Software as a Service Information System - Essay Example

Management Information System of the Introduction Will “Software as a service” going to dominate the next several years in information management is the big question among the practitioners and industry experts around the world. The term “software as a service” or commonly known as ‘SaaS’ is used to describe a process in which software is delivered to the end users over the internet and does not require any locally managed servers or applications. The business houses providing such services either charges from the end user as an on-going fee or can even use advertisements to pay for the services (Ryder, 2009). With the advent of technology as uprising of modern techniques, it is believed that the notion of “software as a service” will dominate the next few years of software business (Wainewright, 2011). SaaS has the ability to draw a new canvas of business. However, from the perspective of a business, the IT infrastructure needs to be advanced so as to support its functions (Guptill, 2012). This study intends to lay emphasis on the significance of “software as a service” in the present days and will try to establish how this concept is going to dominate the next several years in information management. Discussion The notion of SaaS has been into the limelight for a number of years now and its origin dates back to the early 1960s. However, the initial concept was limited to time sharing and common data base storage. During this epoch, IBM along with other mainframe service providers carried out a service bureau business which is often termed as a time sharing business. The services provided by these companies were however limited to large organizations and financial institutions. Theorists believes that in the coming years, most business software or solution packages will be delivered via the mechanism of SaaS. In addition, scholars also believe that the notion of SaaS will be elongated by the next big thing in IT, which is ‘Utility computing’. The ‘utility computing’ is a concept in which IT will be more accessible for common man and will act just as other necessary stuffs of the daily life such as electricity and telephone. Likewise, electricity and telephone bills, people in the near future may have to pay IT bills. ‘SaaS’ is also sometime referred to as on-demand software" provided by the Application-Service-Providers (ASPs). The mechanism is simple as software packages are delivered to the customers which are centrally hosted in the cloud. It has become one of the most common of software delivery forms. For example, solution packages such as management software, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing software, management information systems (MIS), and service desk management software to name a few can be delivered via this distribution mechanism. This is the reason why it has been observed that a number of companies have already incorporated this strategy as a part of their business strategy. These evidences clearly suggest that “SaaS” is the future of information management (Wainewright, 2011). There are several advantages of “software as a service”. The cost gets reduced to a great extent for everyone who is involved in the process. From the point of view of a customer, they do not have to pay incur large upfront cost for gaining the access to that particular software; on the contrary they can avail renting option and can pay on a monthly basis. For example, if a customer need access to one of the word processing software. If he or she wants to buy it, the cost to be incurred is around $300. On the contrary, if the customer rents it, the cist will be merely $10 a month. Thus, the pressure on customers gets reduces to a great extent and the opportunity to access increases simultaneously. In the similar way, the software vendors also get highly benefitted for pursuing the “software as a service” strategy. The software vendors do not have to spend hours of time in providing support to the users over phone or mail. This is principally because the maintaining part will be carried out centrally by the service provider (PWC, 2013). Another major advantage of cloud computing is the customization option. For example, if the user only requires software to run power point presentation, he or she can simply hire the single application, rather than renting the whole office suite. However, it also has several downsides as well which sometime hinders industry experts or scholars to assure “software as a service” is going to dominate the next several years in information management. Some of the disadvantages are related with security measures (Schuller, 2011). In addition to security, trust of the customers is another explicit requirement in cloud computing. For example, the jeopardy of software as a cloud computing and service is that users need to put full faith on the service provider as all their productivity and documentations are in the vendor’s hand. Thus, disruption of the services from the part of the service provider will cause serious difficulty for the customers. The protection, security and privacy of the documents are also on the line as internet becomes a business network (Gil, 2013). Therefore from this finding it is evident that if a business switches to cloud computing, the overhead cost of the company along with administration cost reduces dramatically; however there are concerns over the disruption of services, online security and connectivity. Hence a company planning to switch to cloud computing needs to select the service provider carefully (Molen, 2010). The opinions about cloud computing differs from one person to the other. For example Schneier (2009) emphasized on