SAAS & ON-DEMAND SYSTEMS
Software Evaluation For SaaS or
Cloud Computing
SaaS and new enterprise software offerings have created a new dynamic for enterprise soft-
ware selection as opposed to traditional software selection. The cloud evaluation process for
software and services must consist of a different and more focused approach, including such
factors as importance of methodology, model differentiation, industry-specific expertise and
total cost of ownership.
—Dylan Persaud, managing director, Eval-Source
key technique to reduce risk, achieve ROI, areas of focus within the selection. Vendor-specific infrastruc-
minimize the chance of implementation fail-
ure and align business needs with organiza-
tional requirements is to have a software
ture, architecture and support will help predict reliability of a
good cloud product. Look for software that can adapt to
changing business models rapidly and the vendor’s past his-selection methodology in place. All of these benefits can be tory in delivery of the solution.
realized by how effective your evaluation was; not being exe-
To compare an in-house application to a SaaS model
cuted properly could spell disaster. A method that provides requires measurable metrics that can be ascertained from the
consistent results enables you to assess differentiation system. Issues such as variables of time for the solution, cur-
between vendors early in the evaluation process.
rent licenses, future licensing costs, data administration, stor-SaaS has spawned several new models of software billing. age costs, network management, integration costs to existing
It is imperative that organizations know the different types of systems, support costs per year and consequent years and
models they are evaluating and the nuances they contain. sometimes buyback should be heavily scrutinized.
Organizations must realize the difference between SaaS,
hybrid, hosted and in-house—and any combinations thereof.
The Outlook
The main differentiators are data, who owns it, how it is These areas described above have changed the way software
administered and stored, security of private, public, and semi- is purchased and sold. Once, too costly applications were a
private clouds, and understanding the implementation impli- barrier to entry for smaller companies to compete. Now SaaS
cations that each factor will cause.
can assist in profitability and enable rapid growth. The differ-Now more than ever, cloud evaluation has become impor- ences between in-house and SaaS evaluations are subtle, but
tant to organizations. Strategic size, fit, vertical industry they are enough to disrupt your business if the incorrect selec-expertise and similarities to existing clients should become tion is made.
