Mixed results in Software as a Service Survey
The idea of ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) has exploded over the last few years as cloud technology has become more affordable, and IT leaders have come to understand the value of a truly scalable solution. However, while SaaS adoption is increasing, the technology is far from perfect and there are many areas in which people are dissatisfied with the cloud services they are using.
StratoGen surveyed 1,000 senior business technology leaders in the UK to determine their satisfaction with cloud services. It found that almost three quarters of them experienced daily frustration with the apps that they were using, with the principal issues being those of cost and support.
Stability and Scalability Are Still Problematic
The cloud is promoted as offering better up-time, affordability and improved scalability compared with in-house hosting. Cloud service providers promise to take on the support burden that would otherwise be handled in-house. Unfortunately, the perception of many customers as to how the cloud works in reality is somewhat different.
Many UK decision-makers are apparently nervous of using cloud services. Eighty per cent say that they were worried about their business relying upon them, with the greatest source of concern from most companies being a lack of knowledge as to how the cloud works. Unexpected downtime; concerns about off-network performance problems; and being locked-in to legacy applications that are already in-use are all factors which are causing businesses to delay or defer cloud adoption.
The Cost of Adoption
Karl Robinson, the chief commercial officer at StratoGen, noted that a number of those challenges could be addressed simply by shopping around. For example, the cost of cloud hosting can be mitigated by understanding the metered costs upon which such hosting is based, and choosing an appropriate package. Cloud platforms should, and can, scale in a way that allows stable growth without unexpected and punitive cost increases.
Moving away from legacy applications to use cloud-suitable replacements will require some up-front investment, but the long-term benefits should more than outweigh those costs. One option is to adopt a hybrid cloud model. Today, just 15 per cent of enterprises use such a model, but it is steadily gaining acceptance and we can expect to see more and more companies adopting it over the next few years.
The Benefit of Experienced Developers
Right now it would seem that the onus is on the providers to build trust in the cloud model. When it comes to finding the right provider to work with, options seem almost limitless and everyone will promise you they’ll do it right. But that really depends on what their interpretation of “right” is.
Radweb have many years of experience under their belts when it comes to complex, secure and scalable web applications. InventoryBase is just one example of this, used daily by thousands of people across the world. Not only is it important to build a solid cloud infrastructure, it’s equally important to make sure your code is good enough to run efficiently on your cloud servers so you aren’t wasting money.
If you have a project idea, and want to learn more about how to grow your new SaaS venture, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to give us a call. In fact, it might be the biggest favour you’ll ever do for yourself.