3 trends in the SaaS Space

As i trawl through pages of predictions, trends and forecasts by analysts, tech reporters and industry watchers, trends in the SaaS space stand out distinctly and are observable by me on the ground.

1. Cloud Computing driving the viability and adoption of SaaS
   • Low cost infrastructure availability is letting entrepreneurs, startups and even big enterprises experiment in the SaaS space without having to shell out thousands of dollars for infrastructure.
   • Plug and play services that dole out platforms (Force.com, VmForce, Azure), security wrappers (Navajo Systems), handle identity and federation management aspects (Okta, PingIdentity, Symplified Technologies, etc)
2. Convergence of the TV, Computer and the Mobile is creating opportunities for SaaS
   • The 3 screens we know of are converging. This means a greater leverage for software play. Write once and Run Everywhere will become the norm of the day. What better way to do this than the SaaS way. Central software that  detects hybrid screens, screen/gadget types and renders itself to optimally function in the form factor of the gadget will be the natural next thing. Roll out upgrades to your software at once across multiple gadgets. (Kony Solutions)
3. Cloud Service Ecosystems are the next big thing in the SaaS space
   • Service aggregators in the form of cloud service providers, telecom service providers are driving the next wave of SaaS adoption. Be it DreamSimplicity, JamCracker or Etelos or even TSPs like AT&T, NTT DoCoMo: all of them are creating services based marketplaces – an ecosystem that will help you pick, choose, try and buy service, provide feed back, rate services, switch service suppliers, etc. To experience how such a marketplace would look like, go to to Google Chrome WebStore.

3 places I can see SaaS in action

People often ask me about experiencing SaaS. Being a concept still taking off and the absolute resemblance to installed software, people most times are totally unaware that services they consume on the web are in fact SaaS. Hence this post to help recognize SaaS.
1. Google Docs: Go to http://docs.google.com and signup/login. You can immediately start working on a Word document, a power point presentation and are presented with an interface uncannily similar to Microsoft word. You can create word document, edit it,email it and even collaborate in real time. What’s more…You do not have to install any software.
2. Dream Simplicity Marketplace: Go to http://www.dreamsimplicity.com and sign up/login. You can subscribe to a whole set of online software from a variety of vendors/providers and create a complete dashboard of tools you find useful.
3. Google Chrome Web Store: Download Google Chrome browser and install. Search of Google Chrome Web Store on the internet.

You will be surprised to see the number of applications most of which are free that can be installed on top of the Chrome browser and you can bring them up when needed. The tools are categorized into a number of buckets like Productivity, Games, Kids, etc. Most tools are rich and pack a  lot of power in terms of features they offer. Just as good as any tool you might have installed on your PC.
Do you feel you have experienced SaaS now?