Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offers tremendous benefits to companies of all kinds, reducing their software- and hardware-related workload, saving them money, improving their productivity, and — perhaps most importantly — reducing their risk. While many architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations were once understandably cautious about outsourcing key applications and data, it has become increasingly common, particularly for project-based team-working where conventional IT infrastructures are not always the most efficient solution. Trends in mobile working are also increasing SaaS adoption, while building information modelling (BIM) and ‘Big Data’ may further expand its use.
Why go SaaS?
Combining the role of developer and supplier benefits the SaaS vendor, and by working for multiple customers they achieve economies of scale and skill which they can then translate into customer benefits, including:
- Faster, more cost-effective implementation, training and ongoing support
- Little/no capital outlay — with access normally via a standard internet browser, organizations rarely have to invest in new hardware/software
- More predictable expenditure on software, hosting and support — most vendors operate on a subscription basis, charging monthly, quarterly or annually for their services; in effect, IT is leased rather than purchased.
- More flexibility — ‘on-demand’ pay-as-you-go services can be turned on and off quickly
- Greater reliability and availability of the application — software services are provided 24/7 from highly resilient data centers with security, back-up and secondary systems impossible even for most corporates to replicate
- Increased scalability — processing, memory, bandwidth, etc. can be scaled up or down as needed
- Better disaster recovery — particularly in small firms, data back-up can be unreliable; cloud storage provides automatic back-up and improved security
Why SaaS now?
In the early days of SaaS, particularly during the Dot.com boom, there were many concerns. These included concerns about:
- Financial stability of the SaaS vendors, many of which were then startups
- Functionality, security and reliability of their services and applications — some were little more than web-enabled client/server applications while others were consciously developed as pure web-native tools
- Security and resilience of the SaaS hosting providers (many vendors outsource hosting to third parties such as Rackspace, Amazon Web Services, etc.)
- Legal issues (contracts, service level agreements, data ownership, data protection, intellectual property, legal admissibility, etc.) surrounding use of web-based services, documents and data.
However, over a decade after the Dot.com bubble burst, it is clear that surviving providers are robust and generating sustainable revenues. The vendors’ applications now have substantial track records serving numerous clients and project teams have achieved measurable time and cost savings and efficiency improvements through sharing a centralized ‘single version of the truth’. Hosting arrangements are now well understood. Vendors have shown how data can be archived, exported and imported into other similar systems, and ‘live’ process information can be extracted for re-use in back-office systems. And construction and property people are now more sophisticated in their understanding and use of electronic information.
SaaS: the way forward
Since 2000, SaaS has become increasingly accepted, the vendors have proved robust and financially viable, their technologies are increasingly accessible across multiple operating systems and device types, and government clients and agencies are championing open, shareable asset information and open standards as a basis for better collaboration. Viewpoint has been at the leading edge of many of these developments. We can attest to the growing industry appetite for SaaS technologies, and are well-placed to help our customers and end-users make informed choices about how they adopt SaaS to keep abreast of their markets.
This content is sponsored by Viewpoint in collaboration with ConstructConnect™ Media. To learn more about Viewpoint, visit www.viewpoint.com.
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