Software as a Service (SaaS)


Software as a Service (SaaS) sales reached $12.1 billion in 2011, an increase of 21% compared to $10 billion in 2010, according to research firm, Gartner. Expectations are that the SaaS market will surpass the $21 billion mark by 2015 with 90% of sales being regarded as "cloud" services.

SaaS, or "on-demand software", is a model in which software and associated data is centrally hosted in the cloud and accessed via a web browser. SaaS has become a common delivery model for many business applications. Yahara has partnered with our clients to deliver web content management (WCM), customer relationship management (CRM), business analysis, healthcare compliance, human resource management (HRM), call center analysis, curriculum design, as well as permitting and auditing solutions.

Unlike traditional software, which is conventionally sold as a perpetual license with an up-front cost (and an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers generally price applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly fee or an annual fee. Consequently, the initial setup cost for SaaS is typically lower than the equivalent enterprise software.

The architecture for a SaaS solution differs in that it is typically multi-tenant, requiring specific knowledge of purpose built security and licensing methods.

The SaaS model offers benefits such as:

  • A subscription pricing model facilitating a reduced entry cost
  • Fast deployment due to all code being hosted in a central high availability data center
  • Expedited testing because all users are typically using the same version and actual client data is available.
  • Integration to other applications and data services in the cloud leveraging Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) such as JSON, REST and SOAP
  • Real-time analysis by leveraging advanced web analytic tools