Software as a Service Takes on the Web Development Industry

November 13, 2006; 03:12 AM

Software as a Service seems to be everywhere this year. Microsoft, IBM and Google are all reporting growth in this delivery model where the division between licensing and hosting fees is removed, and computing power is distributed as if it were a utility like electricity or telephone service.

In the UK, SiteJourney Ltd. (http://www.sitejourney.com) is so far the only provider delivering SaaS-enabled websites. SiteJourney's MD, Stephan Tual, thinks the trend toward SaaS adoption on our side of the Atlantic is accelerating: "Software as a Service is a no-brainer for SMBs - we cover the site design costs and our clients gets to leverage features they would otherwise never have been able to raise the budget for. There is no capital investment to make, no long term tie-ins, and of course all the upgrades come free of charge."

Earlier this year, industry experts at the SaaSCon conference estimated that the software as a service (SaaS) market would grow an average of 20 percent per year until at least 2010. While speakers often referred to Salesforce.com as the ultimate example of a successful SaaS company, even they appeared surprised at the diversity of markets in which SaaS is gaining traction: procurement (Ariba), timesheets (Journyx), project management (BaseCamp) and now web design with SiteJourney.

The question is why did it take so long for SaaS to reach the shores of the website design industry. SaaS is native to the web, and the commercial Internet has slowly evolved from a group of static web brochures to become a collection of mini-web applications which often offer similar - if not identical - feature sets. Content management system, e-commerce, discussion forums and online recruitment tools: businesses all too often hire web development companies to reinvent the wheel every time.

SaaS promises to change all this. It provides companies with a rich set of enterprise level features at a significantly lowered cost of entry. There is no need for the client to invest in hardware, CMS software licenses, security, backup or networking. There is often also little need for in-house training because of the fast, now ubiquitous web GUI interfaces. It's hardly surprising the lower cost of ownership in itself is often enough for SMBs to switch to a SaaS solution.

SaaS also shields businesses from the upgrade treadmill, both in terms of hardware and software. Traditional websites need to be upgraded every three years or so just to keep up with the constantly evolving web technologies and expectations from a more sophisticated public. SaaS websites feature sets, on the other hand, are often updated on a monthly basis and at no extra cost to the client.

The SaaS revolution is heating up, and 2007 will see it on a new high, and in new markets. Can bespoke web development survive the onslaught? One thing is sure, if companies like SiteJourney have it their way, content providers such as Monster and Amazon could soon have some unanticipated competition from agile SMBs gaining access to previously unaffordable technology.

About SiteJourney:

Headquartered in London, SiteJourney (http://www.sitejourney.com/) is the leading UK provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) enabled web applications. SiteJourney's unique SaaS delivery model where the division between web design, licensing and hosting costs is removed has helped dozens of SMBs gain access to web technologies previously beyond their reach. Their diverse portfolio includes the recruitment industry, consultancies, sports clubs, as well as British landmarks such the London Cutty Sark.

For additional information including logos and screenshots, please visit SiteJourney's website available at http://www.sitejourney.com/