Moving to the Cloud: How Software as a Service is Changing Software

DataSync was featured in Prairie Business as an example of a leader in Software as a Service (SaaS) in the Northern Great Plains. The article focused on how the technology of Software as a Service has changed over the past decade, and how it is being shaped in the future. Ryan Schuster of Prairie Business wrote of the benefits of choosing SaaS over traditional software saying:

“SaaS providers allow customers remote access to multi-tenant software applications by logging onto a website. The level of individual customization of the software varies, but users avoid paying the generally higher up front costs associated with purchasing individual licenses and the hassle of downloading, upgrading, monitoring as well as handling data storage and security. Some smaller companies can avoid hiring IT staff altogether by using SaaS, while the IT departments of larger corporations are able to outsource some of their more expensive and time consuming tasks.

Once viewed as generic one-size-fits-all solutions that don’t work for all industries, sizes and types of companies, those perceptions are slowing beginning to change as higher levels of customization and sophistication are becoming available. Improvements in broadband internet availability and increased security features have made SaaS an increasingly attractive option for a wide variety of businesses, especially firms with operations in rural areas or a number of far-flung locations.”

DataSync CEO Mike Vetter was interviewed to give his thoughts on the evolving delivery model of SaaS.

“A lot of larger corporations are looking to SaaS to reduce their capital investment in IT. Our product can be installed on premise or hosted, but most of our customers pick the hosted version. Most small businesses choose (SaaS) because it costs less and you don’t have to invest a large amount of capital into an expensive IT infrastructure. Software as a Service is just a new delivery model. We’re generally not inventing new software. We’re just developing a new way to deliver it.”

Schuster notes that “industry experts expect software to continue to move to the cloud in the future, open up new markets and become more accessible and more customized to the needs of individual users.” Click here to read the full article.