the fact that “cloud computing is nothing new”, but the contemporary version of the time sharing model of 1960s. The author also mentioned that the notion of time sharing eventually came to an end with the developments of personal computer. In the similar way, the author believes that the concept of cloud computing will get old once a new technology comes into the limelight. According to the author security is the biggest threat for cloud computing. Contrasting this concept, authors such as Pascal & Asselin (2013) stated that cloud computing is the future of information management. The authors justified the statement by demonstrating how cloud computing has enables technology and application more accessible for the users. Moreover, the author also stated that a company which would have required high start up cost could actually succeed with a less cost with the implementation of cloud computing (Pascal & Asselin, 2013). Echoing the same, an article published by weforum (2010) states that cloud computing is considered as the next ‘big thing’ of information technology for companies, individual as well as government. The rationale for the same is that the plentiful supply of information at a low price, remote access, critical role in disaster recovery, and robustness. According to Miller (2008) & Jamsa (2011) cloud computing causes serious security issues as the users actually becomes hostages of the service providers. However, Gillam (2010) & Linthicum (2009) contradicted by demonstrating that strong data over network may sometime save the company if a natural outbreak disrupts the companies physical infrastructure (Businesswire, 2013). Hence, apart from security concern there are no as such major concerns related with SaaS and implementation of proper strategies will easily surmount these issues. Thus, with a bunch of benefits offered, it can be stated that cloud computing can really dominate the next several years in information management. Conclusion The future of software is greatly dependent upon the market situation as well as the rules and regulation of the government. Due to high cost of original software application, a number of companies as well as individual consumers are considering the use of free software or taking up unethical stance such as getting involved into piracy. However, the scenario is not the same in every country; piracy becomes more evident when it comes to third world countries. In such situation, cloud computing can act as the most viable solution for both companies as well as customers. The software vendors get a number of advantages in the form of less overhead cost, minimized service and administration cost. In the similar way, users get to store bulk amount of data and can gain access to software by only paying the mere rent. The only concern is the security and privacy of data, which can easily be surmounted by carefully selecting the service provider and data back-up options. Thus if practiced properly, cloud computing can really help companies to embrace development at a low cost. Hence, the claim or statement made during the commencement of the study is justified and thus it can be concluded that Software as a service” going to dominate the next several years in information management. References Businesswire. (2013). 2013 Future of cloud computing survey reveals business driving cloud adoption in everything as a service era; it investing heavily to catch up and support consumers graduating from BYOD to BYOC. Retrieved from http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130619005581/en/2013-Future-Cloud-Computing-Survey-Reveals-Business. Gil, P. (2013). What Is SaaS (Software as a Service)? Retrieved from http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/s/f/what_is_SaaS_software_as_a_service.htm. Gillam, L. (2010). Cloud computing: principles, systems and applications. Berlin: Springer. Guptill, B. (2012). SaaS changes ahead. Retrieved http://www.information-management.com/blogs/SaaS_cloud_ROI_IT_Saugatuck-10022198-1.html. Jamsa, K. (2011). Cloud computing. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Linthicum, D. S. (2009). Cloud computing and soa convergence in your enterprise: a step-by-step guide. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Miller, M. (2008). Cloud computing: web-based applications that change the way you work and collaborate online. New York: Que Publishing. Molen, F. V. D. (2010). Get ready for cloud computing: a comprehensive guide to virtualization and cloud computing. Amsterdam: Van Haren Publishing. Pascal, A. & Asselin, C. (2013). The future of cloud computing. Retrieved from http://www.sitepoint.com/the-future-of-cloud-computing/. PWC. (2013). The future of software pricing excellence: SaaS pricing. Retrieved from http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/technology/software-pricing/saas-pricing.jhtml. Ryder, I. (2009). Software as a service - the near future of IT? Retrieved from http://thirdsectormagazine.com.au/news/software_as_a_service_-_the_near_future_of_it/008068/. Schneier, B. (2009). Schneier on security. Retrieved from http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/06/cloud_computing.html. Schuller, S. (2011). The hijacking of paas: cloud runtimes are the real McCoy. Retrieved from http://www.saasblogs.com/. Wainewright, P. (2011). SaaS will dominate your cloud strategy. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/saas-will-dominate-your-cloud-strategy/1300. Weforum. (2010). Exploring the future of cloud computing: riding the next wave of technology-driven transformation. Retrieved from http://www.weforum.org/reports/exploring-future-cloud-computing-riding-next-wave-technology-driven-transformation. Read More