I saw the great potential of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry many years ago. Today, with the recent advances in computing and networking technologies, the growth of this industry becomes a real trend. This article from BusinessWeek online (April 17, 2006), Software-as-a-Service Myths (by Jeffrey Kaplan), explains why this new bread of Web-based software has staying power. The following summarizes the main points I got from the article.

• While Saas is not a new idea, the economic climate and rapid advancements in application development tools have combined to make SaaS more attractive and successful today than their predecessors–ASPs (application service providers) and hosting services of the past.
• SaaS allows for lower total cost of ownership and quicker time-to-value.
• SaaS solutions are emerging to address nearly every business application need. SaaS not only applies to customer relationship management and salesforce automation but also makes sense for many front-office functions and team-oriented collaboration purposes.
• As SaaS gains mainstream acceptance, it is becoming an important disruptive force in the software industry.
• It is not easy for the big and established software vendors to dominate the market of SaaS. You can also join the SaaS movement and make wealth.
• SaaS is not only for corporate user. Many SaaS providers aimed at small and midsize business and the home user.

To probe further about SaaS and its players, SaaS Showplace (saas-showplace.com) is a good place to start with. It gives a simple, easy-to-use directory of SaaS providers and enabling technology vendors.