4. SaaS: Management
SaaS applications are characteristically completely managed by the vendor. The implementation of management tasks and responsibilities is opaque to the subscriber and Service-level agreements (SLAs) govern the quality, availability, and support commitments that the provider makes to the subscriber. The key driver here being to reduce the costs incurred by IT within an organisation especially when concerned with non-differentiating services.
Management is a pervasive characteristic across all application and location characteristics but may differ in terms of individual management requirements. Typical non-functional management requirements of a SaaS application include:
· Provisioning – that covers installation of application ranging from a zero install as per a web application to a no hassle or no user install.
· Configuration and customisation of functions, features, look and feel etc.
· Billing – see SaaS licensing
· Monitoring – health of the application such as reliability, performance, security etc.
· Support – user support etc.
Perhaps not surprising is that many of the management issues are tertiary concerns for a start-up SaaS provider, especially those who adopt the web hosted model. Most time is spent concentrating on developing the value proposition itself. Much of the management information is gleaned through the production of adhoc reports from the hosting and database tiers.
It is interesting on one hand that billing is most often handled through this adhoc approach given that it is central to how the SaaS Provider handles its income. In reality while they are undoubtedly focused on generating their revenue stream in terms of business function the fundamental truth behind this is that many providers do not yet understand the dynamics of their market place and so to invest in a particular licensing model at such a volatile stage is viewed as a waste of investment and energy.
It does not take much to imagine that there will be a rise in SaaS providers in the areas of SaaS Licenising, Management and other non-functional components as the SaaS models evolve and further differentiate ... hmmm maybe I need to build something;)!
