Hi,
I read a piece of news this week that reminded me my SaaS posts.
Especially the post about the risks of SaaS.
The story in the news is actually about a good thing. A very large company (SAP) bought a start-up company (Coghead) with very interesting technology.
The down side of the story is that the service will be stopped "SAP will not continue selling the service, opting to use Coghead only as an internal tool for now".
The main damage was done to the customers who developed and used applications on Coghead "While customers can download data, apps built on Coghead aren't as mobile".
The customer's data will be downloaded but the application itself is probably lost. At least at first glance.
This has similarities to the risks in SaaS. The fact is that your favorite SaaS provider could simply stop the service. Even if it is done in orderly manner, the damage to you as a customer is substantial.
There is a twist in the story that gives a bright side and also has some reference to another post of mine.
Another PaaS provider (TeamDesk) is offering a migration of the application.
A great idea and also a step to solve this problem of PaaS.
Yours truly,
Noam
Hey Noam, thanks for the thoughtful posts. In some of your recent SaaS pieces, you have looked at costs and considerations for those looking at SaaS options. I would like to toss in a podcast that TrackVia did on a related subject. Given that the SaaS decision may become harder for companies to embrace with companies like Cohead closing, we put together a quick podcast with tips including:
1. Look at the price that the service chages. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
2. When you call the company, do you actually get to speak with a person.
3. Assess the risk of outages.
If you are interested in hearing the podcast, click here:
http://www.trackvia.com/blog/2009/03/02/saas-tips/
Thank for your comment. In these posts I just wanted to raise the issue of hidden costs os SaaS.
Noam