European businesses are increasingly seeing the potential benefits of cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS), according to a new study.
Research by analyst firm IDC (www.idc.com) has found that 60 per cent of businesses expect to be at least planning a migration to cloud services, with cost savings and efficiency as the main incentives.
Furthermore, it has been shown that SaaS will help drive the cloud grow from being worth £10.7 billion globally to £27 billion by 2013.
The growing value of software as a service (SaaS) to businesses has been highlighted once again by a prominent media organisation.
In an article for the BBC, business editor Tim Weber claims that cloud computing and SaaS is going ‘mainstream’ and that organisations are seeing it as a way of cutting their capital expenditure.
Mr Weber also lays out the main reasons for the popularity of SaaS, including the cost-effectiveness, the scalability, mobility and the fact that services are always kept up to date.
The author adds: “Cloud computing can be applied nearly anywhere - the small retailer that needs a secure e-commerce website quickly and cheaply, the ferry operator that has huge computing spikes in May and June while 90 per cent of its IT system idle the rest of the year or the fire service that needs extra computing power to predict the movement of forest fires during the summer.”
Businesses reluctant about adopting SaaS were recently advised to dip their feet in the water first by trying non-critical services.
The findings of a new survey by Microsoft suggests the number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) using software as a service (SaaS) is continuing to rise.
According to the company’s second annual Microsoft SMB/Partner Insight Report, 12 per cent of SMBs now use SaaS solutions, compared to ten per cent a year ago.
It is also predicted by the firm’s partners that, by the end of this year, 19 per cent of these businesses will have at least some sort of solution in place.
Birger Steen, vice president of small and medium business at Microsoft, said: “The most competitive SMBs are investing in IT that will not only help protect and strengthen their business, but prepare them for success when economic conditions improve.”
Forrester Research recently reported that the global IT market will grow by 7.7 per cent this year, partly driven by SaaS.
The new frontier for BI software appears to be in the cloud. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) aspect of cloud computing is rapidly creating a new wave of Business Intelligence software benefits and challenges.
BI software on a SaaS basis has the ability to provide BI capabilities to a large number of staff rapidly at a low cost.
Howard Dresner, principal of Dresner Advisory Services and the man who coined the phrase Business Intelligence, said that “with a SaaS approach to BI, businesses can deploy a basic BI application in a day, compared with six or more months required to develop and deploy on-premise solutions. Still, implementing either a cloud-based point solution or an entire suite with on-premise legacy systems is not a trivial affair”.
Regardless, with huge demand, many new BI software cloud vendors have launched in the past five years. Dozens of start-ups have attracted venture capital along with paying customers. They run the gamut from providing full BI suites to point solutions for customer analytics, performance management, workforce analysis and other tasks. And more are expected to launch this year. The established, legacy BI software players aren’t sitting on their haunches either. They’re also moving to offer hosted versions of their apps.
Claritum has recently partnered with MicroStrategy software to provide support for improved decision-making through realtime business intelligence,
Under this agreement, Claritum’s users can seamlessly use the Best of Breed Business Intelligence platform including intuitive management reporting, interactive performance dashboards and powerful analytics.
Businesses are benefitting from cloud-based solutions which allow them to “do more for less”.SaaS expert Martino Corbelli explained why such solutions could appeal to enterprises.
A number of studies in recent months have shown that many businesses are considering SaaS for at least some of their IT needs.
One of these studies, conducted by Mimecast, found that 62 per cent of IT decision makers in the US and Canada are giving it careful consideration, with the technology, financial and legal sectors most likely to adopt it.
He said: “Cloud services mean that businesses are able to get the benefits of familiar applications but without the hassle and cost of managing the hardware, software licensing, upgrades and maintenance themselves.
“The continuing difficult financial landscape has meant that businesses have been tasked to do more with less and IT departments are under additional scrutiny to demonstrate the value they provide to the business.”
Mr Corbelli also pointed out that the need for refreshing hardware and software is eliminated by SaaS.
In a time when companies are searching for new ways to save money, a thrifty solution has unexpectedly emerged from the IT department.
Not often equated with frugality, Information Technology (IT) departments are usually very expensive to keep and maintain. They require expensive equipment, software, and a well-trained staff to keep the software up to date.
Companies have traditionally viewed their IT departments as a necessary means to stay competitive and further business functions. However, a new business model is rethinking the relationship between businesses, IT departments, and software vendors. This model reduces the expense of establishing, maintaining, or upgrading important software.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a service delivery model that allows a company to purchase a subscription for the software it needs from a vendor. In turn, the vendor agrees to host the applications on their own servers and maintain it, including handling all issues at the site. The vendor also agrees to provide regular upgrades as part of the agreement.
