This is part 13 of cloud computing tutorial. In this video we'll discuss, what is Software
as a Service. Who uses this service ? Few examples and the benefits it provides. Now,
in our previous two videos, we discussed Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a
Service. In this video, we'll discuss Software as a Service. As you can see from the diagram here,
with Software as a Service, the cloud service provider manages everything for us. We don't
have to worry about anything like purchasing and setting up physical hardware, Installing
Operating System, Virtualization, Setting up network, Installing and maintaining middleware,
runtime and applications. All these are taken care by the service provider. So, the bottom line is,
all the hardware and software is maintained for us by the cloud service provider. We simply access
the software, that is the application which we want to use for our business over the
Internet. This software runs at the cloud service provider data centre on their physical servers.
Even the data the application captures is stored at the cloud service provider data
centre. So the point that I'm trying to make is, everything is managed for us by the cloud service
provider. We simply access the service over the internet, and as it supports pay as you go model,
we pay a monthly fee based on the usage. Who uses software as a service? Well, everyone.
Individuals and organizations of all sizes - small, medium and even large enterprises.
I bet most of us will be using at least two to three software as a service applications.
A few examples of software as a service applications are Gmail, Netflix, Amazon Prime,
Dropbox, Google Drive and Office 365. How many of these SaaS applications do you use.
If you ask me, I use all of them. If we take Gmail for example, it is hosted by Google
on their physical servers at their data centres. We don't host or install anything on our computer
or laptop. We simply fire up our favourite browser like Google Chrome for example, point
it to gmail.com and access the Gmail software as a service over the internet. There are a wide
variety of SaaS applications both for personal and business use cases. We have SaaS applications for
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Financial Management, Sales Management, Human Resource
Management (HRM), Billing, Entertainment, Storage, Collaboration. The list goes on.
Now, let's look at the benefits. It's very easy to get started with a SaaS application. Think about
a traditional business application running on premise. You need to purchase hardware, that
is a physical server and all the related hardware, install the operating system, runtime, middleware,
and any other dependencies. On top of this, you install the software application, configure it and
then, you have it available for business. You also need to recruit workforce to maintain the servers
and the application, that is to install patches and updates. Now, compare this to a SaaS
application. You simply, fire up your favourite browser and access the SaaS application over the
internet. There might be some customization and configuration required, but it is definitely very
easy to get started with a SaaS application, than running that same application on-premise.
Accessibility is another great benefit. You access SaaS applications over the internet.
So this means, as long as you have an internet connection, you can access SaaS application from
anywhere and any internet enabled device. Automatic updates. With a SaaS application,
you don't have to worry about installing updates or patches. These are automatically provided
by the cloud service provider, that too, in most cases with a zero downtime. This obviously reduces
the burden on the in-house development and IT staff. Flexible usage-based pricing. No upfront
huge capital expenditure. You only pay for what you use. For example, if you have 10 users using
the application, you only pay for that 10 users. You also have the flexibility to scale the number
of users up and down, depending on your business needs. With SaaS applications, there is reduced
financial risk. For example, if you want to see, if a SaaS application adds value to your business,
you can start with one or two users and then see if it's really adding any value. If it is,
then you have the option to scale up the number of users. If it's not adding any value,
you simply stop using the app and the payments. These days, most cloud service providers
also offer free trials. You can try a SaaS app for free and see if it's adding any value. If it is
not, there is no cost to your business anyway. Compare this to buying an expensive hardware
and a packaged app up front. With SaaS applications, businesses definitely have reduced
financial risk. Affordability is another great benefit. Applications and solutions that fall
in the category of CRM and ERP for example are very expensive. By the way CRM stands
for Customer Relationship Management and ERP for Enterprise Resource Planning. So, these softwares
are very expensive to buy outright. Especially for individuals, small and medium organizations,
it's a huge burden. However, SaaS applications flexible pay as you go model, allows
even small and medium organizations to trial and experiment if these expensive apps add value to
their business. Basically, it levels the playing field for everyone including small businesses
and individuals. That's it in this video. Thank you for listening.