Ensure Your IT Infrastructure Enables Agile SaaS Delivery

Transcription

1 Ensure Your IT Infrastructure Enables Agile SaaS Delivery

2 Ensure your IT infrastructure enables agile SaaS delivery It s no surprise that the Software as a Service (SaaS) market is exploding; its benefits are evident and mounting. SaaS end users are reaping the benefits of greater software agility, reduced operational headaches and trading CapEx for OpEx. For SaaS vendors looking to provide cloud-based software applications, realizing market penetration and revenue growth comes with a unique set of challenges, including: How to sell a comprehensive service vs. a product How to ensure IT infrastructure enables an agile SaaS delivery How to stay focused forward on innovation In this ebook, we Illustrate the relative growth (and growing importance) of the SaaS market Outline the challenges companies providing SaaS face Outline five ways the right IT infrastructure can enable iterative, innovative SaaS offerings 2

3 The growing SaaS market As more companies gain greater familiarity with SaaS offerings and realize their advantages over on-premise software, the market has seen significant growth with no signs of slowing. How big is the SaaS market? Really big, and getting bigger. In fact, IDC predicts SaaS and cloud software revenue will reach $76.1 billion by 2017, at a compound annual growth rate of 22.1%. SaaS delivery will eclipse traditional on-premise software, and by 2017 will account for $1 out of every $6 spent on software Worldwide SaaS and Cloud Software Forecast and 2012 Vendor Shares Dec 2013 Doc #

4 Meeting the demands of savvy SaaS users Clearly that growth indicates end users are embracing cloud-delivered applications, creating opportunities for SaaS companies to introduce offerings and differentiated services to end users weary of managing endless iterations of vendor-specific software. However, effectively delivering SaaS to an ever-more savvy, demanding and mobile customer base isn t without challenges. End users aren t just looking for relief from operational headaches and escalating CapEx budgets. They are looking for: Software tailored to meet their unique, specific needs. SaaS provides common features and quick delivery, and SaaS vendors realize significant cost reduction through supporting only a single software version. But end users still want custom functionality to solve their own pain points. Rapid deployment of chosen SaaS solutions. New users should be added nearly instantly, self-service is a table stake, and new features must be integrated immediately. SaaS-to-SaaS integration. Vendor lock-in is SaaS anathema, but users also are looking for a software solution that integrates with other platforms, even those from different vendors. 4

5 Providing a solution, not just a product Offering a good product doesn t guarantee success in the SaaS market. SaaS offerings that provide holistic, custom solutions to individual user needs have a differentiated, distinct competitive advantage. As a SaaS vendor, in addition to creating a compelling cloud-delivered software, deftly delivering on and selling the solution, and offering robust support and end-user assistance, you need to ensure that the underlying IT infrastructure your solution runs on is not holding back your success. Among the many reasons customers migrate to SaaS is the desire to reduce operational headaches. Why should your infrastructure needs be any different? Iterating and innovating faster, easier and more predictably will drive your business and revenues up and to the right. 5

6 Infrastructure that enables When launching your SaaS solution, take a critical look at your infrastructure choice and give it the SaaS IT readiness litmus test: Will you have to spend more time managing the nuances of your infrastructure instead of focusing forward on innovating new features your customers are clamoring for? Will adding new users require a myriad of manual tasks and fire drills for administrators? Are the costs and growth challenges of your infrastructure enough that profitability might suffer? It s time for IT infrastructure that enables your SaaS business. 6

7 Focus your SaaS solution forward Adding users quickly and easily, developing new features the market is keen on, working on SaaS-to-SaaS integrations and providing holistic software service to customers can be a reality. In order to focus on driving your business forward, your infrastructure must: Make deployment easy Infrastructure should deploy quickly into new and existing environments. Waiting days, weeks or months to deploy new hardware has a trickle-down effect, delaying the onboarding of new SaaS users. Faster time to deployment equals faster time to revenue. Provide end-to-end automation REST-ful APIs and support for common scripting tools, such as Python, help you automate previously manual administration tasks. When you re no longer having to write vendor-specific code to ease your infrastructure management, you can spend that time innovating and writing code to improve your specific software implementation. 7

8 Make user onboarding easy Automating infrastructure tasks can enable self service. Adding new users ceases to be an administration task and instead can now be enacted by the end users themselves. With a utility consumption model, users get to work in your SaaS solution faster, you spend less time managing tasks critical to a growing user base and more users typically equal more revenue. Optimize your resource management As if deploying high-performing, right-sized, feature-rich infrastructure in support of your SaaS weren t daunting enough, trying to accurately plan for growth can seem impossible. By choosing infrastructure that scales granulary, seamlessly and non-disruptively, you can remove the pain in growth planning. Grow cost-effectively, on your terms, and ensure users never have to suffer through maintenance windows or worse, service outages again. Be portable and flexible Eliminating vendor lock-in is a key reason users look to SaaS solutions. The infrastructure your SaaS runs on should be no different. Rather than hard-coding your software to your infrastructure components (for example, mapping users directly to storage array resources), consider taking a loosely coupled approach and treat the infrastructure as pools of resources, thus avoiding vendor lock-in. When you unlock your hardware, you free up cycles to focus on what your users value, unlocking your SaaS software and deepening SaaS-to-SaaS integration. 8

9 Conclusion The SaaS market continues to enjoy substantial revenue growth largely because the benefits are so compelling and allow SaaS providers to address marketplace demands. Visit /SaaS to learn how SolidFire s storage solutions are designed for SaaS providers who win. By deploying infrastructure that enables a forward-looking focus, SaaS providers can better differentiate their offerings through innovative development, provide holistic solutions and accelerate customer adoption. 9

10