Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Study: Enterprises warm up to SAAS, but concerns remain

By Juan Carlos Perez , IDG News Service , 03/14/2008
Newsletter Signup
  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print

Adoption of hosted applications among large companies jumped last year, but many CIOs and IT managers will not consider these software-as-a-service (SAAS) products due to concerns about security, cost and integration, according to a Forrester Research study.

In a 2007 survey of just over 1,000 IT decision makers, 16 percent said their companies were either already using or piloting SAAS products, a 33 percent increase from 2006.

Those who said they were either interested in or planning to pilot hosted applications remained the same at 46 percent, while those who aren't interested dropped from 41 percent to 37 percent, Forrester said in the report, issued Wednesday.

Respondents who are favorable to SAAS products cite shorter implementation, lower up-front costs and pay-as-you-go pricing as reasons, wrote analyst Liz Herbert, the report's author.

Interest in SAAS isn't consistent across application categories. Popular applications include those for human resources, collaboration and customer relationship management. SAAS is less used for enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and Web 2.0 tools like wikis, blogs and RSS.

Respondents who aren't considering SAAS products cited limitations in the ability for hosted applications to be integrated with software they have installed in-house and to be customized. These IT executives also believe that hosted applications that are leased and paid for under a subscription model cost more in the long run than software that is bought and installed on the company's servers. They also mentioned a variety of security concerns, including fear about having the software and data hosted in a third party's data center and concerns about application performance and availability.

  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print
Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find Out More

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download this White Paper

Don't Fall for the Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Review this information

information examination

An examination of information security issues, methods and securing data with LTO-4 tape drive encryption

Read this analysis

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed