Here is a follow-up to my post from yesterday discussing additional research on the growth of Saas integration in the enterprise:

According to a recent survey commissioned by Avanade, a business technology services provider, companies are embracing the use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for the most critical applications that they consider differentiators for their businesses. The majority of respondents said they are deploying SaaS for customer relationship management (52 percent) and business intelligence (47 percent), ranking these the highest areas of SaaS use among several areas including enterprise resource planning, collaboration software, and financial systems.

Separately, the majority of respondents reported that these applications were considered differentiators and strategic weapons for their businesses versus the competition. More than 40 percent of respondents named customer relationship management and more than 37 percent named business intelligence as crucial differentiators.

"Software-as-a-Service is quickly gaining acceptance in the enterprise," said Aziz Virani, executive vice president of Global Technologies and Solutions at Avanade. "This online services model is beginning to fundamentally change how IT is consumed and provisioned in large organizations."

The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, also illustrates a clear disconnect between respondents' perceptions and their actual experience with SaaS technologies. Key findings show:

--  While more than 90 percent report their SaaS deployments as successful,
    more than half (54 percent) would have done a more rigorous analysis of
    costs and business benefits before deploying SaaS-based applications.
--  Still, of those currently using SaaS, 65 percent say they have generated
    a reasonable return on investment from their SaaS deployment.
--  And, more than 62 percent of respondents report plans to increase their
    SaaS use in the next year.
    

"In today's technology market, companies have constrained capital budgets and IT resources, a strong desire for rapid deployment, and the need to reduce operational overhead. It is clear that companies see SaaS solutions as a viable way to meet these needs," said Virani. "By outsourcing both critical and non-critical applications, companies can lower overall risk, reduce costs and realize value from the application faster."

Other key results echoed in the October 2009 survey findings release shows:

--  While SaaS is making major inroads, nearly one third (30 percent)
    reported more than a day of business had been lost due to a service outage.
    Despite that issue, SaaS is seen as a resounding success globally -- 93
    percent of companies view their experience as successful.
--  The majority of respondents say they have been using SaaS for a year or
    less (60 percent).
--  Globally, there is a 2:1 ratio of respondents who prefer SaaS delivered
    internally (or as private services) versus from third party service
    providers.
--  And, although the technology may be new to most users, one-third report
    using three or more SaaS providers.
    

Original article from Marketwire