The vendors mainly agreed that SaaS is the future direction of the software industry. But the CIOs begged to differ. The SaaS model isn\u2019t nearly as clean and simple as the industry would like people to believe, they said. They see merit in the SaaS approach, but it\u2019s going to be some time before their businesses run on SaaS.<\/p>\n
The CEO panelists disagreed on several points, notably the question of whether SaaS will topple the leading software vendors. RightNow Technologies <\/a> <\/span>CEO Greg Gianforte argued eloquently for the supremacy of the on-demand model. \u201cSix years ago, 50% of our clients chose to host with us; today it\u2019s 90%,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can make investments at a level that they could never hope to make because we aggregate across 1,700 customers. The time has come.\u201d<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, SAP<\/a> VP of CRM Jujhar Singh begged to differ. \u201cWe believe the true model will be a hybrid model and the choice is left to the customers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the on-ramp model work.\u201d The on-ramp is SAP\u2019s characterization of SaaS as an effective way to deploy software as a transition to an on-premise model. However, Gianforte dismissed the concept, calling SaaS, \u201cthe biggest off-ramp ever created.\u201d<\/p>\n The executives also disagreed on the ability of mainstream software vendors to shift their businesses to a hybrid packaged\/on-demand <\/span>model. \u201cIt\u2019ll be very, very hard for companies like Microsoft to change the culture and momentum to an on-demand business,\u201d said Rick Faulk, president of Webex<\/a> Small Business. <\/p>\n Added Treb Ryan, CEO of OpSource<\/a>, \u201cYou can\u2019t piss off your channel, the guys who sell the on-premise stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n The CIOs poked holes in vendor claims that SaaS is quick, easy and flexible. \u201cWe have tens of thousands of interface points,\u201d said Tom Murphy, CIO of Amerisource Bergen<\/a>. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine the difficulty of trying to integrate into my delivery model a system that is so fundamentally different from what we do today.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus Arriaga, CIO of Keystone Automotive<\/a>, told the story of one supply chain application that the vendor promised would be live in three months. \u201cAs we got into negotiations, I realized we were not going to do this in three months,\u201d he said. \u201cSure enough, we kicked off the project Jan. 1 and we\u2019re going to launch it in December.\u201d<\/p>\n The CIOs generally agreed that SaaS vendor claims of rapid deployment are fantasy. They were more inclined to consider hosting for mature applications like e-mail that didn\u2019t require extensive project management or customization. \u201cI\u2019d be a lot more willing to take a leap of faith on those back-office products that are stable, consistent and currently consume a lot of support time,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n Vendors sell features but CIOs worry more about other things. \u201cI don\u2019t think that much about functionality,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI think about project management, change management, deployment, training and other things\u201d where SaaS doesn\u2019t necessarily deliver an advantage.<\/p>\n However, for standardized applications that are time- and labor-intensive to install across a large number of desktops, SaaS makes sense. \u201cAs the delivery model for something like Microsoft Office, SaaS is perfect,\u201d said James Woolwine, CIO, Majestic Insurance. \u201cI can upgrade just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Keystone\u2019s Arriaga also cited culture as a factor in some areas. Keystone\u2019s customers are auto parts retailers who are mostly conservative and resistant to change. \u201cOver the last 10 years, several companies have sprouted up trying to create hosted applications for them and they\u2019ve all failed,\u201d he said. \u201cOur customers don\u2019t trust handing over their applications and data.\u201d<\/p>\n Moderator Maryfran Johnson, editorial director of TechTarget\u2019s CIO Decisions Media Group<\/a>, interjected a light-hearted splash of reality. Her editors conducted a survey of 130 CIOs about SaaS and found that most didn\u2019t even know what the acronym stood for. \u201cOne guy told us he had to go look it up on Wikipedia<\/a>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CEO Hot Seat panelists (l. to r.) Gianforte, Ryan, Singh and Faulk<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Greg Gianforte, CEO, RightNow Technologies<\/p>\n Skeptical CIO panelists (l. to r.) Murphy, Woolwine and Arriaga with moderator Johnson<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The contrast between this morning\u2019s first two general session panels couldn\u2019t have been more dramatic. \u201cCEO Hot Seat\u201d brought together four vendors from the on-demand software business. \u201cThe Skeptical CIO\u201d introduced three IT executives. The two groups were on different … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.paulgillin.com\/uploaded_images\/VendorHotSeat-787397.jpg\")
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Jesus Arriaga, Keystone Automotive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"