PaaS Decision Matrix
45 likes14,775 views
This document provides an overview and evaluation of various application platform as a service (APaaS) vendors. It describes the APaaS market and features, and evaluates vendors like Mendix, OutSystems, Progress Pacific, Force.com, and SAP ByDesign based on criteria like architecture, skills required, pricing models, and vendor vision. Representative vendors are scored and key differences between vendor offerings are highlighted. The document aims to provide guidance for selecting an APaaS vendor.
PaaS Decision Matrix
- 1. DIGITAL RESEARCH DECISION MATRIX FOR SELECTING AN APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) - NOVEMBER 2013
- 2. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This deck provides an overview of our experience in terms of short listing an Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS) Vendor. We provide: - An overview of the aPaaS market - Our key criteria when evaluating aPaaS - Scoring of representative vendors (Mendix, Outsystems, Progress Pacific, Force.com, SAP ByDesign) - Key differences of the vendor offerings This is a guideline only, a full requirements analysis should be undertaken to assess a fit for your organisation. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 1 OF 13
- 3. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION OUR BACKGROUND Rather than just viewing product marketing material and brochures, we have either attended training or implemented solutions of the vendors contained in this study. Our key clients are: - Consulting firms where we implement solutions on their behalf (Deloitte and Barnstone) - Large Corporates with SAP ERP Backend* - High growth medium enterprises that are looking for smart alternatives to traditional software application development - Software vendors looking to develop or extend SaaS solutions *We have worked specifically integrating to SAP ECC 6.0 systems (which is the largest ERP solution provider in our geography) APAAS VALUE Gartner suggests that 80% of corporate IT budgets aren’t directly contributing to business growth or enhancing your competitive advantage1. The locus of IT control has shifted to Line of Business (LoB) where applications -where solving a business need are easily “rented”. The perception of corporate IT departments are brittle and overly governed. aPaaS solutions have emerged to: - Reduce Operating Expenseson infrastructure through automating DevOps - Speed time to value –through shipping IT solutions faster across more device and organisational barriers - Ensure robust change and allowing for iterative and easy application changes–including deployment and rollback capabilities - Providing simpler integration and API managementfor core business processes - Empower business engineersto design and deploy application solutions 1 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/497088 DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 2 OF 13
- 4. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Software Defined Data centers DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 3 OF 13 BLURRED PAAS LINES Software as a Service Business End Users Empowered Business Engineers Developers Infrastructure Operators Metered Services Model Driven App Services Paas Paas DEVOPS APAAS FEATURES aPaaS speeds up time to value through: - Abstracting lower level infrastructure from development team - Providing “codeless” development environments were applications are modelled rather than hand coded. - “Baking in” the project management tooling and feedback –typically following agile methodologies - Automagically deploying, scaling and healing applications –key feature is allow changes to easily be applied to existing applications. - Creating responsive applications based on same application design e.g. creating mobile apps - Simplifying integration to 3rd party systems - Providing a library of pre-built componentsand providing a commercial marketplace for apps. Key feature of aPaaS
- 5. High Business Value Low Business Value ERP SaaS Bespoke aPaaS Standard Processes Unique Processes COST VECTOR DIFFERENTIATION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION KEY ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 4 OF 13 APAAS SWEET SPOT Spreadsheets Developer IDE Requirements Management Process Management App Stores Deployment Integration Engine Runtime Security API Virtualisation Private / Public Deployments Monitoring Community 3rd Party App Library Connectors Available Skills TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS ECO-SYSTEM
- 6. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION KEY CRITERIA USED Commercial Model Pricing models vary between vendors. Does vendor provide substantive ROI or support a managed application delivery (ISV context) is the critical when selecting an aPaaS. Architecture Considerations include UX flexibility, deployment options, developer engagement, Integration, Monitoring and Developer Operations. Vendor Vision Understanding vendor vision and ensuring that their focus aligns with your specific business application needs. Enterprise and ISVs would typically select different products suites. Skills aPaaS by definition allows quick delivery of enterprise applications -it is important to consider the required devskills to run the platforms that are available. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 5 OF 13
- 7. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION OUTSYSTEMS Outsystems’ application delivery platform produces “change-ready” applications, solving the biggest problem facing IT today -the inability to innovate caused by the overwhelming change request and maintenance backlog. Pros - Solid platform, with presence in Europe, Americas, APAC and Africa. - Integrated requirements tooling and methodology across SDLC. - Detailed partner offering and significant presence in Portuguese speaking countries (Brasil, Portugal etc). - Code generation for both .NET and J2EE -allows detachment. - Strong developer training and quick start program, free online training and community edition. - Offers integration tooling for integrating with ERP, CRM and ECM. Cons - Pricing requires upfront commitment and considers two vectors: number of users (in bands) and software units (also called function points). Requires developers to be cognisant of app size. - Solution is geared as a core enterprise IT play and while multi-tenancy is possible, would not be first choice for ISVs. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 6 OF 13
