Lessons learned while adding "as A Service" to software applications

Not just WHY you should SaaS-enable your software application, but also HOW to SaaS-enable it.

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Transitioning an application into a modern SaaS enabled offering in more of a challenge than many people realize or expect. Lately, we’ve been having lots of great discussions with industry leaders and ISVs about the need for SaaS-enabling applications. In my 4 years with Corent I have worked with ISVs, Cloud providers, CIOs, and System Integrators and have some great success stories and a few failures. I am going to attempt to share some of the lessons learned in this article.

Definition of SaaS

I have talked to many companies who believed they had a SaaS offering, where in fact they did not. In addition, we also see some customers who have a SaaS solution that is missing some of the features of a modern, fully SaaS-enabled application. At Corent, we have a specific definition of what a SaaS application entails, and one key element is the business model that must have a SaaS Provider role. The SaaS Provider takes fully operational responsibility for the application so that the subscribers don’t have to do anything except use the software. 

To truly have a SaaS application, a SaaS Providers’ offering must have the three pillars of SaaS, Tenancy Management, Operations Management and Commercial Management.



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Benefits of SaaS-enabling your applications

There are many great articles and webinars on the benefits of SaaS-enabling of your software applications, and they all basically come down to one thing – it makes it much easier and less risky for organizations to use your software. 

Some of my favorite articles making the case for SaaS are:

1.   https://info.microsoft.com/transform-your-apps-with-SaaS-leveraging-Microsoft-cloud-and-data-technologies-on-demand-registration.html

2.   https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/campaigns/isv-saas-playbook

3.   https://www.corenttech.com/images/downloads/Microsoft-Corent_next-gen_SaaS_e-Book.pdf

4.   https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2013/04/09/drive-business-process-innovation-with-saas-applications/   


Salesforce, one of the pioneers for the SaaS model, does a great job of summarizing the benefits of SaaS on their web page:

SaaS facilitates remote application hosting and delivery, making this the key advantage of SaaS: painless application access. Customers who use software as a service have no hardware or software to install, maintain, or upgrade. Access to these applications is easy because you just need an internet connection.

Additional benefits of SaaS include:

·    Widespread adoption

·    Lower initial costs

·    Painless upgrades and updates

·    Seamless integration

·    Instant data updates

·    Customizable use

·    Advanced security

·    Multiple backups (redundancies) 

·    Access on any internet-connected device

·    Scalable as a company grows

·    More accurate analytics and reporting


Use Cases for SaaS

I see several use cases for SaaS:

ISVs - This is the most obvious. ISVs who sell commercial products to their customers, can realize great benefits in agility, cost savings, and better customer information by SaaS-enabling their apps. Here is one good example https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190415005181/en/MapR-Technologies-Selects-Corent%E2%80%99s-SurPaaS-Platform-Bring

Private SaaS for Internal applications - CIOs of large companies can realize great benefits by SaaS-enabling their internal applications and offering them as a service to their internal customers. This is sometimes referred to as “Private SaaS”. You can read a great white paper on the topic here: 

 https://www.corenttech.com/images/downloads/Private_SaaS_SurPaaS_Brochure.pdf

Private SaaS for a Company’s Suppliers or Customers - Many companies use tools for their suppliers and customers, such as order entry systems, or supply chain systems. We recently talked to a company who had 28 installations of the same application for each country in which that they did business. When we discussed the potential savings by SaaS-enabling that application, they were significant.

You can read a case study of about a similar situation here https://www.corenttech.com/one-pager/Logistics_Application_CaseStudy.html

Spinoff Ventures – Sometimes organizations develop applications in-house and then find that they serve a purpose that other organizations that are not direct competitors could use. By SaaS-enabling the application they can create a spinoff SaaS offering company.

MyEKC is a great example of such case https://corenttech.com/one-pager/MyEKC_CaseStudy_MS_Azure.html

Incubating New Ventures with Open Source SaaS

Open source applications have provided a low-cost option for many startups. Not all Open Source applications offer a SaaS model. An organization with expertise or even interest in any open source software application, can start their own SaaS business with no capital investment or R&D to develop the software. By using the SaaS-enabled version of an open source application to launch a SaaS offering, they have a built-in base of potential customers who already use the software – or would like – to, and would be happy to get it as a SaaS offerings, making it easier and simpler for them as users. 

My company, Corent Technology’s SaaSify offering is able to quickly SaaS-enable virtually any open source application, and in fact has already SaaS-enabled dozens of open source applications. 

Mifos is a perfect example of such a case https://customers.microsoft.com/en-ca/story/810894-mifos-corent-azure

You can see the logos of some the application that are already SaaS-enabled below:

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How to SaaS-enable

This may be the most important issue in SaaS-enablement.  There are far too many failed SaaS projects, so it’s important to pick your SaaS-enablement approach correctly. While there is an abundance of material telling you why you should SaaS-enable your applications, there are not enough guidelines telling you how to SaaS-enable your products. In my assessment, there are three basic ways you can go

1.      Use an automated tool to SaaS-enable your applications. Corent SaaSify does exactly that. The benefits of this approach are many

a.      Much faster results. You can have your application SaaS-enabled sometimes in hours, usually in days, and rarely in weeks, compared to many person months/years required when rewriting code

b.      No change to your source code - The whole process is done through configuration

c.      Easy roll back - While I have never seen this requested, if for some reason the SaaS-enablement does not work for you, you can go back to your old way of doing things the next day

d.      Less costly - This is by far the least expensive way to SaaS-enable your application

2.      Use outside experts to SaaS-enable your application

a.      Some of the cloud providers have created SaaS factories to help you do this

                                                              i.     https://aws.amazon.com/partners/saas-factory/

                                                            ii.     https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/partners/introducing-the-google-cloud-isv-saas-center-of-excellence

b.      There are some SIs who specialize in SaaS-enablement

                                                              i.     https://aws.amazon.com/partners/saas-on-aws/partner-solutions/?partner-solutions-cards.sort-by=item.additionalFields.partnerName&partner-solutions-cards.sort-order=asc

c.      The advantage of this approach is that you have people with experience modifying your source code, and the risks of failure are much lower

d.      The disadvantage of this approach is that while they are working on SaaS-enabling your application, you will have to manage the complexities of adding features to your application while someone else is modifying your source code

3.      Do it yourself - This is the riskiest approach. Unless you have acquired skills on SaaS-enablement, this approach has the highest risk of failure. In addition, you are using resources that could be working on enhancing your core application to work on something that is most likely not their core competence. I should point out that developing the “as a Service” capabilities far exceeds the effort required for developing most applications

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Business Aspects of SaaS

While I have focused on the technical aspects of SaaS-enablement, the business aspects of transitioning to a SaaS model are just as important. The ISVs will have to address several issues

  • Pricing Model
  • Selling process
  • Use of Marketplaces
  • Compensation for Salespeople
  • Marketing strategy
  • Dealing with privacy laws of each country

About the Author

As the Senior Executive responsive for Strategic Alliances at Corent Technology, Sean Jazayeri is a seasoned IT executive. He has more than 30 years of experience in a broad range of IT and software development leadership roles including roles such as the CIO of Avanade, Director of Worldwide Operations for Microsoft Consulting Services, Business Manager to the CIO of Microsoft, and roles with premier consulting firms such as Accenture (Arthur Andersen MICD then), and Booz Allen Hamilton.  

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