Business is abandoning traditional IT in favour of emerging
software-as-a-service (Saas) and
cloud computing models mainly due to economic pressure, says IT
services firm
Wipro Technologies.
Many organisations see these models as a way to reduce cost of
ownership for applications and IT infrastructure, according to
Srini Pallia, global head of business technology services at
Wipro.
"Buying, installing, customising and maintaining applications is
expensive. It is also a distraction. Businesses want to spend time
on core business rather than back office IT operations," he
said.
Increased speed to market for new products and services is
another important driver for adoption of Saas and cloud
computing.
"These models enable business to get what it needs to support
innovation quickly without huge capital investments in additional
infrastructure," he said.
If this trend continues to gather momentum, Pallia predicts it
will have a massive impact on the IT services industry in the next
three to five years.
Only those service providers that embrace this trend and evolve
their business models accordingly to meet market demands will
remain competitive, he said.
However, not all businesses are expected to switch to the new
models immediately because unwillingness to give up control,
security concerns, and fear of the unknown.
Many businesses are only adopting non-critical applications
using Saas to gain experience in using the approach while limiting
risk. Pallia said many businesses are expected to adopt a hybrid
approach rather than making a complete switch to Saas and cloud
computing before the business models have matured.
