tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16907650.post3320191932520775803..comments2023-10-23T08:51:50.686-07:00Comments on Strategy-Driven Execution: Perspectives from DreamForce ’09: On the current state of SaaS in the Large Enterprise with a focus on current SaaS BI trendsNenshad Bardoliwallahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14253061134385821014noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16907650.post-87797250128515069942009-11-24T22:52:28.609-08:002009-11-24T22:52:28.609-08:00Nenshad
You hit upon a very important benefit of ...Nenshad<br /><br />You hit upon a very important benefit of using SaaS. As we all know about the experience of using on-premise software, with 2 year release cycles and 1 - 2 year upgrade cycle, companies using on-premise systems are 2-4 years behind the latest, assuming they had budget to upgrade. In the meanwhile, a typical SaaS company would have 8-10 releases and the customers get to leverage the new capabilities instantly.<br /><br />Regarding your comment of moving into applications, if you look at the history of BI application market, only companies that sold software that captured the data have been able to sell add-on analytic applications successfully. Or they already sold a platform and then added apps. In the SaaS space, I only know of Adaptive Planning who has had reasonable success and now Host Analytics. I think although the market is ready for SaaS applications, it is extremely hard to capitalize a startup that focuses on SaaS and the application and can develop all features in the necessary time frame to be successful. Application customers demand a more complete set of functionality and because the target market is smaller, logistically ramping up sales and marketing is hard. It is possible to do this with initial rounds of funding of $20M+ and smart development. I think until the investment climate turns around it will be hard to put together a SaaS BI app company that is funded for success. <br /><br />--Ajay DawarAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com