Cloud Computing - Software as a Service (SaaS) - CRM Application

Abstract

The software industry has a tremendously competitive environment at the global and regional levels and the companies usually follow the differentiation strategy. Most of the software companies are going through a change as a new economical and efficient computing process is evolving known as “Cloud Computing.” The main characteristic of Cloud Computing is on demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally obtain computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without having to interact with each service’s provider. (See Appendix B). Cloud Computing has three different service models (or stacks): IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service). In addition, it has four types of deployment models: Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud and Community Cloud. (See Appendix B). SaaS is the most predominant type of cloud computing service model. SaaS is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the SaaS model as an alternative to the classical “on-premises” model used by enterprises. The software model is traditionally expensive and has a complex implementation process. The benefits that the SaaS model could offer to enterprises are best explained by the following case study. This paper exhibits the case study of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNAs-XY) – a CRM system – that automates home health services with the Service Cloud provided by ABC-Force.com (ABCF). Most of the functionality is accessed entirely through a standard web browser. This is a well-known SaaS implementation with several industry publications. However, some of the information in this paper is based on the personal experience of the author who has been working in the IT industry for 20+ years.