BizTech

SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE

while most businesses still use software installed on computers, the SAAS model will likely become more popular in coming years as BUSINESSES FIND SIMPLE SOLUTIONs Online.

When Chris Lyle arrived as office administrator at Pacific Reproductive Center in December, paperwork was a mess. Insurance documents were piled high. Invoices were scattered about. If he wanted to track a receivable, Lyle had no way of knowing whether the invoice had even been filed—much less paid.
“The back office was a chaotic part of the business,” Lyle says.
So he immediately sought to inject some order into the office. One of his first moves: signing up for Bill.com, an online invoicing, billing and cash management solution. Once bills or invoices are faxed, scanned or emailed into the service, Lyle can log on and check payables and receivables. He also can issue checks from the application, though the center prefers to write checks internally. The service even integrates with QuickBooks for streamlined bookkeeping, he says.
“This makes it simpler and easier,” he says. “At any moment of time I can go back and see if I paid a bill.”
Bill.com is one of a growing number of Web 2.0 applications designed to remove standard computer-based software—and make it available on the Internet. Called “Software as a Service,” or SaaS, the solutions tap into the emerging trends of mobile broadband and anywhere offices. From bookkeeping, finance and accounting, to documents, human resources and file management, Web-based applications are coming on strong as the solution for tomorrow.
Use of these “hosted applications” as a category is forecast to grow at 19 percent annually through 2012, notes In-Stat, a high-tech research firm. While most businesses still use software installed on in-office computers, the SaaS model likely will become more popular and entrenched in the coming years, the firm says.
“Small and medium businesses have historically found that SaaS was a way to gain enterprise functionality from their applications without the major expense that goes along with it,” says Jeff Jernigan, a research analyst with In-Stat.
Once commonly referred to as application service providers, or ASPs, a switch is afoot in which the SaaS technology is more driven by user needs than developer designs. Among the top SaaS applications are Salesforce.com, a customer relationship management application; Zoho, an Office-like suite; and BaseCamp, a project collaboration management solution that allows teams to interact in a hosted environment. Even websites have hosted applications. WordPress.org is a free, open-source application in which thousands of designers have contributed free templates for website development.
For many, the Google model is a tangible reality. The company’s Google Mail, Docs (word processor), Calendar and Spreadsheets mimic for free what many users find in a licensed copy of Microsoft Office. SaaS models range in price from free to several hundred dollars a month, depending on the service, features enabled, and the number of user accounts.
Unlike licensed, downloadable software, many SaaS applications include open applications that enable skilled users to adapt the software or rewrite some components to more specified uses. Moreover, with SaaS, any changes, upgrades or fixes to the hosted software are immediately available anytime a user logs on.
Some call SaaS a “cloud,” where applications encompassing business, entertainment and lifestyle solutions will be delivered online. In the business environment, this removes the cost, time and frustration borne from maintaining software and applications in office computers.
Still, some scoff at the concept of online-only applications that leave a road warrior in an airplane seat, for example, unable to access work. But many such applications today include desktop versions that allow the user to download a document or spreadsheet, for example, work on it, then synchronize with the Web version the next time the user logs into the account.
For Lyle, Bill.com was an ideal solution. For around $15 a month, the service stores all his bills and payables—any of which are retrievable from any Internet-enabled PC anywhere, including his home office.
“I never get behind and payables are always on time,” he says. “For any small business, it’s the most simple thing you can use.”