SaaS For IT Management
This blog is all about using Software as a Service (SaaS) for IT Management.
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This Week In SaaS IT Management: Dell, Paglo Becomes GoToManage and Targeting MSPs.
Posted on March 9th, 2010 No commentsIt’s been a while, so I thought it’d be a good time to do a SaaS IT Management Update. We’ve been working hard here at Aprigo, getting ready for a new release (more on that later) of our SaaS Data Management App, Aprigo NINJA. That’s my latest excuse for not writing anything recently, but I’ve got a few minutes to write. So here goes:
Dell launches portfolio of SaaS applications- Saw this one a few minutes ago from the Bangkok Times (it looks like it has been automatically translated into English):
Dell has announced the new SaaS applications across three IT infrastructure management areas including Client Device Management, Remote Infrastructure Monitoring and Continuity and Compliance Management. The applications and services include asset management, patch management, software distribution, anti-virus management, laptop data encryption, online backup and restore, software inventory and usage management, email continuity, crisis management and email security.
I can only find the announcement in the Bangkok Times, so I’ll add more info as it is made available online.
Citrix Enters SaaS-Based IT Management with GoToManage- This one was on MarketWatch and is much easier to understand. Citrix picked up Paglo, the SaaS IT Search company from Menlo Park California and changed its name to GoToManage. From the MarketWatch article:
GoToManage is based on the industry-leading service offering from Paglo Labs Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif., provider of Software as a Service (SaaS)-based IT search and management services acquired by Citrix Systems early in 2010. GoToManage is an integrated web-based platform for monitoring, controlling and supporting attended or unattended IT infrastructure anywhere. It achieves this by creating an IT ’system of record’ — providing businesses with the ability to discover and identify all network devices; monitor critical servers and applications in real-time; manage network usage and track configuration changes. GoToManage is simple to deploy, can be accessed from anywhere, and requires no costly server infrastructure.
And
The launch of the new GoToManage service enables Citrix Online to meet accelerating demand from the large emerging SaaS-based IT management market, estimated by leading analyst firm Forrester Research to reach $4 billion in 2013 (How Big Is SaaS In IT Management Software?, November 2008). GoToManage will provide small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) and managed service providers (MSPs) an affordable alternative to costly and complex premise-based software.
I like two things about this. First, I like that there’s some external validation for the “SaaS-based IT Management Market” (notice the title of this blog). Second, I like that Citrix is aiming GoToManage at the MSP industry. It’s really an interesting angle, as I was surprised Citrix has repositioned Paglo from something IT departments can use to monitor and discover network resources to an MSP play.
Over on ZDNet, Phil Wainewright has an article on “The Four Pillars of the Transition To SaaS” which talks about four challenges SaaS companies face before gaining mainstream adoption:
- Partner strategy
- Pricing, packaging and selling
- As-a-service infrastructure
- Customer relationships
Another company called LiveTime put out a press release in corporatespeak that announced:
new SaaS based cloud deployment options, including Google App Engine, Amazon EC2 and Rackspace Cloud. This new level of cloud support will allow Managed Service Providers to extend their offerings to include the Enterprise Service Desk.
The moral: Lots of SaaS IT Management companies are targeting MSPs.
Finally, (another nod to Phile Wainewright) RightNow made an excellent PR play with their Cloud Services Agreement, which says:
RightNow’s Cloud Services Agreement makes several key commitments, such as forward price visibility, being able to adjust numbers of seats in line with usage, the right to walk if the vendor doesn’t meet commitments and — most strikingly — cash refunds for breaches of the SLA. I suspect a lot of people’s first reaction is going to be, surely I get that already from a SaaS vendor? Amazingly, this kind of proposition is a novelty in the SaaS industry. I should add, though, that this is in large part the fault of customers, who are so used to buying conventional licensed software with no guarantees, huge shelfware components and long-term contract terms that they blindly walk into the same arrangements with SaaS vendors without even realizing there might be a better way.
That’s it for now.
awe
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This Week In SaaS For IT Management
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 2 commentsIt’s been a while since the last update, so let’s take a look at what’s going on around the web in SaaS For IT Management:
Phil Wainewright has an article entitled “Why freemium is bad for business” that brings up some interesting problems with using free SaaS services in businesses:
It means vendors don’t invest in proper access controls. Most low-end free services target individuals (’consumers’) and so they’re built around giving access to a single user. If you’re a business, you’ll probably want more than one user to have access to the same account, but that sort of access control infrastructure is expensive to set up and manage, so free services won’t support it. That’s fine if you can start off free and then migrate to a paid version when you need more access control, but many freemium vendors don’t offer that option.
and
It means vendors don’t invest in instrumentation. If there’s no fee, there’s little incentive to monitor usage patterns and service levels. Again, the infrastructure for this kind of capability is expensive, and if a vendor is focused on the kind of mass market that a free product has to appeal to, it’s unlikely to want to spend money on features such as SLA monitoring, uptime dashboards, real-time user support or detailed usage pattern analysis. This limits its ability to offer differentiated services that performance-sensitive business customers will pay good money for, forcing it to focus even more on volume rather than quality.
