The talk about SaaS BPM has been doing rounds for over a couple of
years now. An increasing number of industry related experts now speak in favor of
this integration and one of the main reasons is the level of collaboration that
this integration offers. Process managers and others involved with the project,
who until recently, had to be physically present together for implementation of
the project, can now partake in the input/decision making process from remote locations.
What is SaaS?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is an offering wherein the providers
role extends far beyond delivering a functional product, and includes providing
the customer with availability, scalability, reliability, etc. A
good SaaS model would also give its users the ability to personalize and customize
their own settings, while also offering common functions to all users. What essentially
sets a SaaS model apart from the onsite solutions though is the licensing aspect.
As opposed to using a perpetual license, a SaaS solution would come with a subscription
model, wherein the ownership of the solution would remain with the provider.
There are various advantages of offering a BPM solutions as SaaS,
and apart from increased collaboration, these are the added advantages.
Business Size Not a Constraint:
When it comes to implementing a BPM strategy for a big business,
one can expect to bear considerable expenses coupled with risk and complexities.
If the business involves more than one location, then infrastructure would have
to be provided for each location, and each location could also end up requiring
its own support staff. Opting for a SaaS based BPM solution in such a scenario would
help not just because you do not have to worry about the technological support,
but also because it is, more often than not, a more cost effective option.
Customer Centric Models:
As opposed to using traditional push marketing, a SaaS model would
be way more customer centric. This is simply because those who create SaaS
BPM solutions
depend on the renewal of their services to make money, and this ensures that providers
interact with their clients on an ongoing basis as opposed to trying to make that
single sale.
Decreased Risk:
Opting for a SaaS BPM solution would require a considerably lower investment than opting for an onsite one. Also, the process manager who uses the solution in question would be free to decide on the solutions suitability, giving the business in question the option to stop using the service if it feels that it is not deriving adequate results from the new implementation.
The Cost Factor:
While there are people who are of the opinion that SaaS BPM solutions
end up costing more in the long run, one should also take into account the ongoing
expenses for on-site BPM solutions in the form of software upgrades, maintenance,
and the dedicated manpower that is required. A SaaS BPM solution also makes it possible
for businesses to serve any number of customers by taking away the need for dedicated
server space. These solutions which provide automated periodical upgrades and help
in lowering the cost of ownership , I feel, can be particularly beneficial when
it comes to small and medium businesses with little or no internal IT framework,
especially considering the economic conditions, a SaaS BPM solutions would be cost
effective for an immediate BPM roll-out strategy.
Lastly, while security is cited as a concern in SaaS BPM solutions,
this too is being addressed by most providers. Besides, the demand for such solutions
is certainly on the rise as businesses look for newer ways to increase productivity.
Using SaaS based solutions gives businesses the option to experiment, and after
seeing successful results, to delve further into this sphere. So just as more and
more businesses look towards SaaS BPM, an increasing number of providers now aim
to provide them with relevant products.
Author
Kalpa Shah
Vice President
Skelta Software
About Skelta BPM
Skelta BPM is an enterprise class
Business Process Management
(BPM) platform & Advanced
Workflow Software
that eliminates the risk of process initiatives, enables communication amongst all
process stakeholders and drives innovation by fostering business ownership. Skelta
BPM empowers business analysts to quickly build end-to-end, feature rich, process
centric, composite business applications using a web interface. Skelta BPM enables
quick automation and improvement of processes without any coding. Skelta BPM components
support every step in the lifecycle of a process based application, namely Envision
& Model, Execute & Deploy and Optimize & Analyze.
For more information about Skelta BPM go to:
www.skelta.com
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