I last wrote in my original SaaS blog about 18 months ago. Since then I’ve been on hiatus working on a couple of things (more on this below) and now I'm returning to writing about the SaaS world on my new blog, “Glassey on SaaS.”
A quick recap: to me, SaaS (Software as a Service) is roughly defined as software applications that run in a browser, are hosted by third-parties, and are paid for through some kind of usage fee (ie. a monthly service fee is one example). There are many more nuances that deserve to be discussed more fully and I’ll discuss these in up-coming posts. In the meantime, my very strong feeling is that SaaS applications, which are still in their early days, are here to stay and will ultimately be the way that most software applications are deployed and used.
In the time since my last post, SaaS applications have come a long way. There's been a ton of investment and development activity in the SaaS world, lots more SaaS applications are available, and they provide an all 'round better user experience than they did a couple of years ago. SaaS apps certainly haven’t hit Main Street yet, and I think there is a lot of work to be done before that happens. In fact this will be the basis for several upcoming posts. But they're clearly the first choice of Geoffrey Moore's innovators and early adopters and this is a critical step in the process.
So where have the last 18 months gone? I’ve been working on two projects primarily. The first was to get my MBA which I did through the Kellogg executive MBA program hosted in Canada by York University’s Schulich School of Business. Great program which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The other project, more relevant to this discussion, was to put my money where my mouth is and create a SaaS application. My team created a commercial-grade collaborative project management application called Projjex. It’s in the market and being well received by customers.
Lots of lessons learned along the way, both from the design and development of a SaaS application, and also from the customer feedback. I’d like to share these experiences and lessons with you in this forum. If you’re a developer or marketer of SaaS apps, or if you’re a SaaS user or potential SaaS user, then I hope you will visit regularly and participate in the discussion!
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