This is in stark contrast to the traditional relationship held between business and vendor. It used to be that businesses purchased licenses for every computer that would use the software, in addition to paying for a separate contract to train IT staff to maintain the software and respond to programming defects that might arise. When a software upgrade became available, the business had to either pay for the new program or else risk losing ground in the market.
SaaS reduces the enormous upfront cost to IT development, which means a faster return on investment for the company, as well as a more informed decision making process based on real-time information.
As a hosted, monthly subscription service, SAAS allows a business to avoid the risk of making a huge investment with a single vendor. Instead, a company can make quick transitions to another vendor if something better comes around or the vendor cannot deliver what is needed. In this format, the vendor has to provide a quality product to maintain its relationship with the business. In the meantime, the vendor is responsible for providing security and backing up files, giving the business less to worry about.
SaaS has radically changed the business landscape by introducing a service that reduces risk, while saving time and money. It reduces the upfront cost of acquiring and deploying new software, giving small-sized companies and medium-sized companies a better chance to compete with larger enterprises.
Mounting evidence suggests that in 2010, the hottest segment in BI (business intelligence) software will revolve around offerings delivered from the cloud, thanks to increased product sophistication, strained IT budgets and other factors.
A new IDC report finds the SaaS BI market will experience triple the growth of the market overall, soaring at a compound annual growth rate of 22.4 percent through 2013, although actual revenue totals will remain small compared to on-premise BI applications.
There are plenty of good reasons to adopt SaaS (software as a service) BI, according to a new report from Forrester Research.
It can get BI tools to typically under-served users, such as front-office workers, a lot faster, analyst Boris Evelson wrote. “The model may also become more attractive as enterprises turn to on-demand software for other needs, such as CRM (customer relationship management).
“The more applications (and therefore BI data sources) are moved into the cloud, the fewer reasons there may be to build and operate BI applications in-house,”
Claritum has recently partnered with MicroStrategy software to provide support for improved decision-making through realtime business intelligence,
Under this agreement, Claritum’s users can seamlessly use the Best of Breed Business Intelligence platform including intuitive management reporting, interactive performance dashboards and powerful analytics.
Cutting costs will continue to be the most pressing issue for purchasing next year, according to a poll of delegates at the ProcureCon conference in Brussels this week.
In response to the question “What is the key issue for your department in 2010?”, almost one-third (32 per cent) said it was reducing costs by 5 per cent or more.
Managing risk and maintaining continuity of supply was voted the second most important issue.
Asked “What has helped increase your organisation’s efficiency most?”, 36 per cent gave the answer SRM, while 20 per cent said shared service and purchase-to-pay technology has proved most effective. For 16 per cent, outsourcing and offshoring had led to greater efficiency and a further 16 per cent had seen the greatest improvements through e-sourcing and e-auctions.
MicroStrategy, Anbieterin von Business Intelligence-Software (BI), gab die Erweiterung ihres OEM-Programms um neue Produktfunktionen für “Software-as-a-Service”-Unternehmen (SaaS) bekannt. Die BI-Plattform des Unternehmens stellt integrierte Reporting- und Analysefunktionen bereit. Softwareunternehmen und Technologieanbietern können ihr vorhandenes Produktangebot, um Funktionen für Reporting, Dashboarding, Analyse und automatische Warnmeldungen erweitern.
Mit dem aktuellen Release “MicroStrategy 9″ bietet das BI-Unternehmen besonders für das SaaS-Modell geeignete neue Funktionen. Diese umfassen unter anderem erweiterte Designfunktionen für Fachanwender, In-Memory-BI für eine höhere Datenskalierbarkeit in größeren mandantenfähigen Systemen und eine verbesserte Sicherheit bei der Integration mit Drittanbietern. Zudem unterstützt eine vereinfachte Plug-in-Architektur und die Möglichkeit unternehmensspezifische, eigene mehrsprachige Reporting-Terminologien innerhalb derselben Multi-Mandanten-Anwendung zu verwenden, den Einsatz im SaaS Umfeld.
Die MicroStrategy BI-Plattform ist bestens für Implementierungen als SaaS-Modell geeignet:
• Skalierbarkeit und hohe Leistung für wachsende mandantenfähige Umgebungen
• Einheitliche Metadaten zur Minimierung von Entwicklungs- und Wartungsaufwand
• Zentrale Administration zur Senkung der Supportkosten
• Umfassendes Sicherheitsmodelll für die Nutzung und den Schutz sensibler Daten
• Skalierbarkeit auf mehrere tausend Benutzer
• Intuitive Bedienung für unterschiedlichste Anwendergruppen
• Offene Plattform zur Anpassung, Personalisierung und für das Re-Branding
• Entwicklungsumgebung für Internationalisierung und Sprachvarianten
Die Zahl der MicroStrategy-OEM-Partner wächst stetig. Dabei verzeichnen Unternehmen, die mit ihren BI-Implementierungen auf das SaaS-Modell mit MicroStrategy setzen, im OEM-Programm den größten Wachstumsanteil. Zu den SaaS-Anbietern, die kürzlich dem MicroStrategy-OEM-Programm beigetreten sind, zählen u. a. Autologue (USA), Claritum (GB), FreeWheel Media (USA), GAPbuster (Australien), TradeBeam (USA) und Xtiva (USA).
