How the SaaS (Software-As-A-Service) model affects the improvement of business processes

One of the first questions about business process improvement (BPI) and the use of technology was:

Does technology drive processes?

Prayed…

Does the process drive the technology?

While many believe that process should drive technology because you just want to spend your limited technology budget on the most efficient process possible, there is an exciting change taking place in the information technology (IT) environment with the increasing use of Major Software-as-a-Service Model.

The SaaS model is the next generation of software deployment models. Over the last decade, companies have moved away from the traditional software model (in which the company provided the infrastructure to host the application, customized the solution based on specific company requirements, provided the necessary IT support, and took care of updates). every three to five years) to the application service provider, or ASP, model (where the provider hosted a software application on its hardware and leased a single instance from a company, allowing for some degree of customization).

The ASP model did not require companies to purchase hardware on site and provided the opportunity for less expensive and faster software implementation. By moving to the ASP model, companies hoped to reduce the total cost of ownership for implementing a technology.

Today, the SaaS model is growing rapidly and rapidly defining the way companies deploy software applications. You can think of SaaS as the next generation ASP, with the key difference being that all clients reside on the same instance. In this model, the provider has the responsibility to increase capacity and scalability. They continually conduct research and development, which allows them to provide more frequent improvements to customers without the need for major updates. SaaS sales increased from 2010 to 2011 by 21% and estimates indicate that sales will more than double by 2015.

While companies enjoy reducing their investment in technology, they don’t necessarily want to use the exact same product that their neighbor uses. However, the SaaS model relies on application standardization to keep costs down, which means limited or no customization. So how do companies balance the financial benefit of the SaaS model with the need for unique business processes, as companies differentiate themselves from the competition by their business processes, among other things?

A company has to identify what really differentiates the business from the competition. What are the core competencies of your company? Accept that not all business processes are created equal, and focus resources on building (or improving) business processes around your differentiators. For example:

• Yew Investigation and development distinguishes your company, focus on processes such as idea generation, market research and product development.
• Yew provision of services sets it apart, focus on processes like order processing, order fulfillment, and customer service.
• Yew employee retention It is essential to focus on employee-centric processes, such as recognition and succession planning.

Take advantage of the lower cost SaaS model offers for non-core business processes, but continue to improve the business processes that differentiate you from your competition.

Copyright 2012 Susan Page