Forrester Forecasts The Future Of Software-As-A-Service Technologies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has evolved beyond its early roots in customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) applications — though both applications continue to demonstrate high potential for growth in the enterprise — and is now gaining traction in areas such as Web conferencing, collaboration, and IT service management (ITSM). These categories will experience significant SaaS success over the next decade, according to research published today by Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR).

“TechRadar™ For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals: Software-As-A-Service”

The study, written for Sourcing & Vendor Management professionals who research, purchase, and manage the vendor relationships that surround SaaS, evaluates the top 14 SaaS application technologies based on growth and greatest potential for success. It is the latest in Forrester’s TechRadar™ series, its research methodology used to predict the success of a set of related technologies over the next decade.

“SaaS applications have advanced beyond early market applications in human resources and CRM to become a game changer in the enterprise software market,” said Liz Herbert, senior analyst, Forrester Research. “SaaS adoption continues to increase, and it is now relevant for a wide array of applications. This new research provides strategic direction to end users evaluating SaaS technologies and planning their next decade of investments.”

The SaaS TechRadar evaluation is based on interviews with industry experts, vendors building or implementing SaaS application technologies, and enterprise customers and users of various SaaS technologies. Forrester predicts that the following technologies are poised to experience significant success in the enterprise market:

Collaboration. Although its long-term future is unproven, Forrester's market data has shown SaaS collaboration to be one of the hotter areas of SaaS adoption, with the potential to significantly impact the collaboration market.
Web conferencing. Already heavily SaaS-based, Web conferencing technologies continue to move in that direction. It is an ideal candidate for SaaS, and many companies are comfortable using this technology as SaaS.
CRM. One of the earliest categories where SaaS adoption took off, this category is already mature; however, some companies with established on-premise CRM strategies will be slow to — or in many cases will never — switch over.
HCM. SaaS deployment of HCM/HR solutions has been popular, however many of them have been niche solutions by small vendors. Consolidation in this space has started to create broader suite offerings, increasing the potential growth of these technologies.
ITSM. These solutions in the SaaS model are growing in popularity, but many of the larger vendors have yet to enter this space. As established vendors continue to enter the market, SaaS has the potential to transform the world of IT applications.
Online backup. Particularly for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs), PCs, and remote location, online backup has already attracted strong interest. One area of concern is recovering large quantities of data in a short time frame.

Forrester predicts the following technologies will have minimal success using the SaaS model:

Business intelligence (BI). The SaaS BI space is largely unproven. Though there are early adopters, many are still skeptical as to its potential, particularly where large volumes and real-time data transfer are concerned.
Integration. As SaaS solutions flourish in the enterprise, SaaS-specific integration solutions will naturally rise, too. However, firms should not expect any magic integration solutions, SaaS or otherwise.

Other technologies evaluated in the TechRadar include archiving, digital asset management, enterprise content management, enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, and Web content management. The report “TechRadar™ For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals: Software-As-A-Service” is currently available to Forrester RoleView™ clients and can be purchased directly at forrester.com.

About Forrester Research

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 19 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, consumer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 25 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.