Software-as-a-Service offers Upside to SPs
As the global business climate drives the need for increased flexibility in IT services, it will become increasingly important for SPs to dynamically deliver services to their business clients. This Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model will provide business customers with the ability to purchase and pay for services on an as-needed basis.
To support the SaaS model, SPs will have to create a software layer which sits on top of the CPE and manages the applications and services which are currently being delivered by the SP. This layer will support dynamic, end-user provisioning and will monitor the hardware in the business customer’s environment to ensure resources are available to support the end-user’s processing needs. This will also provide the Service Provider with a source of business intelligence as their sales force will now be able to clearly identify when a customer’s hardware must be upgraded to meet their business needs.
By delivering SaaS, the SPs will take a large step in meeting the needs of IT managers trying to stay in front of their company’s constantly changing business needs. Ultimately, I believe it will drive business customers to view SPs as a true partner versus simply a provider of bandwidth.
Posted by Joe Wojtal at 11:21PM PST
Ronen Oct 12, 2007
Hi Joe,
I like your concept, but knowing service providers, they will never be able to “create a software layer which sits on top of the CPE” as you suggest. Because it is not their business (software development), instead, I believe Cisco should develop something like you are suggesting here, and sell it to the SPs.
Ronen