December 16, 2008, 4:03 PM — Lower cost of ownership is the most significant reason for adopting software-as-a-service (SaaS) for enterprises in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).
This is ahead of other factors such as ease of use and management, according to a recent study by Springboard Research, a leader in the IT market research industry.
ANZ is recognised as the most mature SaaS market in the Asia Pacific, the research firm said. Businesses in ANZ also report high levels of familiarity with the SaaS model, compared to most other regions in the Asia Pacific.
In its report, 'SaaS in ANZ: A Fast Maturing Market', Springboard forecasts that the ANZ SaaS market will register a compound annual growth rate of 55 per cent between 2007 and 2011 and reach A$683 million (US$444 million) by 2011.
Ideal market
"ANZ is in many ways the ideal market for SaaS applications and recognising this, both global as well local players have increased their presence and have intensified their product and marketing strategies," said Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, senior manager of emerging software for Springboard Research. "End-users in ANZ report high levels of familiarity with SaaS, and satisfaction with SaaS is similarly high among adopters," she added.
According to Springboard's report, 50 per cent of the survey respondents who have no plans to adopt SaaS have cited existing investments by their organisations in on-premise applications as the biggest barrier. Other reasons for not adopting SaaS include a lack of clarity about benefits of SaaS, lack of technological maturity and no business requirement.
The report also highlights that SaaS deployment among ANZ enterprises is far from maturity, with the majority of respondents currently using SaaS applications in isolation. Only 20 per cent of respondents have integrated SaaS applications with traditional enterprise applications and fewer still have enabled integration between SaaS applications.
