Technology Disruptions: Cloud Computing, the SaaS Ecosystem and New Business Models
Loading ...Prasanto K Roy (President & Chief Editor, Cybermedia) started the session by mentioning the evolution of the technology (actually the disruption of the technology) & associated business models. He led the session by first requesting each speaker to introduce themselves and then moderated the whole session in the Q & A format – sequentially asked questions to each speaker on their viewpoints about SaaS ecosystem.
Mr. Shaliesh Kumar (VP Engg, AdventNet Development Center India), started the session by briefly introducing his company’s SaaS based products – ZOHO (a classical SaaS suite of applications), which is an equivalent of IT admin in an SMB. When asked ‘Why SaaS?’, Mr. Shailesh said ‘technology disruption has created a lot of value for both the vendors and the customers’. The customer saves cost by low entry barrier offered in SaaS based model. Collaboration is another advantage.
From the vendor perspective, he can pass cost benefits to the consumer. Secondly, SaaS platform offers ability to do quick upgrades. Third, support cost is less and finally you have full measurability on the end user’s activities. According to him, SMBs are always the preferred adopters of SaaS based models. Large organizations have less chances of adopting SaaS based model.
Srikant Rao (CEO, Affordable Business Solutions) then introduced his business. His company sells hosted and managed software applications to recruit, retrain and train IT professionals. Again, they also target SMBs. In addition, they also offer some specialized services. When asked about ‘Product bundling through SaaS’, Srikant said “Yes, there is a clear value of collaboration through bundling of multiple softwares using SaaS”. For. e.g one can integrate an ERP application with a Business Intelligence Software and a communication platform such as Webex, and offer the mixture on a SaaS based model.
On bundling, he highlights the opportunity of creating flexibility in pricing (without threatening the stand alone products) using SaaS based model. As an analogy, he gave the example of ‘Thali’ offered by many restaurants – which solves lot of decision-making challenges.
Mr. Kiran Dattar (MD, Webex Communications) then introduced his SaaS based application – Webex, a globally successful SaaS based communication platform. An early adopter of ‘network as a platform’ model, Webex helps businesses scale by offering communication solutions. When asked on ‘partnering’ he said “Creating an ecosystem of multiple SaaS providers is highly valuable to both the vendors and the cusotmers’. Webex uses the same while working with other vendors to upgrade the value offered to its customer.
The session was then opened to the audience for Q & A. Data Security (in SaaS model) was one of the concerns raised by one of the attendees. Responding to the same, Mr. Srikant Rao, took the question to the basic level by sharing that majority of the customers don’t even have a secure internet connection. Unless the security of the network is addressed, the issue of data security be it on SaaS or any other model, can’t be addressed.
Mr Kiran then acknowledged the importance of the security. He mentioned how using various third party certifications and guarantees, Webex addresses this concern of data security.
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