It looks like I may have started ( actually, just re-started) a trend discussing How Software Can Be Resilient to Recession.
Sramana Mitra @ Forbes talks about 'SaaS-ing'
Back At The Economy:Sramana focuses largely on the SMB space, while my argument for the SaaS
model's resilience was more enterprise-y: Some of the robustness of SaaS companies comes from the fact that the sector
caters heavily to small businesses. This is because their customer base is more
spread out and not as concentrated as the large enterprise technology vendors,
especially those with heavy exposure to the financial sector. "It is not a
pyramid, it is a thumbtack; it is all at the bottom," says PayCycle CEO Jim
Heeger. "That is where the action is because there are so many companies to deal
with down there."
The secret is the business model: pay-as-you-go. SaaS offers lower risk to enter, no initial cash layout, the subscription fees come out of OPEX vs. CAPEX, and is often approved by the User, not the mysterious Economic Buyer. The barrier of entry is much lower: once you’re in, it’s up to you to grow.
In fact I suspect the looming downturn will accelerate the structural changes in the software industry: SaaS players will thrive, traditional on-premise vendors will shrink, many will disappear.
Fellow Enterprise Irregular Ismael Ghalimi makes a very similar point, and his not as hesitant as I was using the "Big R" word (emphasis mine):
Since we’re now officially in a recession, it’s time for everyone to revisit their plans. Some will gain, but most will lose, and some to be really affected by the downturn are enterprise software vendors selling expensive perpetual licenses for their products. The problem will get even worse for those selling expensive BPM software that can only be deployed by expensive consultants on the vendors’ payrolls.
With the recession coming, IT budgets will be cut, and only the most critical projects are likely to be funded. Projects that require expensive software to be acquired and expensive consultants to be paid will be canned. Vendors relying on such projects will go out of business, unless they find ways to significantly reduce costs internally.
Very well said. Ismael then uses the opportunity to make a cocky offer to his competitors:
Gutsy. But hey, who said anything about not being an aggressive marketer in
a Recession?So here is my offer to my competitors: get in touch with our Vice President
of Business Development (Robert Sepanloo, 650-596-1800), and ask him what it
would take for you to replace your aging process server by our own. We’ll price
it for a fraction of what you’re currently spending for maintaining yours, and
our engineers will help you in the migration. That way, your engineers will be
able to focus on your core application, which is the best thing you can do to
best serve your customers in times like these.
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Vista isn’t really that crappy – says Gizmodo this morning. Well, I won’t tell you what I think ( I’ve done my fair share), I'll just let you decide. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words… well, then how about a video?
Yes, all I was trying to delete empty folder structures from my own computer, using an account with full Admin rights. Makes me wonder whose permission I need.. Bill Gates? Steve Ballmer?
Incidentally, I am typing this on another Microsoft product – the one I
actually think is really good – Windows Live Writer. Too bad I recently clicked
on an update link and downloaded the latest Beta version. If you have that –
beware! Don’t switch to source mode, it’s shortcut for crash… not the long
crash that brings your system down – speedy, immediate fly-away.. as if you
never had your program open.. or you work saved.
Of course I can’t
just revert, going back to a previous release of a program is typically
a nightmare…
In the meantime my little McAfee icon is showing heavy activity – this morning it forced me to reboot again, having updated itself. On this dual-core machine it’s not too bad, but on the slower, older laptop it’s lethal… it can get busy just maintaining and protecting itself, leaving me with no available resources at all. I can’t wait to switch to better Anti-Virus protection from the Cloud.
Recently I detailed the unnecessarily complex and wasteful process of reviewing a presentation: a lot of hassle, and a huge footprint, when doing it online would have been a lot easier.
Need I go on? Desktop software is a failed model. It served us well for the first two decades of personal computing, when a typical household had one computer, or none at all – and mostly, when we did not have the Net. Today having several computers is no longer a luxury, but keeping them synchronized, protected, the OS, tools and applications updated is becoming a major nightmare. Time for a better model: accessing your apps and data from anywhere, anytime (as long as you’re connected), never get obsolete version, and easily collaborate as you need it.
Yes, I know we’ll always have at least an OS and a browser of some sort..
although if Google has their way, the bowser will become the OS. And if
innovators like DeviceVM have their
way, I can use a Splashtop-blessed
Netbook or lightweight
Green PC and even feel good about it.
