SaaS vs. Premise Software

Module 5 Blog Discussion

How do you think the delivery model is going to affect any new developments in technology?

After reading and pondering over the new technological developments and how these might be affected by the delivery model, I believe that there is no question that Sofware as Service (SaaS) will, in not a too distant future, take over for Premise Software. Granted Premise Software can be customized to closely match the needs of an organization, but it seems to lose a great deal when it comes to agility, upgrades, speed with which upgrades can take place and cost either of custom upgrades or time lost.

What do you think of the future of on-premise technology?

 I believe that SaaS will take over and Premise Software could possibly become a thing of the past given speed and cost of competition in the business world are extreme. Every company is competing to provide the fastest service/delivery and if changes to software cause delays, organizations will look for technology that can keep up. Exclusivity and customization, which On-Premise software provides, will not be so important if update delays are integral to the nature of the software and affect the bottom line. Delays in service, as well as, the need to have a department exclusively devoted to maintaining the software systems are expensive and could even affect the company's credibility with its own employees.  A small niche software market will thrive in some instances.

In your opinion, what delivery model will be able to respond better to the three trends of social, mobile, and global?

I believe SaaS will be better able to keep up with the demands of the social trends, social, mobile and global, because it will be able to adapt faster to changing systems or available technological developments. SaaS seems to be geared for mass use. Look at what happened with telephonic communication! Initially is was very exclusive, mostly used by the wealthy and important.  Calls were placed by an trained operator and equipment was totally grounded to a specific location. Today we answer and take a free phone call placed from anywhere around the world at any given time of day totally for granted, not to mention being able to see one or several other people at the “end of the lines”. Quick, easy, economic access will be the keys of SaaS proliferation.

How will the trends of social, mobile, and global translate itself to HR software?  In other words, can you provide an example of how these three trends can benefits HR departments now and in the future?

I feel HR software will benefit from these social, mobile and global trends because it will facilitate control, supervision, communication and coordination of benefits of an entire organization’s workforce. One drawback is that there will be a tendency for the company, the HR department and the employees to totally rely on this software, making it difficult for some information to be communicated clearly to all employees or specific issues to be addressed.