Email, calendaring and HR top the list of SaaS buyers' priorities

September 13, 2013 04:00 PM ETIDG News Service - Companies of all sizes are picking up their adoption of SaaS (software as a service), with email, calendaring and human resources applications garnering the most interest, according to a new survey from Constellation Research.

Email and calendaring is the most popular choice for SaaS among the survey respondents, with 37 percent saying such products are on their radar, wrote Constellation vice president and principal analyst Frank Scavo.

"Most IT decision makers have had personal experience with personal webmail or Web calendaring applications, such as Google Calendar," Scavo wrote. "It is not surprising, then, to see these personal productivity applications leading the list of SaaS investment plans."

Human resources applications is the next most popular SaaS category, with 32 percent saying they'll invest in it. Such applications "often include access by widely dispersed employee populations, making them a good candidate for SaaS deployment," Scavo wrote.

HR is closely followed by CRM (customer relationship management) and collaboration applications, with 31 percent of respondents denoting both areas as investment priorities.

Some 25 percent of respondents indicated interest in SaaS ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications. "Although ERP and accounting systems are the most widely implemented category of business applications generally, they fall farther down in terms of popularity for SaaS deployment," likely due to their "more entrenched nature and more comprehensive scope," Scavo wrote.

Respondents placed significantly less priority on some other application areas. For example, only 11 percent expressed interest in SaaS for expense reporting. The atomization of SaaS buyers' interests is also reflected in that 24 percent checked off "other" as a product category.

Overall, SaaS uptake is growing because its benefits "are clear," Scavo wrote.

Respondents named speed of implementation as the top benefit, followed by reduced IT infrastructure, scalability and easier upgrades, according to the report.

However, they ranked high availability/disaster recovery and lower costs as less important when it comes to SaaS, the report adds. "Traditional software vendors argue that long term, on-premises licensed software often costs less than SaaS applications," Scavo wrote. "IT decision makers may believe this argument."

Nor did subscription pricing, a hallmark of SaaS, rank particularly high on respondents' list of benefits. There may be a reason for this as well, according to Scavo.

Cloud vendors "argue that subscription pricing also turns software from a capital expenditure to an operating expense, which for some companies provides a more favorable tax treatment," he wrote. "However, vendors of traditional on-premises software also can easily provide the same benefit, turning a capital investment into an operating expense by financing the software license purchase as an operating lease."

Respondents also listed their concerns with SaaS, with data privacy risks coming in highest, followed by security, loss of control, integration challenges and performance.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Here's what Steve Ballmer said about his retirement in an internal email

Network World - This is the text of an internal email from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to employees regarding his plan to retire:

I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen. There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction. You can read the press release on Microsoft News Center.

This is a time of important transformation for Microsoft. Our new Senior Leadership team is amazing. The strategy we have generated is first class. Our new organization, which is centered on functions and engineering areas, is right for the opportunities and challenges ahead.A

Microsoft is an amazing place. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent and popularize computing and the PC. I love the bigness and boldness of our bets. I love our people and their talent and our willingness to accept and embrace their range of capabilities, including their quirks. I love the way we embrace and work with other companies to change the world and succeed together. I love the breadth and diversity of our customers, from consumer to enterprise, across industries, countries, and people of all backgrounds and age groups.

I am proud of what we have achieved. We have grown from $7.5 million to nearly $78 billion since I joined Microsoft, and we have grown from employing just over 30 people to almost 100,000. I feel good about playing a role in that success and having committed 100 percent emotionally all the way. We have more than 1 billion users and earn a great profit for our shareholders. We have delivered more profit and cash return to shareholders than virtually any other company in history.

I am excited by our mission of empowering the world and believe in our future success. I cherish my Microsoft ownership, and look forward to continuing as one of Microsoft's largest owners.A

This is an emotional and difficult thing for me to do. I take this step in the best interests of the company I love; it is the thing outside of my family and closest friends that matters to me most.A

Microsoft has all its best days ahead. Know you are part of the best team in the industry and have the right technology assets. We cannot and will not miss a beat in these transitions. I am focused and driving hard and know I can count on all of you to do the same. Let's do ourselves proud.A

Steve

Reprinted with permission from NetworkWorld.com. Story copyright 2012 Network World, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Tech legal news site Groklaw shutting down, citing email privacy concerns

Technology legal news website Groklaw is shutting down due to concerns over the continued availability of secure email in the wake of revelations about U.S. government surveillance.

"The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too," site founder Pamela Jones said in a farewell post Tuesday. "There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum."

[ Also on InfoWorld: Lavabit founder says he can't legally explain why he shut down email service | Lavabit shutdown marks another costly blemish for U.S. tech companies | For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld Tech Brief -- subscribe today. ]

Groklaw, which was launched 10 years ago, has been known for its exhaustive coverage of technology law, particularly involving software patents, open source software, and privacy issues.

Secure email provider Lavabit recently announced it would shut down due to an ongoing legal dispute, presumably with the U.S. government. "I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit," company owner Ladar Levison wrote on its website.

Lavabit was reportedly used by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked documents related to NSA spying programs and is now in Russia after being given asylum. Following Lavabit's closure, Silent Circle also shut down its secure email service, while calling the move a preemptive one rather than something precipitated by a government subpoena or warrant.

On one level it's little surprise Jones felt compelled to shut down Groklaw, given how fiercely she has protected her own privacy over the past 10 years.

"There is now no shield from forced exposure," Jones wrote. "Now that I know that ensuring privacy online is impossible. I find myself unable to write."

But that's not to say someone else won't restart Groklaw. In an email on Tuesday, Jones suggested she wouldn't stand in the way of such a scenario but called it unlikely.

"If someone else wants to do it, and everyone wants to participate knowing what they know, of course," she wrote. "But it's a lot of work, and I don't think anyone will step forward. Maybe they'd do it for money, but that would basically ruin the project, in my view."

It's also doubtful that Jones would be willing to restart the site herself, should acceptable circumstances arise regarding email security.

"For me, I looked into the security stuff pretty deeply, and no, I wouldn't reopen it myself," she said. "What I wrote, I meant."

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

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