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Global SaaS Market to Hit $10.7b by 2009

DUBAI - The global “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS) market is projected to hit $10.7 billion by 2009, say IDC reports.

Owing to the current credit crunch and economic downturn experienced in the Middle East, Raqmiyat, a leading UAE-based systems integrator, announced that it is offering its unique solutions on the SaaS model for the SMB market in the Middle East.

Speaking to Khaleej Times Navneet Tandon, Vice-President for ERP & Services of Raqmiyat said, “As businesses continue to look for ways to cut costs and squeeze every ounce of value out of their IT dollars, the interest and attention around SaaS solutions continues to grow, Software as a Service Market Will Expand Rather than Contract Despite the Economic Crisis.”

“Recent IDC surveys and customer interviews support the finding that the harsh economic climate will actually accelerate the growth prospects for the software as a service (SaaS) model,” he said.

Buyers will opt for easy-to-use subscription services which meter current use, not future capacity, and vendors and partners will look for new products and recurring revenue streams. As such, IDC has increased its SaaS growth projection for 2009 from 36 per cent g growth to 42 per cent growth over 2008.

SaaS is a software model where the application is hosted by the vendor or service provider and made available to customers across the internet.

The model eliminates the need to install and run the application on the customer’s own computer, thereby alleviating the customer’s burden of additional costs for software maintenance, ongoing operation and support.

“Given the current economic climate, the SaaS model proves to be very compelling to SMBs, as cost savings, connectivity, and functionality of the solution are the main core drivers of SaaS based applications in the SMB market,” he said.

“The cost benefit of neither incurring capital expenditure for infrastructure nor incurring ongoing administration and maintenance for the usage of the software is so attractive that we are now at an inflexion point where most enterprises will automatically consider the SaaS model as an alternative to an outright purchase of their CRM, ERP systems, collaboration tools, e-mail system and so on. The fact that there is broadband connectivity easily available at a low cost, further adds to the appeal of this value proposition. The functionality in many cases is now at a point where they match the on-premises solutions.”

Raqmiyat’s capacity to identify unique business opportunities amidst the challenges of the global economic turmoil has led it to venture into the SaaS market, with high expectations that the movement of all regional SMBs towards cutting back on its expenses will usher in increased demand to adopt the SaaS based solutions.

· aneela@khaleejtimes.com