Or should I ask, are companies ready to adopt a software as a service model? Had you asked me this question a year ago, my answer would have been much different. Today, I’m much more positive about the idea of hosted applications.

Our ERP solution, Enterprise 21, has been available in an ASP or SaaS model for quite some time. At first the interest in the on-demand model was limited. Our experience in recent months has certainly proved otherwise. More and more prospects are welcoming the idea of hosted applications, as well as approaching us with questions on both hosted and onsite business software.

For some time now, the IT community was familiar with such packages as Salesforce.com and could readily tell you this package existed. If you asked anyone what hosted ERP and accounting packages were available, the responder would have been much less confident in their answer. It’s one thing to allow your salespeople to use a hosted application to track contacts, but an entirely different scenario to allow all of your operations and financial data to be driven from a software package located outside your physical walls. The interest and knowledge in on-demand applications was simply not yet there.

As the software community advances their SaaS offering, the average IT manager is becoming much more open to the SaaS model. Or at least, from my view, this is the case. As the ERP provider, I feel a different vibe, so to speak, when hosted applications are discussed. Now only is there a different mentality on the subject, the pool of prospective users is expanding. SaaS is no longer just for the little company with big ERP dreams. More and more mid-market companies are pursuing this approach with earnest.

I believe part of this is because we, the software suppliers, have made the whole concept more palatable. My firm offers a fairly painless out if needed. We provide a migration path from SaaS to a purchased license complete with source code. We know not everyone yearns for SaaS based models and not everyone will deploy it forever. As the software supplier, we have to be flexible. We have to provide a mired of options to attract customers and keep them happy for the long-term.

I’ve written many blog entries about ERP suppliers and the evolution of our industry. I believe the recent advancements in SaaS applications are as much a result of demand as our own maturity.

Regardless of your own personal views on SaaS applications, the term and technology model is not going away. Everyone from eWeek to Microsoft is talking about the pros and cons of SaaS software packages. With seventy-three percent of respondents considering SaaS packages, it may even be considered mainstream already.

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