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September RCP: Nice SaaS

Maybe you're not entirely sure what Software as a Service is. Sure, you read a lot about it (even here), and maybe you hear people talking about it. You see that Salesforce.com seems to be cleaning up revenue-wise with it. Perhaps your customers have even puzzled you by inquiring as to what your SaaS option is. So you're left trying to figure out what SaaS really is, much less what your strategy for it should be.

Then along comes Microsoft, as only Microsoft can, changing the vocabulary altogether. It's not SaaS that Microsoft is pushing, after all; it's S+S, or Software Plus Services. Great -- another buzzword to learn and explain, another strategy to develop.

Well, if all you know about SaaS is that it sounds like a word your mother would have used when you talked back to her as a kid, take heart. RCP is here to help. And not only are we talking SaaS in our September issue, we're also clarifying exactly what Microsoft means by S+S -- and how partners can benefit from it.

Executive Editor Anne Stuart has the lowdown on Microsoft's vision for a hosted-technology model, and if this little passage doesn't hook you to click the link, you might as well close up shop now:

"While Microsoft officials talked nonstop about how the transition to SaaS would revolutionize its business, the company's overall approach was heavy on vision, light on details. Until Denver. Microsoft's leaders used the fourth annual Worldwide Partner Conference to share, for the first time, some specifics about what they call 'Software Plus Services' (or S+S). The first came in the form of a warning: Climb aboard the Good Ship S+S -- or risk being left behind on the dock."

Unless you're quite happy on the dock -- and we suspect that you wouldn't be for long -- you'll want to dig in to our September feature.

What's your SaaS strategy? Do you have one? Are you developing one, and how? What's your take on S+S? Answer any, all or none of those questions at [email protected].

And, on a completely different note but while we have your attention (hopefully), we're also hoping to hear from partners who are involved in infrastructure optimization. Send comments on that to [email protected], too.

Posted by Lee Pender on September 06, 2007


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