Software as a Service

I am keeping a close watch on the Software as a Service (SaaS) scene, because the IT solutions that a small firm like mine needs are realistically only going to be affordable once suitable web hosted offerings are on offer. These will allow small firms to obtain the sort of IT services that larger firms now enjoy, without incurring the up front costs of investment that sophisticated technology normally entails. I am hoping this will all happen in the next year or two, and have postponed looking at IT solutions in the meantime. So, it was with interest that I read about Microsoft’s plan to offer Sharepoint and Exchange through a subscription service: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080303/D8V65S782.html later this year. Microsoft appear to be positing themselves in a similar way vis a vis Google as IBM did when Microsoft came along – as the established player that knows what business needs. Clearly with two companies like Microsoft and Google competing to provide us with the most business friendly SaaS solutions, the end products likely to be available to us will be very superior indeed, and unlikely to be matched by any existing small software businesses currently in the market, like Naastar, through whom I currently get a hosted email exchange service. These smaller companies are likely to be bought out and consolidated. If anyone hears of any talks on the topic of SaaS for business or law firms, or has any further information on this topic do please let me know, or comment on this blog