SaaS - The Evolution is Now

A new twist or an old paradigm renamed... Software as a Service (SaaS), once known as Application Service Providers or ASP's has revolutionized distributed computing.� Salesforece.com and Google are leading the way through Customer Relationship Management and WebTop(the virtual desktop) applications found at Google.� As a prior CEO and CIO of two software companies and now as the VP of Global Services for Astadia I have been able to watch SaaS evolve and pick up momentum in nearly every vertical market...

Companies are looking for business solutions that are easy to use, easy to deploy and are cost conscious to assist them in improving their bottom line. The power of Salesforce is its ease of use, elegant user interface and reporting analytics. The true untapped power of Salesforce is the AppExchange and the ability to build custom solutions in days that once were entire applications running in independent silos. Once these applications are created, they can be quickly deployed through certified AppExchange Data Centers like OpSource, one of only two certified AppExchange Data Centers in the world, enabling users to harness the power of the SaaS application.

These applications could never cross the data chasm to provide business leaders with the latest competitive analytics or business metrics to ensure profitability. Now as Salesforce.com launches yet another successful version of their software, Summer07, you begin to ponder how a company is able to build powerful functionality into a live ecosystem two or three times a year while traditional software companies are taking years to make the turn to the next upgrade. As another example, on the heels of the Summer07 release it was announced that Winter08 will be released in November 2007 adding additional functionality demonstrating the power of the SaaS ecosystem.

And what about Google, a company that built itself on the simple ability to search the web, where is Google heading and how is Google helping you today? We recently opened offices in the UK and have found that sharing data around projects both internal and external have been more collaborative through the power of Google apps or as I call them the WebTop, my virtual desktop that I can experience where ever I travel across the World. It's almost been taken for granted like the light switch on the wall in your home or office. Imagine your world today without email, Instant Messaging (IM) and now SaaS, how could you function, how could you communicate to your colleagues. We've gone virtual and our experiences are blazing new trails in an untamed universe called the internet.

About Lonnie Wills:
I have been around technology most of my life starting with an Apple computer when I was eight and then a commodore 64 where I learned the basics of programming at the young age of 10. Through High school I became very involved in electronics and made robotic devices that attached externally to my commodore (I wasn't your normal high school kid). I began my career at IBM as a Network Engineer and ultimately left IBM to start my own software company called e-botz, a bot technology company maximizing business intelligence. Over the past several years I have been involved in many technology leadership discussions and debates as both a CEO and CIO. Now as the VP of Global Services for Astadia I enjoy the opportunity to help companies build SaaS solutions to improve profitability and business intelligence.

To learn more about Astadia: www.astadia.com