3 Areas where the SaaS Guys are Falling Short, and How to fix it

Ha! Made you look. I bet you thought that I was going to rage against the SaaS machine, but nothing could be further from the truth.

However, there is always room for improvement, and while I'm out there working with the SaaS guys I am finding a few areas where many can improve. Figure I would mention them here so we can all learn what to look for.

1. SaaS guys do not value the non-visual interfaces, as much as the visual application engine.

SaaS guys need to learn how to make all of the functionality that's available through the visual interfaces available through the non visual interfaces as well...typically Web services. Today, most do not, and as we look to extend the reach of our SOAs to incorporate or SaaS partners, this requirement is on the critical path.

It's easy to fix this. Okay, it’s easy to understand how to fix it, costly to implement, but this is critical to the success of the SaaS player. Indeed, non-visual interfaces (Web services) could be the way we leverage SaaS players going forward, the majority of the time.

2. SaaS guys typically don't consider integration to other SaaS players.

While the focus as been on integration between the enterprise and the SaaS, as more enterprises move their applications to SaaS, there is a growing need for SaaS to SaaS integration. Unfortunately, as customers are requesting this, many of the SaaS providers are stumped for an answer; beyond hire a bunch of developers and hoping for the best. That is what everyone thinks is the answer, and thus end up spending way to much money for a cumbersome architectures that lack agility. Don't get me started on that.

3. Many are slow in supporting true rich client technology, such as Ajax or Flex.

Thus, the SaaS delivered applications are still the old school HTTP push and pull, and thus don't have the look and feel of native applications. Flex and Ajax are here to stay, they work well, and those SaaS players that support true rich client Internet delivered applications will rule the world, and make the user experience just that much more fulfilling and productive.

By the way, I am not talking about any particular SaaS player, just some general comments. Solve the above problems, and it will be a few more nails in the coffins of enterprise software, moving to a "global SOA," Web 2.0, and a pervasive computing environment, which is just drop dead sexy.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on July 22, 2006 01:50 PM