Internet-Based Applications Are Becoming the Predominant Model in Software

My research as ISM’s President has found that increasingly users will be accessing their software applications over the Internet rather than using on-premise applications within the near future.  Here is evidence of my conclusion about applications accessed over the Internet (Software as a Service (SaaS)) and particularly via the cloud model:

A recent survey by Elon University researchers of around 900 key Internet and tech experts and social analysts, found that the majority of the survey respondents saw the SaaS model as the prevalent future model as 71% of their respondents agreed with this statement:

“By 2020, most people won’t do their work with software running on a general-purpose PC. Instead, they will work in Internet-based applications such as Google Docs, and in applications run from smartphones. Aspiring application developers will develop for smartphone vendors and companies that provide Internet-based applications, because most innovative work will be done in that domain, instead of designing applications that run on a PC operating system. The advantage of instant access to information regardless of device, operating system or location is a huge factor in the dominance of web apps over desktop apps. “The cloud” (Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand) is accessible from work, from home, from any location with an Internet connection, and increasingly, from our ever-smarter mobile devices.”

“It is a much more financially reasonable model for customers,” according to Joanne Corriea, a market research vice president at the Gartner Group.  The Gartner Group states that through 2011, on-demand CRM will provide as much as a 10% – 13% lower total five-year cost of ownership than on-premise software for moderately complex CRM deployments.

In addition, Microsoft announced that it is adding Web-based versions of Office to its collection of hosted software for business. The company will also offer traditional Office as a subscription-based service.