- 8. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION MENDIX The App platform for the enterprise –provides a flexible framework for delivery applications to enterprise customers in days. Provides ability to extend and integrate with existing enterprise applications. Pros - Solid platform, with good presence in Europe & US -and growing fast esp. in Insurance verticals. - Fully integrated social collaboration tools for stakeholders. - Integrated agile methodology baked into solution. - Strong partner offering, with a number of partners and conferences - CapGemini is a strong supporter. - Active application marketplace for 3rd party tools. - Offers ERP integration toolset for integrating with ERP solutions. Cons - Pricing - opaque with listing pricing not available. - Proprietary code that is licensed (locked in) i.e. proprietary platform. - Does not support the ISV context fully. Although does provide ability to market solutions via App marketplace. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 7 OF 13
- 9. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION ROLLBASE Recently acquired by Progress software. Rollbases’ cloud Platform for Business provides ability to build custom business applications fast with a minimal amount of coding. Based on an open source stack, which can be run on premise or hosted. Pros - Open source stack that can be run in private cloud context. - Core applications available, with Force.com app migration possible. - Pricing starts from $19/user per month with ISV cost scaling available. - Sophisticated functionality with full “white labelling” possible –see http://www.mission.do - Integration with aligned Progress components like DataDirectCloud. Cons - Limited partner choice. - Limited brand awareness to date –but with Progress acquisition will improve. - Browser based IDE, requires additional integration product for external integration. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 8 OF 13
- 10. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION FORCE.COM SalesForces’ application platform that was initially used to extend CRM platform, but has transitioned to a utility platform. It is a leading cloud platform for social and mobile enterprise apps. The release of latest version Salesforce1 includes foundational services such as identity management. Pros - Most advance cloud Architecture, with sophisticated tooling. - Provides a embedded social networking (chatter) for improving communication between users working on the installed applications. - Core CRM solution provides foundation for customer facing applications. - Excellent partner structure -commodity resourcing to assist with application development. - Offers integration toolset for integrating with ERP solutions(certified with SAP etc). Cons - Pricing – customers will quickly outgrow the OneApppricing - Proprietary code – APEX, VisualForcepages. Lock-in. - Does not allow ISV other than providing of 3rd party apps via the AppExchange model. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 9 OF 13
- 11. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION SAP ByDESIGN SAP’s ByDesign development tooling allows organisations to extend objects based on SAP proprietary framework. SAP are planning to release a HANA based PaaS during 2014. Pros - Robust, Cloud based solution with significant tooling to extend SAP delivered objects. - Underlying technology allows integration with other on premise SAP instances – well suited for subsidiaries. - Offers integration toolset for integrating with ERP solutions (certified with SAP etc) Cons - SAP recently announced that it would be migrating technology to HANA backbone. - Complex technology to implement requiring skilled developers to make changes – not likely that business users would attempt. - Silverlight technology used in solution – HTML5 / SAP UI5 planned. - Only relevant for extending existing SAP installation – standalone development not feasible. DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 10 OF 13
- 12. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 11 OF 13 SUBJECTIVE SCORING Outsystems Platform Sophistication 4 4 3 3 5 Developer Community Skills Training Programs Technical Resource Availability Accelerators & 3rd Party offerings (App Store) Portability of Applications Integration Market Presence Pricing Models ISV / OEM Context Vendor Viability Product Roadmap Mendix Rollbase ByDesign Force.com 3 3 2 2 4 4 3 2 2 4 3 3 1 2 4 3 3 3 2 4 4 2 3 1 2 5 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 5 4 2 2 4 3 2 2 2 5 1 2 3 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 1 5
- 13. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION Force.com SAP ByDesign Mendix Enterprise Suites DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 12 OF 13 PROVIDER BLUEPRINT Departmental Solutions Orangescape WorkXpress Pega Outsystems ISV Cordys (Open Text) Solutions LoB Extensions Process Platforms Progress Pacific Long Jump INNOVATION EXECUTION
- 14. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION MORE INFORMATION? We provide innovative IT solutions to business challenges. The new economy demands faster, more agile capabilities, whilst ensuring that every rand spent has a return on its investment. CONTACT US For more information about what we do please contact us via any of the following channels: Telephone: +27.21.808.1805 Email: warrene@agile.co.za www.agile.co.za DIGITAL RESEARCH - APPLICATION PLATFORM AS A SERVICE (APAAS) // PAGE 13 OF 13