SaaS, infinitely configurable?
As the SaaS hype cycle continues to climb, deficiencies are becoming apparent, such as true configurability of the desired solution, in other words if it’s merely a canned app, aren’t we just talking about ASP? Click more below to see what’s up SunGard’s sleeve relative to SaaS. I’ve been itching to blog specifically about our SaaS strategy for several months, as we’ve been working diligently on what I would argue is the natural evolution of Software-as-a-Service.
To set the context, consider the celebrated market leader of the SaaS approach, Salesforce.com. Clearly, Salesforce.com has revolutionized the way we think about software delivered in service form, and kudos to their continued efforts in making inroads into proliferating the benefits. Back in October (at the Dreamforce conference), the Apex language and platform for easier extensions, additions, etc. expanding the “reach, scope, and depth of applications available through the AppExchange and will enable any type of enterprise application to be delivered on demand”, see apex press release. Great move, as it fosters the service delivery concept by allowing anyone to leverage the AppExchange SaaS platform.
The next meaningful move was yesterday’s announcement that an integrated billing feature is now part of the platform, see monetization press release. Dubbed “AppStore” the initiative provides a list of commercial services for marketing, selling, invoicing and delivering applications via AppExchange. As a firm believer in the tremendous value of delivering software in service form (“on-demand”), this is truly exciting. Likely we will soon see SaaS registries pop up all over the place with integrated commercial services as well as openness to extend, even register new software.
Having said all that, in environments where integration and customization is commonplace (i.e. situations where an off-the shelf, canned, on-demand application won’t fit), there is a need to add something to the on-demand model. In these environments, the real value of SaaS will come when the software made available is truly configurable (infinitely configurable) which is what SunGard is aiming at contributing to the SaaS movement through a new offering branded “Infinity”. The keys to “infinitely configurability” are standards and decomposed services. The standards provide automated service-oriented ways in which composite solutions come together with less work, and decomposed services ensure there is useful content to draw from.
The reason for the focus on this for a company like SunGard (as a provider of software to the Financial Services industry) is because most of our solutions are intenerated tightly with our customer environments. Configurability is a key part of the value we provide to Banks, and I believe we can bring this focus and context to the SaaS movement. Infinity includes infrastructure services (such as the commerce support in AppStore), which support the delivery of components to the financial services industry for the purpose of configuring them into composite solutions, such as: Support call center Training portal Collaborative forms Quality center (CoE) for testing components for compliance Marketplace to search for applicable components Provisioning components for production consumption Billing (commerce services) Registry to host the definitions of each service component Composite solution shell Utility stack for integration, data mapping, extension, etc. The infinite configurability is enabled by a combination of the composite solution shell and the utility stack mentioned above. Together they enable a custom solution that works more like an admin configuring a user with comprehensive entitlements, as opposed to a software developer building a custom solution. Real powerful stuff… More on Infinity to come…
March 6th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
[…] I’ve commented several times on SaaS (see SaaS Infinitely Configurable, Trend of Software Delivery Methods, Software-as-a-Service vs ASP). Today, I’d like to extend those comments into the context of configurable solutions. This is an area near and dear to my heart, because in the financial services sector, (the market I’m exclusively focused in), the SaaS model as it is generally offered, mostly doesn’t fit. The reason is a CRM-like application doesn’t model the solutions servicing the needs of the typical financial institution. In the financial services space, seldom can you simply log-in to an online application without intense data and functional integration to existing back-office systems. […]