Re: [service-orientated-architecture] SAAS vs SOA

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 05:23:15 -0800

Your point that Salesforce.com provides CRM services is valid. The distinction between software provider and service provider gets a little fuzzy when you adopt the SaaS business model. I think the real distinction between Salesforce.com and Amazon is that Salesforce.com 's primary business is the development and licensing of software, while Amazon is retailing and retailing services.

I don't think the distinction between fully automated versus manual really works. Lots of folks offer fully automated business services. If you want to start a business that offers settlement services, that's the focus of your business model. How you implement those settlement services is up to you. Obviously you need some software -- and you can build it yourself, buy it, or lease it from a SaaS vendor. Regardless of how you get that software, your settlement service consumers shouldn't need to know about it -- they just want to use your settlement services. One feature that will make your settlement services more attractive will be easy-to-use interfaces.

I wouldn't refer to SaaS as a "delivery channel" for software. It's a business model. The delivery channel refers to who actually does the selling. Even with SaaS, you still need direct/indirect/web/etc. delivery channels.

Now -- if you turn around the phrase and call it "Services as Software" rather than "Software as a Service", then I think we start getting into a different realm that applies to non-software vendors that supply services through software, such as Amazon and EBay.

Anne

On 2/23/06, Vikas Deolaliker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Anne,
 
I don't understand the distintion you make between software service and business service that uses software as a means. Couldn't SF.COM be seen as a company offering CRM service? Software then is only a means to this CRM service. Or I may want to start a settlement center and instead of purchasing the settlement software system, I could lease it online from some settlement service. I guess, I see some of your point in that when a business service has some manual intervention, you classify that as a business service if it is fully automated, you classify that as a software service. Right?
 
Isn't SaaS just a delivery channel for services that are exposed by vendors? More services can be mined from the vendor's data center should the data vendor decide to implement SOA. Does this reconcile the two?

Vikas


----- Original Message ----
From: Anne Thomas Manes <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >
To: [email protected]
 Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 12:42:12 PM
Subject: Re: [service-orientated-architecture] SAAS vs SOA

Here's how I see it:

SaaS is a business model that applies to organizations whose primary product is software ( i.e., software vendor). These vendors can license the software to other organizations who will deploy it and run it as they deem fit, or the vendors can host the software (either themselves or through a service agency) and licenses user subscriptions to the software.

The classic example of a SaaS vendor is Salesforce.com.

A SaaS application does not need to be service-oriented, although service-orientation would be a valuable feature in that it will enable easier integration with other software.

SOA is a software design discipline in which application functionality is implemented as reusable services that can be shared by many different applications.

Organizations whose primary product is not software ( i.e., not a software vendor) should not be thinking in terms of SaaS. Non-vendors should be focused on selling their business services (healthcare, financial, manfacturing, etc). Very often delivery of these business services involves the use of software -- but the software is simply the means to the services -- not the service itself. If you are a financial services company specializing in settlement services, then you are selling settlement services, not software services -- even if the settlement service is implemented using software.

Anne


On 2/22/06, Paul Denning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am trying to reconcile or form a mental model of Software As A
Service (SAAS) and SOA.

How does an On-Demand Application (ODA) relate to a "service"?

How are they (SAAS, SOA) similar and how are they different?

Thoughts?

Any good links?

Paul







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