“SaaS-BI-Lösungen entwickeln sich zu einer zunehmend attraktiven Alternative für Unternehmen, die unternehmensweit wichtige BI-Daten nutzen wollen, aber nicht über die Ressourcen verfügen, diese Technologien im eigenen Hause zu implementieren”, so Sanju Bansal, COO bei MicroStrategy. “Unternehmen, die ein SaaS-Modell anbieten, finden in MicroStrategy einen Partner, der es ihnen ermöglicht, eine flexible und skalierbare, mandantenfähige BI-Architektur äußerst kostengünstig aufzubauen.”
MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq : MSTR), le leader mondial de la Business Intelligence (BI) d’entreprise, annonce l’extension de son programme OEM avec des nouveautés technologiques destinées aux éditeurs SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).
La plate-forme décisionnelle de MicroStrategy intègre des outils de reporting et d’analyse qui permettent aux éditeurs de logiciels et fournisseurs d’ajouter facilement (avec un minimum de coûts et de ressources de développement) des applications de reporting, de création de tableaux de bord, d’analyse et d’alerte ? leurs offres de produits. Les éditeurs SaaS choisissent MicroStrategy pour son évolutivité, ses possibilités de personnalisation et ses fonctions de sécurité.
MicroStrategy 9, dernière version de la plate-forme, offre de nouvelles capacités spécialement conçues pour les éditeurs SaaS, notamment : des fonctions améliorées de conception pour l’utilisateur final, une BI en mémoire pour accueillir un volume supérieur de données dans les systèmes partagés, une intégration plus sûre aux outils tiers, une architecture plug-in facilitant la personnalisation et une possibilité pour différentes entreprises d’utiliser leur propre terminologie de reporting, en plusieurs langues, dans la même application partagée.
La plate-forme décisionnelle MicroStrategy répond parfaitement aux exigences des éditeurs SaaS pour les déploiements BI :
• Évolutivité et performances élevées pour les environnements partagés en expansion
• Métadonnées unifiées pour réduire au minimum les efforts de développement et de maintenance
• Administration centralisée pour réduire les coûts et ressources de support
• Modèle complet de sécurité pour distribuer et protéger les données sensibles
• Évolutivité pour accueillir des milliers d’utilisateurs
• Facilité d’emploi pour une communauté d’utilisateurs très diversifiée
• Plate-forme ouverte qui facilité l’intégration, la personnalisation et le rebranding
• Capacités de développement pour gérer l’internationalisation et les dialectes
Le portefeuille de partenaires OEM de MicroStrategy n’a cessé de se développer, les sociétés qui choisissent MicroStrategy pour leurs déploiements BI SaaS représentant le plus important secteur de croissance du programme OEM. Parmi les éditeurs SaaS qui ont récemment rejoint ce programme, on trouve Autologue (États-Unis), Claritum (Royaume-Uni), FreeWheel Media (États-Unis), GAPbuster (Australie), TradeBeam (États-Unis) et Xtiva (États-Unis).
« La plate-forme décisionnelle de MicroStrategy contient les outils de sécurité, de personnalisation et Web en self-service requises pour offrir une solution matérielle, logicielle et applicative unique, tout en répondant toujours aux besoins spécifiques des clients », explique Daniel Schmidt, CIO de Constellation Software. « Cette capacité, associée à une évolutivité pour accueillir de nombreux utilisateurs et d’importants volumes de données, fait de MicroStrategy la plate-forme décisionnelle idéale pour les déploiements SaaS partagés. »
« Les solutions décisionnelles SaaS représentent une alternative de plus en plus attirante pour les entreprises qui doivent partager des données décisionnelles essentielles dans l’ensemble de leur structure, mais qui ne disposent pas de ressources suffisantes pour l’implémentation et la maintenance de ces technologies en interne », conclut Sanju Bansal, COO de MicroStrategy. « Avec MicroStrategy, les entreprises qui proposent un modèle SaaS peuvent créer, de façon extr?mement rentable, une architecture BI flexible, évolutive et partagée. »
Pour plus d’informations sur le programme OEM de MicroStrategy, consulter notre site web : http://www.microStrategy.com/partners/OEM
