The overall SaaS, or software as a service, business is poised for blistering growth, based on analysts' predictions. According to projections by International Data Corp., the SaaS industry will grow at a 32 percent compounded annual growth rate over the five years from 2006 to 2011, from $3.6bn to $15bn. Over the same time, packaged applications are expected to continue to dominate the market, expanding from $110bn in 2006 to $160bn in 2011.
But if SaaS is being proclaimed as the greatest thing since the microchip, why is it that most large and many medium-size enterprises continue to run the vast majority of their mission-critical systems using in-house package software?
Are they missing something? Or are they just too-sober latecomers to a wild party that's already been under way for several years?
Source: Baseline, http://www.baselinemag.com