CIO opinion
CIO OPINION
SaaS implementation
key to business survival
According to Gartner
research, by 2020 all
new entrants and 80%
of historical vendors
will offer subscription-
based business models.
The challenge, according
to Ryan Barlow, Chief
Information Officer at e4,
is navigating the change
management challenge
for effective deployment
of SaaS (Software-
as-a-Service) within
organisations. Cloud services are among the fastest
growing platforms in the world and admits
that while costs may seem prohibitive, the
ultimate payback is significant.
A Essentially, SaaS will free IT professionals of
the daily grind of traditional software, while
assisting in better overall management of
IT operations.
ccording to Gartner, addressing
SaaS change management is ranked
among the top five SaaS challenges
for technical professionals.
This is easy to believe when you consider
the unique nature of SaaS and the
resulting challenges that emanate when
implementing. There is a clear need for new
change management strategies for SaaS to
be successfully implemented.
Today’s C-level executives face far bigger
obstacles than ever before, but they need
to be overcome if the company wants to
remain relevant.
Learning to thrive in a rapidly changing IT
environment will greatly assist in developing
competitive market advantages.
SaaS brings with it accessibility, improved
versatility and reliability of software
solutions. It’s agility and improved cost
effectiveness, while being extremely secure
Its pervasive connectivity assists when
streamlining business models. There is also
tremendous value when hosting off-premise.
SaaS, and in fact any other cloud application,
will offer enhanced scalability, a pay as you
Ryan Barlow, Chief Information Officer at e4
go approach, better security and reduced
risk. The latter is ironic. Once the initial
distrust is managed, SaaS is seen as more
stable and reliable and less risky.
Like with any implementation, research is
essential, ensure you know what your business
requires and who would be best suited to
deliver the solution. A phased approach is also
advisable before launching company-wide. n
A lack of trust at the outset needs to be
addressed. Moving confidential company
information into a cloud, effectively off
premise, is not exposing the company nor
does it increase its risk.
We need to gain a better understanding of
the benefits this approach brings as opposed
to simply focusing on the perceived risks.
IDC predicts that 60% of cloud spend by
2020 will go to SaaS deployments. The trend
is there and if businesses want to reach
their full potential and compete effectively,
transitioning to SaaS is essential.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
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