Software as a Service (SaaS) - TechTarget

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a cloud provider hosts applications and makes them available to end users over the ... Home Cloudappdevelopmentandmanagement Webservices SoftwareasaService(SaaS) TechAccelerator Whatispubliccloud?Everythingyouneedtoknow Prev Next Whatisaprivatecloud? sharedresponsibilitymodel Downloadthisguide1 Sharethisitemwithyournetwork: By WesleyChai, TechnicalWriter KathleenCasey, SiteEditor Softwareasaservice(SaaS)isasoftwaredistributionmodelinwhichacloudproviderhostsapplicationsandmakesthemavailabletoendusersovertheinternet.Inthismodel,anindependentsoftwarevendor(ISV)maycontractathird-partycloudprovidertohosttheapplication.Or,withlargercompanies,suchasMicrosoft,thecloudprovidermightalsobethesoftwarevendor. SaaSisoneofthreemaincategoriesofcloudcomputing,alongsideinfrastructureasaservice(IaaS)andplatformasaservice(PaaS).ArangeofITprofessionals,businessusersandpersonalusersuseSaaSapplications.Productsrangefrompersonalentertainment,suchasNetflix,toadvancedITtools.UnlikeIaaSandPaaS,SaaSproductsarefrequentlymarketedtobothB2BandB2Cusers. AccordingtoarecentMcKinsey&Companyreport,technologyindustryanalystspredictfurthergrowthinthesoftwareasaservicemarket,andexpecttoseethemarketforSaaSproductsnear$200billionby2024. Howdoessoftwareasaservicework? SaaSworksthroughtheclouddeliverymodel.Asoftwareproviderwilleitherhosttheapplicationandrelateddatausingitsownservers,databases,networkingandcomputingresources,oritmaybeanISVthatcontractsacloudprovidertohosttheapplicationintheprovider'sdatacenter.Theapplicationwillbeaccessibletoanydevicewithanetworkconnection.SaaSapplicationsaretypicallyaccessedviawebbrowsers. Thisarticleispartof Whatispubliccloud?Everythingyouneedtoknow Whichalsoincludes: 5typesofcloudskillsthatITprofessionalsshouldknow 8keycharacteristicsofcloudcomputing 10FAQsaboutcloudcomputing Download1 DownloadthisentireguideforFREEnow! Asaresult,companiesusingSaaSapplicationsarenottaskedwiththesetupandmaintenanceofthesoftware.Userssimplypayasubscriptionfeetogainaccesstothesoftware,whichisaready-madesolution. SaaSiscloselyrelatedtotheapplicationserviceprovider(ASP)andon-demandcomputing softwaredeliverymodelswheretheproviderhoststhecustomer'ssoftwareanddeliversittoapprovedendusersovertheinternet. Inthesoftware-on-demandSaaSmodel,theprovidergivescustomersnetwork-basedaccesstoasinglecopyofanapplicationthattheprovidercreatedspecificallyforSaaSdistribution.Theapplication'ssourcecodeisthesameforallcustomers,andwhennewfeaturesorfunctionalitiesarereleased,theyarerolledouttoallcustomers.Dependingontheservice-levelagreement(SLA),thecustomer'sdataforeachmodelmaybestoredlocally,inthecloudorbothlocallyandinthecloud. OrganizationscanintegrateSaaSapplicationswithothersoftwareusingapplicationprogramminginterfaces(APIs).Forexample,abusinesscanwriteitsownsoftwaretoolsandusetheSaaSprovider'sAPIstointegratethosetoolswiththeSaaSoffering. SaaSarchitecture SaaSapplicationsandservicestypicallyuseamulti-tenantapproach,whichmeansasingleinstanceoftheSaaSapplicationwillberunningonthehostservers,andthatsingleinstancewillserveeachsubscribingcustomerorcloudtenant.Theapplicationwillrunonasingleversionandconfigurationacrossallcustomers,ortenants.Thoughdifferentsubscribingcustomerswillrunonthesamecloudinstancewithacommoninfrastructureandplatform,thedatafromdifferentcustomerswillstillbesegregated. Thetypicalmulti-tenantarchitectureofSaaSapplicationsmeansthecloudserviceprovidercanmanagemaintenance,updatesandbugfixesfaster,easierandmoreefficiently.Ratherthanhavingtoimplementchangesinmultipleinstances,engineerscanmakenecessarychangesforallcustomersbymaintainingtheone,sharedinstance. Furthermore,multi-tenancyallowsagreaterpoolofresourcestobeavailabletoalargergroupofpeople,withoutcompromisingimportantcloudfunctionssuchassecurity,speedandprivacy. SaaSadvantages