SaaS Goes Mainstream
- By Peter Wilenius
- Dec 01, 2008
The growth of the software as a service model is good news for end users eager to reap the benefits of enterprise-class software solutions but unable or unwilling to purchase and host them in-house. Quick to gain traction in mainstream business application markets, the SaaS model is now poised to make its presence felt in the security and loss prevention markets.
Hosted by a software vendor and accessed over the Internet via a Web browser, SaaS applications allow end users to take advantage of powerful, enterprise-class software solutions without having to worry about an initial outlay of capital and the costs associated with support and maintenance.
By 2011, according to Gartner Inc., 25 percent of all business software spending will be for applications delivered under the SaaS model, up from 5 percent in 2005. Indeed, by that same year, Gartner predicts the worldwide market for SaaS will more than triple to $19.3 billion.
Extreme LP, March Networks’ exception reporting solution, is one example of a powerful, enterprise-class application that security and loss prevention executives are now able to take advantage of on a subscription basis.
A conventional, shrink-wrapped exception reporting application hosted in-house may be the best solution for tier-one retailers with the requisite financial and IT resources to acquire and support it, but many tier-two and tier-three retailers, those with anywhere from 10 to 100 locations, don’t have the resources or IT infrastructure to go this route.
Pay as You Go
A subscription-based, pay-as-you-go model also may be appealing to security executives with larger enterprises who may be reluctant to navigate a potentially time-consuming and unsuccessful capital approval process.
Opting for an application delivered via the SaaS model can dramatically reduce upfront costs for license fees, hardware and implementation services. It speeds deployment and frees the end user from all of the costs related to supporting and maintaining the application, including salaries, benefits, physical building space and power consumption.
Organizations subscribing to an application hosted by a software vendor also never have to worry about patches and software updates. In the loss prevention world, for example, customer-driven enhancements and new functionality reflected in updated versions of the software are immediately available to every subscriber, so the customer is never locked into a specific software release.
A single set of common code precludes customization, but applications delivered as a service can still be designed to allow the customer significant latitude to configure the software to respond to specific business requirements.The hosted Extreme LP solution, for example, flags voided transactions in excess of $50 but allows the end user to adjust the threshold to $20 and to create new rules if desired.
Secure and Private
The fear of relying on an Internet connection to access a hosted application may have been a factor when the SaaS model was introduced, but the risks of communication disruptions are less of a concern now, given the enhanced performance and security of today’s Internet infrastructure.
Using encryption techniques compliant with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, for example, Extreme LP customers can transmit point-of-sale data to the vendor’s data warehouse without worrying about privacy and security.
The SaaS model isn’t an ideal choice for mission-critical applications, but it does offer end users a cost-efficient way to take advantage of software solutions that they might otherwise have to do without.
A cost-efficient means of deploying an exception reporting solution that reduces losses due to point-of-sale fraud is sure to be welcomed by retailers concerned about shrinking margins in today’s turbulent economy. It represents just one way subscription-based delivery of software is gaining an increasing role in the broader physical security market as it is quickly going mainstream.
This article originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of Network-Centric Security.
About the Author
Peter Wilenius is vice president of corporate development for March Networks Corp.