Cloud is far from raining
Gartner study: 95 percent of companies are satisfied with SaaS. BITKOM: every third private user uses security services from the cloud
Software-as-a-Service, SaaS for short, is enjoying increasing popularity among companies as part of cloud computing. Sales in 2011 totaled over 12 billion US dollars worldwide. This is the result of the market research company Gartner, which surveyed 525 international companies from 12 industrial sectors in July. And more than 95 percent of those surveyed want to spend the same or even more money in the future on software that is operated by external service providers.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) is a key benefit of SaaS. The operating cost analysis shows all follow-up costs that arise after the purchase. The Gartner Group first popularized the term in 1987 when they identified four cost categories for a single PC: capital costs, IT support, IT administration, and end-user effort.
Carsten Kappler, Managing Director of Onventis GmbH, explains: “By providing the software via the Internet, companies save high initial investments in software and hardware. Implementation and upgrading are also covered by the monthly fee and you can go productive with the solution after a short time". The website crn.de quotes Sharon Mertz, Research Director at Gartner: “TCO is the strongest driver for SaaS in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while in Asia and North America simplicity and speed are the main reasons for choosing SaaS “.
Today, the TCO is also an important decision criterion in other sectors. "If companies want to keep the costs transparent, it is important not only to consider the purchase price, but also the follow-up costs for energy, repair and maintenance, spare parts and consumables," explains Robert Keller, Director of Business Services at Bizerba. The company offers a full-service contract, with a flat rate for all service work, and most recently TCO analysis, which provides the total cost of a label over a seven-year study period - similar to the total cost of driving a kilometer.
Companies are now also using cloud computing to improve their IT and internet security. One in six companies is already using security services from the cloud to fight viruses and authenticate users. This emerges from a press release by BITKOM. Security-as-a-Service gives all companies cheap, easy and customized access to security technologies, says BITKOM President Dieter Kempf. "Companies can thus better concentrate their resources on their core business". Private users are also increasingly purchasing IT security as a service from the Internet. Every third user already uses a security package from their Internet service provider. Kempf: "Cloud services make previously rarely used security technologies such as data encryption suitable for the mass market".
Source: Stamford [ plaintext ONLINE ]