SaaSremovestheneedfororganizationstoinstallandrunapplicationsontheirowncomputersorintheirowndatacenters.Thiseliminatestheexpenseofhardwareacquisition,provisioningandmaintenance,aswellassoftwarelicensing,installationandsupport.OtherbenefitsoftheSaaSmodelinclude: Flexiblepayments.Ratherthanpurchasingsoftwaretoinstall,oradditionalhardwaretosupportit,customerssubscribetoaSaaSoffering.Transitioningcoststoarecurringoperatingexpenseallowsmanybusinessestoexercisebetterandmorepredictablebudgeting.UserscanalsoterminateSaaSofferingsatanytimetostopthoserecurringcosts. Scalableusage.CloudserviceslikeSaaSofferhighVerticalscalability,whichgivescustomerstheoptiontoaccessmoreorfewerservicesorfeaturesondemand. Automaticupdates.Ratherthanpurchasingnewsoftware,customerscanrelyonaSaaSprovidertoautomaticallyperformupdatesandpatchmanagement.Thisfurtherreducestheburdenonin-houseITstaff. Accessibilityandpersistence.SinceSaaSvendorsdeliverapplicationsovertheinternet,userscanaccessthemfromanyinternet-enableddeviceandlocation. Customization.SaaSapplicationsareoftencustomizableandcanbeintegratedwithotherbusinessapplications,especiallyacrossapplicationsfromacommonsoftwareprovider. SaaSchallengesandrisks SaaSalsoposessomepotentialrisksandchallenges,asbusinessesmustrelyonoutsidevendorstoprovidethesoftware,keepthatsoftwareupandrunning,trackandreportaccuratebillingandfacilitateasecureenvironmentforthebusiness'sdata. Issuesbeyondcustomercontrol.Issuescanarisewhenprovidersexperienceservicedisruptions,imposeunwantedchangestoserviceofferingsorexperienceasecuritybreach--allofwhichcanhaveaprofoundeffectonthecustomers'abilitytousetheSaaSoffering.Toproactivelymitigatetheseissues,customersshouldunderstandtheirSaaSprovider'sSLAandmakesureitisenforced. Customerslosecontroloverversioning.Iftheprovideradoptsanewversionofanapplication,itwillrollouttoallofitscustomers,regardlessofwhetherornotthecustomerwantsthenewerversion.Thismayrequiretheorganizationtoprovideextratimeandresourcesfortraining. Difficultyswitchingvendors.Aswithusinganycloudserviceprovider,switchingvendorscanbedifficult.Toswitchvendors,customersmustmigrateverylargeamountsofdata.Furthermore,somevendorsuseproprietarytechnologiesanddatatypes,whichcanfurthercomplicatecustomerdatatransferbetweendifferentcloudproviders.Vendorlock-iniswhenacustomercannoteasilytransitionbetweenserviceprovidersduetotheseconditions. Security.CloudsecurityisoftencitedasasignificantchallengeforSaaSapplications. SaaSsecurityandprivacy Thecybersecurityrisksassociatedwithsoftwareasaservicearedifferentfromthoseassociatedwithtraditionalsoftware.Withtraditionalsoftware,thesoftwarevendorisresponsibleforeliminatingcode-basedvulnerabilities,whiletheuserisresponsibleforrunningthesoftwareonasecureinfrastructureandnetwork.Asaresult,securityismoretheresponsibilityoftheindependentsoftwarevendorandthird-partycloudprovider. Despitetherapidadoptionofcloud-basedmodelsforfullyservicedsoftwareproducts,organizationsstillhavecertainreservationsaboutSaaSproductswhenitcomestosecurityandprivacy.Theseconcernsinclude: encryptionandkeymanagement; identityandaccessmanagement(IAM); securitymonitoring; incidentresponse; poorintegrationintobroader,company-specificsecurityenvironments; fulfillmentofdataresidencyrequirements; dataprivacy; costofinvestinginthird-partytoolstooffsettheSaaSsecurityrisk;and lackofcommunicationwithtechnicalandsecurityexpertsduringthesalesprocess. SaaSvs.IaaSvs.PaaS SaaSisoneofthethreemajorcloudservicemodels,alongwithIaaSandPaaS.Allthreemodelsinvolvecloudprovidersthatdelivertheirownhosteddatacenterresourcestocustomersovertheinternet. Wherethemodelsdifferisinthecompletenessoftheproduct.SaaSproductsarecompleteandfullymanagedapplications.IaaSislargelyoutsourcingdatacenterresources,andPaaSdeliversadevelopmentplatformandothertoolshostedbytheprovider'sdatacenter. SaaSapplicationusersdonothavetodownloadsoftware,manageanyexistingITinfrastructuresordealwithanyaspectofthesoftwaremanagement.Vendorshandlemaintenance,upgrades,support,securityandallotheraspectsofmanagingthesoftware. IaaSisusedbycompaniesthatwanttooutsourcetheirdatacenterandcomputerresourcestoacloudprovider.IaaSprovidershostinfrastructurecomponentssuchasservers,storage,networkinghardwareandvirtualizationresources.CustomerorganizationsusingIaaSservicesmuststillmanagetheirdatause,applicationsandoperatingsystems(OSes). PaaSprovidesaframeworkofresourcesforanorganization'sin-housedevelopers.Thishostedplatformenablesdeveloperstocreatecustomizedapplications.Thevendormanagesthedatacenterresourcesthatsupportthetools.CustomerorganizationsusingPaaSservicesdonothavetomanagetheirOSes,butmustmanageapplicationsanddatause. Usingpizzaasametaphorforclouddelivery