeting the vast community of service providers — hosting companies, VARs and telcos — that are supporting the IT needs of small businesses with limited or no IT staff.

In short, Parallels is seeking to help these service providers replicate the success of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the mainstream small business marketplace.

Although AWS has found a very receptive audience among start-ups and enterprise developers, it hasn’t generated much interest with mainstream small businesses which lack … Read More »

THINKstrategies announced today that TeamSupport.com has been named the latest winner of the Best of SaaS Showplace (BoSS) Awards program, which is aimed at promoting the measurable business benefits being delivered by today’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

The goal of the  BoSS Awards program is to bring greater attention to SaaS and cloud computing companies that are producing tangible business benefits for specific user organizations. These benefits include increased sales, lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, faster operations and greater profitability.

TeamSupport.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Muroc Systems, Inc., a Dallas-based holding company focused on developing productivity enhancing software products delivered via the SaaS model. TeamSupport.com’s integrated SaaS-based customer service, product management, and bug tracking system allows manufacturers, their customers, and key client-focused teams to better communicate so they can reduce the time and cost to perform critical business functions.

Click here to read … Read More »

In my latest column for E-Commerce Times, I suggest that “once again, Microsoft may be a late entrant in the market with a set of solutions that lag those offered by today’s industry innovators, but it is still in a good position to regain its momentum and become a dominant force in the rapidly evolving cloud computing marketplace.”

Click here to read why.