ANTenna Blog -- Services

"Two years back, I thought [SaaS] was the stupidest thing. But we've finally started seeing some applications that make sense," says Peter Larsen, manager of information technology at National Frozen Foods in Seattle.

According to ChannelWeb, that was the prevailing opinion at Everything Channel's Midsize Enterprise Summit in Los Angeles last week. Scott Campbell writes that "Several CIOs said they're not ready to permanently eliminate all their traditional licenses, but in this economy SaaS has become a cost-effective way to keep up with the latest applications."

For example, Campbell says National Frozen Foods is considering moving some sales applications via SaaS because he can't justify spending the money to upgrade his current business intelligence solution. He quotes Larson saying: "I'm not going to spend $1 million on a CRM application for seven people, but I will spend $50 a month."

Of course, there are still concerns. Some CIOs dismissed SaaS appeal as a mere buzzword, or worried about SaaS security lapses.

But the most common approach seems to be somewhere in between. Several CIOs told Campbell that they are looking to let SaaS prove itself on non-mission-critical "commodity type" applications, at least for now.

Don't Miss From ChannelWeb: Midsize CIOs Increasingly Look For SaaS-Based Applications

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