SaaSvendorsandexamples TheSaaSmarketincludesavarietyofsoftwarevendorsandproducts.Industryplayersincludesmall,single-productvendorsallthewayuptocloudgiantssuchasAWSandGoogle. SaaSproductsarealsodiverse,rangingfromvideostreamingservicestoITbusinessanalyticstools.ThereareSaaSapplicationsforfundamentalbusinessapplicationssuchasemail,salesmanagement,customerrelationshipmanagement(CRM),financialmanagement,humanresourcemanagement(HRM),billingandcollaboration.EnterpriseSaaSproductsforspecificindustries,suchasinsuranceormedical,areknownasverticalSaaSproducts. SaaSproductsmaybeprimarilymarketedtoB2B,B2Cmarketsorboth.ExamplesofpopularSaaSproductsinclude: Salesforce GoogleWorkspaceapps Microsoft365 HubSpot Trello Netflix Zoom Zendesk DocuSign Slack AdobeCreativeCloud Shopify Mailchimp SaaSpricing Generally,usingaSaaSproductismorecost-effectivethanatraditionalsoftwarelicenseforenterprisesoftware,assetupandinstallationontohardwarearenotnecessary.SaaSproviderstypicallyuseoneofmanysubscription-basedpricingmodelsforcustomers. Free,orad-based.Aservicemaybefreeforusers,withtheSaaSprovidergeneratingrevenuethroughsellingadvertisementspace.Inthismodel,thereistypicallyanoptiontoupgradetoapaidtierthatdoesn'tincludeintrusiveads. Flatrate.Customersaregrantedaccesstothesoftware'sfullsuiteoffeaturesforafixedmonthlyorannualsubscriptionfee. Peruser.Pricingisdeterminedbyhowmanypeoplewillbeusingtheserviceforeachsubscription.Thereisafixedpriceforeveryuser. Perusertiers.Pricingtiersarebasedonarangeofhowmanyactiveuserscanexistonasinglesubscription. Storagetiers.Customersmayhavefreeaccesstoaservicebutwillberequiredtopayforstorageiftheywishtocontinueusingtheproductaftertheypassthefreelimit. Pay-as-you-go,orusage-based.Themorecustomersusetheservice,themoretheyarebilledandviceversa.  Peractiveuser.Thisincorporatesaspectsofthe"per-user"and"pay-as-you-go"strategies.Subscribersarebilledperuser,butonlyiftheuserhasbeenactivelyusingtheservicebeyondadefinedthreshold. Feature-basedtiers.Pricetiersaredeterminedbytheamountoffeaturesthesubscriberseeks.Inthismodel,reducedversionsofthesoftwarewithlimitedfeaturesareavailableforalowerpricethanthemaximumfunctionalitytier.Additionalfeaturetiersinbetweentheminimumandmaximumfunctionalitytiersmayalsoexist. Freemium.Theservicewillbegenerallyfreetousewithanentry-leveltier.However,therewilltypicallybefunctionalrestrictionsinplacethataredesignedtoupsellcustomerstoapaidtier. ThiswaslastupdatedinFebruary2021 ContinueReadingAboutSoftwareasaService(SaaS) 6SaaSsecuritybestpracticestoprotectapplications HowtochoosebetweenIaaSandSaaScloudmodels Topcloudprovidersin2021 ZixacquiresCloudAllybackupforSaaSdataprotection SecurityforSaaSapplicationsstartswithcollaboration RelatedTerms cloudarchitect AcloudarchitectisanITprofessionalwhoisresponsibleforoverseeingacompany'scloudcomputingstrategy. See complete definition cloudloadbalancing Cloudloadbalancingistheprocessofdistributingworkloadsacrosscomputingresourcesinacloudcomputingenvironmentand... See complete definition WhatisPaaS?Platformasaservicedefinitionandguide Platformasaservice(PaaS)isacloudcomputingmodelwhereathird-partyproviderdelivershardwareandsoftwaretoolsto... See complete definition DigDeeperonCloudappdevelopmentandmanagement SAPERP By:Alexander Gillis TheultimateguidetoERP By:David Essex SaaSERP By:David Essex SaaSERPvs.cloudERP:What'sthedifference? 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