Comments on: Hello “On Demand” hype machine

By: Jason Lemkin

Jason Lemkin — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 11:53:15 +0000

SoS is powerful in two flavors – (1) replacement for existing client-server software solutions (Salesforce, SuccessFactors) and (2) enabling new applications that wouldn’t be possible without being SoS (Basecamp, SixApart, most wikis, etc.). SoS in the first category is exciting because it can come up from the bottom – but in the end it pretty much becomes the same thiing as the client-server solution (Salesforce being the prime example – in the end it becomes a heavily IT managed, centralized CRM solution at larger companies). NextGen SoS that leverage collaboration & communication in novels ways may be more interesting, because they don’t just repackage old software genres onto the web. But the key common factor is a decision-maker being able to deploy with little or no IT resources – as SoS has become acceptable across top enterprises, this is creating a real revolution.

By: Aria - Revenue Process Automation

Aria - Revenue Process Automation — Wed, 31 May 2006 05:59:42 +0000

Hype or Hysteria? Viewpoints on SaaS

As the SaaS marketplace hype kicks into full gear, the online media and marketing communications folks are having “field day”. Not a day goes by that there aren’t more conflicting articles published about the benefits vs. risks of the Software…

By: Business Certainty

Business Certainty — Fri, 26 May 2006 06:55:36 +0000

Daily SaaS Links for 2006-05-26

[Daily Post from Cesura] Business Certainty: Mission Impossible IV: The Hunt for the SaaS Chip"Your mission, should you except it, is to infiltrate the Warlord’s lair, retrieve the chip, and restore peace to the on-demand marketplace and global bu…

By: Jason Corsello

Jason Corsello — Wed, 24 May 2006 16:18:21 +0000

Matt,

Sorry if i was being a little critical. I actually think the buzz/hype around on-demand is over and we have moved to a real, proven service delivery model. SuccessFactors is in a market totally $1.7B of which more than 60% of the new deployments will be deployed “on-demand”. The buzz is over…”on-demand” is real!

By: MartinE

MartinE — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:01:13 +0000

As General manager of the sales division of an ‘on demand’ (actually the preferred term is SaaS)software provider that has been in business for seven years I can assure you that this is not a ‘buzzy’ subject. We have thousands of businesses using our services, paying per user per month. We’re seeing a huge uptick in acceptance and understanding of the model. Microsoft’s Live initiative is their belated attempt to enter the field. Google is unveiling on demand apps almost weekly.
The start-ups you mention will take time to scale. Delivering software as a service is complex and requires a committment to very high levels of reliability, which, in turn, require a lot of infrastructure design and software designed to be delivered via the web (not a repurposed desktop app). Salesforce.com’s recent series of outages have real business consequences- imagine you have a thousand salespeople who can’t access their SFA info for hours. It adds up really fast.
IMHO, this is where its all going. You’ll log into all your software in the future and you’ll never pay for upgrades.

By: Matt Marshall

Matt Marshall — Wed, 24 May 2006 05:35:47 +0000

No doubt, Jason, there are some hot companies, and perhaps SuccessFactors is one of them. It’s just that Silicon Vally is following its usual cycle. This is the buzz/hype era for on demand.

By: jason.corsello@comcast.net

jason.corsello@comcast.net — Wed, 24 May 2006 04:23:47 +0000

Too “buzzy”. Come on Matt. If you looked under the hood you would realize SuccessFactors has significant “real” revenues, and is profitably, unlike every web 2.0 company you write about!

By: Matt Marshall

Matt Marshall — Tue, 23 May 2006 12:40:40 +0000

Paul, sure, there is a lot of promise in some of these companies, but too buzzy right now.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 23 May 2006 11:02:23 +0000

Want yet another one (it may be a surprise)? Here you are, an ‘On-demand PayPal(r)’ service: http://On-lineCard.com. Welcome to the future!

By: Paul McNamara

Paul McNamara — Tue, 23 May 2006 11:02:19 +0000

On-demand (or Software-as-a-Service) represents a major shift in how companies consume information technology. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, it was not uncommon for factories to have coal-fired generators in the back lot that would produce the electricity for the factory. Around the turn of the century factories quickly discovered that it made a lot more sense to buy electricity from companies that specialized in managing power plants. Information technology is now undergoing a similar transformation.

I think On-Demand is less a ‘flavor of the month’ and more about a significant re-alignment in the software industry. Time will tell if the traditional packaged software companies can adapt. I’ve written about this topic at http://www.charterstreet.com.