Page 4
Page 5
There are two main software implementation
models for businesses: an on-premises software
implementation model and a hosted SaaS software
implementation model. When a business decides that
they want to implement SaaS, they should research
which model would ofer most beneft.
Not only should a business compare SaaS software
services against their research criteria, but also against
traditional on-premises software applications.
Cost is an obvious research criterion, and the software
implementation model with the cheapest upfront
costs will be favored by most businesses. However,
businesses should not just base their fnal selection
on cost alone. Other research criteria should also be
considered, including:
• The fexibility that each software implementation
model ofers. On-premises software applications
generally ofer businesses with more fexibility but
they usually have higher upfront costs than SaaS
applications.
• Potential risks that each software implementation
model may pose. For example a SaaS
implementation model may potentially threaten a
businesses’ privacy, because their business-related
data is being transferred across the Internet, and
in most cases is being stored within a software
vendors data centers.
• Licensing-related issues. For example, how many
users can access a single instance of a particular
software application if SaaS is being used, and will
a SaaS service provider charge extra if more users
than what are allowed use a single instance of a
particular software service?
• How much storage capacity will SaaS service
providers give to their customers and what are the
costs for additional storage?
• What kind of support is ofered by the software
vendor and is this support free?
• Additional costs which may not be as obvious, for
example, the cost of an IT professional to manage
on-premises software applications, or the costs
of providing training to teach employees how
to connect to and use SaaS software application
services.
A business should compare both models (where
applicable) to the research criteria above. Two other
research criteria that a business can use is whether
they will be able to easily migrate back to an on-
premises software implementation model in the
future, once SaaS has been implemented and what
the long-term prospects of their SaaS service provider
are.
The next step for them involves negotiating a suitable
contract with their SaaS service provider.
Many SaaS service providers often do not provide
formal Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to their
clients. This is because they do not want the
additional responsibility. Instead, SaaS service
providers will often have best efort delivery clauses in
their contracts, but this guarantees nothing to a client
and can be easily abused by a software vendor. In
order to protect themselves and ensure that they get
exactly what they pay for, a business should request a
reasonable Service Level Agreement contract.
Businesses will also want to ensure that there are no
hidden costs in their contract. For example, is there
a clause which states that their subscription only
includes a certain number of transactions per month
and that additional transactions will incur charges?
Will customer support remain free or will a business
be charged after a certain number of support tickets
have been used up (if a ticket-based support system is
used)?
Finally, a business will want to confrm what recovery
and security related clauses are in their contract. For
example, what backup procedures are in place, if
any? Will the service provider be liable for a breach
or corruption of their client’s data when it is stored
within their own data centers (after all, it should be
the service provider’s own responsibility to secure
their own data centers).
These are all important considerations when
negotiating a SaaS contract and businesses should be
unafraid to ask for what they require.
Use best practice implementation methods
Once a business has justifed implementing SaaS
and negotiated a suitable contract, they can
then implement SaaS as a part of their software
infrastructure. The implementation of SaaS software
services is a relatively straightforward process.
However, businesses should still follow best
practice procedures that they would follow when
implementing on-premises software (or any other
new technology for that matter), in order to help
minimize problems.
Some of these best practice procedures are:
Re-confirming the aims and objectives that
the new SaaS solution will help to achieve
A business should already have a good idea about
what their new SaaS software services will help them
to achieve. However, after negotiating a suitable
contract, a business should again confrm that the
SaaS services will help them meet their goals. If this
is still the case, then a business can go ahead and
implement SaaS.
Building a suitable team
Once SaaS has been implemented, a business may
require a number of IT professionals to manage and
maintain their new software services. The roles should
be defned and a business should also create a team
(or group of teams) that will look after new SaaS
oferings before they are implemented.
Some of the roles within a business that has a SaaS-
based software infrastructure include a SaaS software
administrator, a user group committee (who will
suggest changes in order to fne tune software
services for a business), as well as a SaaS software
developer (who will be able to make the changes that
the user group committee suggests).
Defining a clear timeline
A business should clearly defne milestone dates as
well as dates for when important tasks should be
completed.
Configuring the SaaS solution to meet their
specific needs
A business may also need to carry out confgurations
to their existing infrastructure before implementing
the new SaaS software services.
Some of these confgurations and changes might
consist of hardware-based changes, network-based
changes or software-based changes. Businesses
should always plan for changes to avoid any
unforeseen problems.
Adopting solid data security practices
Although the security of a business’s software services
and data are in the hands of a business’ SaaS service
provider, this doesn’t meant that a business has no
power at all when it comes to security.
Some things that a business can do include
ensuring that their SaaS service provider has a data
protection guarantee, and complies with industry
standards. Businesses should look into their provider’s
background and fnd out what security they have in
place to protect their data centers, what backup and
disaster recovery procedures they have in place, if any,
and how they go about securing each of their client’s
data.
Finally a business should clearly defne roles and
access rights within their own organization (again this
is a process that would also be carried for on-premises
software solutions). For example, workstation users
may only have access to restricted versions of a
software service, while administrators would have
access to the full versions.
Adopting a solid support structure
A business
will want to decide how to support their SaaS
software services, which employees will be assigned
to the job (i.e. existing employees or additional IT
professionals) and how these services will integrate
with software from third-party software vendors.
One mistake that businesses can easily make when
adopting SaaS is to think that they no longer have to
carry out software support and maintenance related
procedures. Although SaaS service providers will carry
out software upgrade procedures, data management
procedures and support-related tasks, it is still down
to the end-user to ensure that they provide additional
support to make sure the software services meet their
exact needs.
Finally, it can pay have a second or third choice SaaS
service provider in mind. The SaaS software market is
still maturing and it is very likely that a SaaS service
provider could merge with another company or be
taken over. By having a second or third SaaS service
provider in the wings, it can provide an extra level of
preparedness.
For more information: Check out our newly updated Software as
a Service (SaaS) Specialist Level Complete Certifcation Kit
“Not only should a business
compare SaaS software services
against their research criteria, but
also against traditional on-premises
software applications. “