To SaaS or not to SaaS?
With traditional users of enterprise IT frequently turning to the opportunistic applications running in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, IT management teams are confronted with the need to balance quick results with long term supportability.While implementing a cloud based application to solve a point problem is very cost effective in short term, businesses often overlook the long term cost. A SaaS application may be a good fit for certain business needs at a certain point in time. However, keeping few points in mind early in the evaluation process will ensure that the long term "total cost of Ownership" (TCO) does not outweigh the quick benefits (and customers do not end up "paying the piper" later). 1) Value and quality of data relative to the company business model (core IP, competitive advantage) 2) Financial stability of the vendor 3) Ecosystem/customer base of the SaaS provider 4) Data protection, data ownership and data privacy contracts 5) Cost/b...