Making the Move to SaaS: 10 Key Technical Considerations
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This document discusses 10 key technical considerations for companies making the move to software as a service (SaaS): selecting features, identifying skill gaps, defining the level of "SaaSification", incorporating architecture aspects like multi-tenancy and scalability, including functionality like billing and subscriptions, leveraging commercial components, choosing a technology stack/platform, selecting a hosting provider, preparing for operations, and adopting an agile development process.
Making the Move to SaaS: 10 Key Technical Considerations
- 1. Making the Move to SaaS: 10 Key Technical Considerations Luis Aburto Michael Dunham March 25, 2009
- 2. Who is Scio Consulting? SaaS Enablement Professionals » SaaS Business and Technical Consulting » SaaS Product Development Services » SaaS Infrastructure Mgmt and Operations 2 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 3. We want to build a SaaS App. OK… where do we start? 3 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 4. 1- Selecting the Feature Set Is there an existing on-premise version of the app? Who is the target customer for the SaaS app? » Same as for on-premise? » New target? What is the purpose of creating the SaaS app? » Offers opportunity to enter new markets? » Stop losing clients? » Expand reach? Consider » Business analytics and metrics » Mobile devices 4 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 5. SaaS Feature Set Develop for the Long Tail 80-20 Rule » 20% of the features provide the 80% of the value for end users 5 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 6. 2 – Identify gaps in skill set for building and operating a SaaS offering Skills for Building Skills for Operating » Product » Web-based marketing & Management sales » Web Architecture & » Infrastructure management Development » Web application » Web/RIA UI Design management & performance monitoring » Infrastructure Architecture » Web-based customer service and technical support » Web Testing 6 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 7. 3 - Define right level of “SaaSification” “SaaSification” Levels Characteristic Hosted (ASP Application Full SaaS Model) Virtualization Approach Approach Tenancy Model Single Tenant Single Tenant Multi-tenant with Tenant Mgmt. Tools Modification Minimal Minimal Moderate to Required to Extensive Existing App Operative Highest Moderate Lowest Overhead Scalability of Lowest Low Highest the Approach Initial Lowest Moderate Highest Investment 7 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 8. SaaSification level – cont’d Application Virtualization tools » Wrapped Apps » Parallels » Citrix » Etc. Considerations » Is there legacy code that could be leveraged or that would be difficult to re-write? » How many new implementations per year are forecasted? » Has the SaaS model been proven in the target market? 8 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 9. 4 – Incorporate key technical architecture aspects of SaaS Multi-tenancy Integration Scalability Security » Load balancing » Identity management » Routing Usability Availability Communication Performance » e-mail, sms, etc. Configuration-driven Globalization Customization Audit and compliance » look and feel Backup and recovery » Functionality These factors influence App Architecture as well as Infrastructure Architecture 9 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 10. 5 – Include SaaS-specific “must have” functionality Pricing Engine Billing Engine & Payment processing Tenant and Subscription Management Service Provisioning Usage and Performance Monitoring Subscriber Management & Self-Service This functionality takes from 20 to 50% of The development effort of a SaaS App 10 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 11. 6 - Leverage commercial SaaS components and services Billing » OpSource Billing CLM, Zuora, Vindicia Customer Management » OpSource Billing CLM (Customer Lifecycle Management), Aria Systems Payment Processing » Paypal, etc. Monitoring » TrustSaaS, Absolute Performance SaaSMonitor.com Integration » Boomi, Cast Iron Systems Analytics » Sonoa 11 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 12. 7 - Choose a technology stack and/or PaaS From the Ground Up Through a PaaS (Platform as a Service) PaaS Platform Examples: PaaS Examples: • LAMP • SaaSGrid • Win, IIS, ASP.NET, SQL Server • Force.com • Ruby on Rails • Google App Engine, Bungee Lab Hosting Alternatives: Hosting: • In-house • Included • Co-location • Cloud Computing (EC2, GoGrid) 12 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 13. SaaS Technology Stack Details Customer-facing Application development (Ex: in-house, Scio) PaaS or Third-Party Services IaaS/PaaS Services 13 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 14. Choosing a technology stack and/or PaaS Considerations » Match with available in-house expertise » Is our target market part of a PaaS marketplace? » Speed to market and development cost savings » Trade-off between benefits of PaaS and dependence on PaaS provider » Contingency options – what happens if the PaaS provider goes out of business? » Develop infrastructure operations expertise in- house, or use managed hosting or a hosted PaaS? 14 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 15. 8 - Select a hosting platform and/or provider In-house Datacenter Co-location » Managed Hosting • Peer1, Rackspace, Bluelock, etc. » Un-managed Hosting • ServerBeach, The Planet, etc. » Value-added Managed Hosting • OpSource Cloud Computing » Amazon EC2, GoGrid, Mosso, etc. Included with PaaS » SaaSGrid, Force.com, etc. 15 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 16. 9 – Prepare for technical operations of a SaaS business Testing/QA/QC Release cycles » How do we manage maintenance windows? » How do we manage upgrades and new functionality without affecting customers? Hosting (Infrastructure) » Performance monitoring » Up-time Reliability, replication and recovery Compliance and auditing Contract management Customer Service 16 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 17. 10 - Agile Fitness for SaaS SaaS enables » Usage Tracking » Web 2.0 Communications » User driven product design » Upgrades generally available An iterative development process works best for SaaS, like Agile development 17 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 18. Key Takeaways 18 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 19. Key Point #1 Developing SaaS successfully involves a lot more than putting your application on the Web. 19 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 20. Key Point #2 Feature set must be aligned with vision and strategy of the new SaaS app And Think Web! 20 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 21. Key Point #3 Identify gaps in your in-house skill set and define how you are going to fill them. 21 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 22. Key Point #4 True Multi-tenant SaaS is ideal but in some cases partial/hybrid solutions may be appropriate 22 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 23. Key Point #5 Get your Architecture right upfront. Making corrections along the way will be complex and expensive. 23 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 24. Key Point #6 Creating all the “SaaS plumbing” requires significant effort. Plan for it. 24 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 25. Key Point #7 Hosting alternatives abound. But not all hosting was born equal. Go with the highest level of service you can afford. 25 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 26. Key Point #8 Selecting the right PaaS may » Simplify technical decision process » Accelerate time to market » Reduce development and operating costs SaaS Add-ons (monitoring, billing,etc.) can save time and money while adding value to your operations 26 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 27. Conclusions SaaS is a different ball game There is no magic, just a learning curve Build vs Buy applies to expertise, tools, platforms, etc. Good luck! 27 Scio Consulting International, LLC. All rights reserved.
- 28. Luis Aburto, CEO 408.404.3897 x 254 laburto@sciodev.com Michael Dunham Principal Consultant 408.404-3897 x 603 mdunham@sciodev.com http://www.sciodev.com