Following up on an article that we did in our first issue of the newsletter on Web 2.0, I have decided to go a step further and try to explain the software delivery behind it all. Web 2.0 applications are based on a model known as Software as a Service (SaaS). This is a delivery model where a vendor develops a web-native application and hosts and operates the application for use by its customers over the internet. A user will not pay for owning the software but for using it.
SaaS is a low cost way for business to obtain the same benefits of commercially licenced software. It does this by eliminating the initial high cost of purchasing and implementing new software. So far successes have been recorded in application areas such as customer relationship management, video conferencing, human resources, accounting and email.
Software delivered using SaaS has the following characteristics:
- Network-based access to, and management of commercially available software
- Activities that are managed from central locations rather than at each customer’s site, enabling customers to access applications remotely via the web.
- Application delivery that is typically closer to a one-to-many model
- Centralized features updating
Though not very popular with Zimbabwean organizations, it has taken off in other countries. The diagram below shows just how organizations all over the world area using the model.This model will not make the IT department redundant as some may think but only provides more options for tools that one can use. So the next your company requires to buy new software find out if there is a SaaS option out there.
