Over the first half of 2010, Forrester's IT clients asked more than 350 questions about Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). But buyers are no longer just asking "What is SaaS?" "Who offers SaaS?" and "Is SaaS secure?" Rather, they are asking more sophisticated questions about how to incorporate SaaS into the overall application footprint, best practices for implementing SaaS, how to build governance and due diligence around purchases, and where to invest in organization skill sets as firms make greater use of the service.
A deeper look into these inquiries shows that firms are approaching SaaS more strategically and in a more centralized way compared to prior years. In fact, 37 percent of questions centered on actively embracing SaaS. This means the siloed, business-led SaaS deployments of the 2000s are yielding to greater due diligence, planning, and integration with existing sourcing and IT processes.
