Because no one wants to FAIL!
In the “as a Service” space in cloud computing, Infrastructure, Platform and Software are the three main areas that services are available.
They are known as IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
Why would one worry about a platform as a service (PaaS) if software is available as a service (SaaS)?
The key is competitive advantage! How can businesses and states be better if they use the same software that the rest of the world uses? Is it the implied notion that with SaaS, everyone gets to use the best software, yet the same software the same way? What can make you different and stand out from the rest of the bunch with SaaS? One could argue, that it could be the “way” that you use the software available as a service, and not the software itself, that makes the difference. Yet then, why do the IT departments all over the world spend millions of dollars to implement, integrate and enhance systems? In other words, the software that an organization use, need to be in sync with the “way” they operate. To be more precise, be in sync with the business processes the organization uses.
So the extent to which SaaS can meet the needs of business process dynamics to help organizations stay ahead is limited.
- SaaS could have the best software, yet everyone has access to it; everyone can do the same things with it
- SaaS offers packaged software, hence for the service consumer room to customize is limited
PaaS provides a platform on top of which the service consumers can implement their own solutions. Implementing niche IT solutions is the key to stay ahead. IT is NOT the differentiator. It is the solutions that you implement with IT that makes the difference.
When organizations are implementing IT solutions, they hardly go green field. Yet they reuse existing assets, expose legacy as new services, integrate old apps and new services together and sometimes even make use of SaaS as part of the EAI. But the heart and sole of the solution is not dependant on SaaS, nor on IaaS for that matter. The natural fit is PaaS:
- PaaS allows consumer controlled applications to be run on the platform provided
- Can meet the business process dynamics with the ability to customize the consumer owned applications deployed on PaaS
PaaS takes away the complexities of configuring, administering managing and monitoring the platform, thus allowing the organizations to focus completely on the business solutions.
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