Software as a service is hot, and we have the stats to prove it: Fully 68% of the 530 respondents to our InformationWeek Analytics 2010 Outsourcing Survey use some form of SaaS. And they're happy with that decision. Most say
SaaS provided higher-quality results versus internal sourcing, with 37%

Welcome to the Golden Age of SaaS. We're using it, we like it, and we're poised to bet big that it will continue to deliver benefits.

However, just like previous Golden Ages, there are some real problems that are being swept aside. Railroads had land grabs, TV had Milton Berle, the Greeks had budget problems they still can't fix. And SaaS
providers are sometimes guilty of pitching overly simplistic, even
downright fanciful, ROI models and assuring CIOs that the service can
be "up and running tomorrow." These claims ignore some basic tenets of
Economics 101 and gloss over expertise companies will need to acquire
when expanding the use of SaaS and other cloud platforms.

More on ROI later. In our experience, more disruptive are skills gaps around integration and vendor management and the need for a more proactive security stance; better monitoring of the overall
environment; updated business continuity plans; and an overall data
plan that embodies the "enter once, use often" mantra taught in
programming.

Read the rest at...

http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/saas/showArticle.jhtml...