In Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point, he studies the social factors which contribute to the spread of an “idea virus.” In Gladwell’s thesis, it is never just one thing which causes the social shift, but a convergence of social factors, and influential people. We may very well be at the cusp of such a “tipping point” with Software-as-a-Service. A quick look at year to date software sales shows the beginnings of the trend.
While all software sales are relatively flat, SaaS has enjoyed significant growth the last two years. The factors? I think there are three major factors contributing to the growth of this category:
1) The technology is available – With numerous players jumping into SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, there is a race to build the best, fastest, safest applications, platforms and infrastructure.
2) General increase in consumer confidence in web-based applications. Only a few years ago, consumers were hesitant to shop online. Today the explosion of online retail extensions to traditional retailers, as well as sites like eBay and Amazon clearly indicate how comfortable consumers have become with online shopping. Along with this is the increase in social media. The web is simply becoming a more integral part of daily life.
3) Economic factors – It is simply to expensive to build and distribute software using traditional methods.
While all software sales are relatively flat, SaaS has enjoyed significant growth the last two years. The factors? I think there are three major factors contributing to the growth of this category:
1) The technology is available – With numerous players jumping into SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, there is a race to build the best, fastest, safest applications, platforms and infrastructure.
2) General increase in consumer confidence in web-based applications. Only a few years ago, consumers were hesitant to shop online. Today the explosion of online retail extensions to traditional retailers, as well as sites like eBay and Amazon clearly indicate how comfortable consumers have become with online shopping. Along with this is the increase in social media. The web is simply becoming a more integral part of daily life.
3) Economic factors – It is simply to expensive to build and distribute software using traditional methods.
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