Phil Wainewright writes a very informative blog over at eBizQ that brings in his thoughts, observations, and views on Cloud Computing and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). Really good stuff that I highly recommend.
Every now and then I need to pinch myself though. In a recent post, he wonders if standalone Enterprise 2.0 (think, “social networking tools inside the corporation”) vendors will survive as more SaaS vendors integrate these types of features into their products. It’s an interesting thought, but already?
For this to happen, all customers of software will have moved at least one of their “ubiquitious apps” to a SaaS vendor that has incorporated one or more of these corporate-social feature-sets.
Although Salesforce.com have made great in-roads, and Google has shown how to get into large corporations or government agencies with gmail, two numbers from Gartner should give pause:
Given that SFDC revenues will likely account for 10% of the forecast SaaS revenues for 2013 and the huge gap between the two numbers overall, it appears likely that the Enterprise 2.0 vendors will have a large enough market to go after.
Taking a step back a bit, considering where we are in the technology adoption curve for SaaS overall, and how much uncertainty exists around how the landscape will look ultimately, isn’t it too early to call the demise of any SaaS player?
For some time to come, there will be a need for technologies and applications that operate at the Platform level to fill gaps and smooth interoperability between products, solutions, and platforms. Even though ultimately many of these point solutions will be acquired or spun-out as economics and strategic positioning dictate.
Rather than looking over their shoulder for a SaaS player integrating their functionality, they should be more concerned about serving the market that’s out there, providing value, and generating revenues.
We still have a long way to go…
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