Software as a Service (SaaS)

What is software as a service (SaaS)?
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which customers access software over the Internet. In SaaS, a service provider hosts the application in its data center and a customer accesses it using a standard web browser.

There are a few key characteristics that apply to most SaaS providers:
Updates are applied automatically without customer intervention
The service is purchased on a subscription basis
No hardware is required to be installed by the customer
SaaS is also known as hosted software or on-demand software.

SaaS ist eine natürliche Evolution von Software. Das alte Modell, physische DVDs zu bekommen und auf lokalen Servern zu installieren, war die einzige realistische Lösung für viele Jahre. Tatsächlich wird das Client-server model für viele Szenarien immer noch benötigt. In den letzten Jahren hat sich SaaS durch eine Reihe von Entwicklungen etabliert.

One factor is bandwidth; The internet is just faster than it was ten years ago. Other important factors are the development of virtualization and tools in big data. All of these advances have made it much easier for providers to scale and manage their own infrastructure and thus provide SaaS solutions.

SaaS is used in a number of popular business areas, including customer relationship management (CRM), document management, accounting, human resource management (HR), service desk management, content management, and collaboration. There are literally thousands of SaaS vendors out there, but Salesforce.com is perhaps the best-known example as it was one of the first vendors to significantly disrupt a traditional software industry.

SaaS is closely linked to Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). It falls under the umbrella of the larger category of cloud computing, although many people consider the terms interchangeably.