damien owens
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Construction IT Alliance Seminar 27th November 2009
What is Software as a Service? Definition - Software as a Service (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.
Source - searchcloudcomputing.com
SaaS BenefitsBenefits of the SaaS model include:easier administrationautomatic updates and patch managementcompatibility: all users will have the same
version of software.easier collaboration, for the same reasonglobal accessibility.
Source - searchcloudcomputing.com
Has the time for SaaS arrived?The platforms (the cloud) are now more
reliable and low costThere is a greater consumer acceptance of
paying for a service SaaS vendors have positioned themselves as
credible service providers and business partners
SaaS for construction industry
The main applicationse-Tendering (e-tenders, Procon (UK))Project Management (e.g. Basecamp)Communications (e.g. Google Mail)Promotion (Google Ads and Analytics)MRP – (e.g. e caliper)Finance (e.g. Sage)CAD?
Ecaliper
A change of perspective..How can the construction industry (specifically
SME) best exploit SaaS to gain a strategic advantage in today’s stressed marketplace?
How can we, as IT professionals, deploy SaaS applications within our companies and industry?
The focus must not be cost alone!
A strategic dimension to SaaS..Increase operational efficiency and
productivityReduced in-house IT resources: It does NOT
mean that there should not be an IT Department or expertise retained in-house.
Increased business security (50% of companies that lose all of their critical data go out of business immediately (90% within one year))
New Market Entry
An Irish Dimension..A possible approach is to seed the market:
Identify a common application which can be used across the sector in a non-competitive manner (e.g. email)
Provide centralised access to this application, training to participant companies, and cost subsidy? This could be operated as part of a third level project.
Evaluate the outcome in a range of environments and extrapolate to other SaaS packages for the sector.
