SaaS Market Collapse in 2010? Get Real!

OK, I didn't see the article until yesterday so I'm a little tardy on this one but it definitely warrants a response.  In an interview with ZD Net, Lawson Software CEO Harry Debes predicts that SaaS will collapse in 2 years time.  Clearly this stance was crafted as an attention getter (and it worked) but I'd like to make a few of points in response:

First, this type of arrogance and willful blindness to a massive trend foreshadows significant business problems for Mr. Debes and Lawson. Think DEC ("PCs will never replace minicomputers") and all the software companies that missed the DOS to Windows wave for whatever reason.  The person about to repeat history's mistake is Mr. Debes and, unfortunately, his shareholders.

Second, Lawson's economics aren't its customers' problem (ie. it takes Lawson years to recover their R&D and marketing investments and he can't guarantee that his customer will stick around for five years).  Well, many other companies are willing to take that risk and so he will lose his customers to his new competitors.

Third, I do agree that building the best possible software is the key, and not necessarily just building something in order to have a SaaS offering.  As I've written before, customers buy solutions that meet their needs.

And finally, regarding Mr. Debes' remark that "people are stupid", I couldn't disagree more, especially when it comes to SaaS customers. They know what they want and they're adopting SaaS solutions across the globe and at a rapid pace.  At Projjex we receive a constant flow of intelligent feedback and great ideas from our customers.

Nice try Harry, but belittling your customers isn't going to derail the SaaS locomotive!

Alex Glassey