Bob Leibholz of Intermedia presented on “SaaS 2.0,” which was most interesting to me in its potential to demonstrate what someone very involved in the delivery of hosted Exchange thinks about the evolution of SaaS.
It sounds a bit like a recipe for eye-rolling, considering that each of “SaaS” and “2.0” is a buzzword in its own right. SaaS 2.0 has a lot of double-buzzword potential to be a lot of smoke and mirrors. However, there’s also a very reasonable argument that there’s an evolution going on in the software as a service paradigm, and Intermedia (where Bob works) has a major interest in the nature of SaaS.
He began by explaining some of the defining characteristics of what he considered 1.0, which seems like the best place for me to start, too.
He characterizes them applications that are self contained ecosystems, containing user management and security. But they have poor integration capabilities with on premise or other SaaS applications. They have proprietary control panels. And they have limited customization and limited capability to manage legacy data.
He thinks the lack of customization is a key differentiator for SaaS 1.0, because it forces each particular application into becoming a commodity.
He says SaaS applications currently have very little ability to handle legacy data, which is a major concern, since a lot of the people coming to hosted Exchange as customers (for example) are bringing a lot of legacy Exchange information with them, at this point.
He then describes what he considers a paradigm for SaaS 2.0.
He says it is aware of the broader software ecosystem, that is, it takes into account the fact that customers are going to be buying other software products. It’s ready to integrate with other tools, so customers can have things like single sign-on and password strategies. It is built to co-exist with on-premise and other hosted apps. There are increased levels of customization, which enables the tool to be adapted to address evolving customer needs. And it facilitates the migration of legacy data, which Leibholz considers key to acquiring new customer business.
Some key differences from SaaS 1.0 is that 2.0 blurs the line between on-premise and hosted apps. It has dynamic and broad integration with other apps, both SaaS and on-premise. And it enables a single sign-on and integrated user management.
Some of the advantages he sees in 2.0: the ability to combine multiple SaaS offerings into a single solution; the ability to customize solutions to suit processes specific to a company or vertical; the ability to integrate hosted and on-premise software around information flows for user management and data synchronization.
The big drivers for SaaS 2.0 in business email, he says, include mobility, remote teams and collaboration, data archiving and compliance and legacy systems and increased customer expectations.
He drilled down really deep into a lot of specific examples from the hosted Exchange world, but I’m going to stick to the definitions for now, since this post is getting long.
If you want to get involved in SaaS 2.0 (or SaaS 1.0) as a managed hosting company, is to build it yourself, private label or partner, or join an affiliate program. Intermedia is certainly one of the companies you could get involved with, but the session was enjoyably free of sales pitch.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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