Over at 16 Ventures, author Lincoln Murphy spends 23 pages railing on freemium in SaaS. The guy really doesn’t like freemium.
Another one from Phil Wainewright- he’s got an interview with Jeff Kaplan about “some of the ways enterprises will deal with hybrid environments that mix on-premise and cloud assets.” It’s done as a podcast or a blog transcript.
Daniel Druker has a post giving a “2010 Forecast: Cloudy With Lots Of Sun:”
This has been quite the week for financial results and predictions for the cloud computing and software market.
- Gartner Group predicts 17% growth for cloud computing and SaaS firms vs. 4.8% for on-premises software for 2010.
- Forrester Research says “The technology downturn of 2008 and 2009 is unofficially over” and points to growth in cloud computing in 2010.
- Bruce Richardson of AMR says “If you had listened to me and invested in SaaS stocks in December 2008, your portfolio would be up 300% to 400% by now.
- And closest to home, Intacct announces 80% growth and the second best quarter in the company’s history - and that’s quarter over quarter increased growth for an already fast-growing company.
Shameless Self-Promotion
First, on the Aprigo front:
I put together a quick 30 second commercial that will be shown on G4TV this weekend.
Also, we presented at MassInnovationNights:
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SaaS, IT Management, and Storage News Roundup
Posted on December 2nd, 2009 2 commentsGoodbye November, hello December.
It’s about time to have a look around the SaaS/IT Management blogosphere to highlight what’s going on.
Shameless Self Promotion
Wasn’t sure whether to do this first or last, but I might as well get it out of the way. Here’s a quick roundup of Aprigo news since the last roundup:
- Seven Tips to Help Manage Data Storage Growth – Computer Technology Review- An article we wrote for the Computer Technology Review
- Do storage managers have a “pack rat” mentality?- A blog post on the Aprigo blog defending storage managers from Symantec’s assertion that they are pack rats
- Aprigo On KillerStartups.com - Aprigo was featured on KillerStartups.com, a site that lets readers vote whether the startup will “be a killer.”
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Aprigo NINJA in PCMag.com’s @Work Blog- Aprigo NINJA was featured in PCMag.com’s @Work blog by Errol Pierre-Louis.
We’ve got more news coming, but I don’t want to bore you with that. Moving right along……
Storage News
- Scott Lowe has resurrected his Storage Short Take series, and it’s well worth the wait. In this, #5 in the series, Scott gives the Reader’s Digest version of what’s going on in the storage world.
- On the StorageBod blog,
- W. Curtis Preston has a wrapup of data protection and data backup trends in 2009
IT Management News
- Chris Evans at GestaltIT gives a wrapup of the first annual GestaltIT Tech Field Day, where both vendors and journalists converged for discussions and evaluations of the hottest tech products. Judging from the coverage, it was an excellent event, and they’re already planning the second annual event.
- Looks like IT spending is up according to Bob Evans, as he reports “Accenture Stock Target Soars As CEO Sees IT Recovery“. From the post: “A Credit Suisse analyst has boosted his target price for Accenture shares from $42 to $55 on the expectation that enterprise IT spending is beginning to loosen up and that Accenture will be a prime beneficiary of CIOs’ more-expansive spending habits and their increasing acceptance of outsourcing.”
- Mozy has a great video highlighting the importance of data backup by asking people on the street how much they’d sell their laptop for right this minute.
SaaS News
- The Security Risks with Sharing Documents and How to Prevent Them- Adi Ruppin has an article in IT Business Edge talking about the new access control opportunities and threats brought about by introducing SaaS in IT Management.
- Enterprise SaaS Working Group: Identity Management in the Cloud- Ryan Nichols has a post summarizing the Enterprise SaaS Working Groups activity around identity management in the cloud.
All right, that’s it for now. I’ll keep trying to do this weekly.
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This Week In SaaS For IT
Posted on November 6th, 2009 No commentsAll right, I have to admit it….when it comes to updating this blog, I’ve been a bum. But I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting at least a few times per week, and in that spirit, here’ this week’s rundown of stories about SaaS for IT.
10 ways to evaluate your IT management software- Saar Bitner from SysAid Technologies has a great list to help evaluate your IT Management Software.
The True Cost of On-Premise ITAM tools- The guys at SAManage outline the real costs associated with on-premise tools.
Remote Data Backup Pitfalls and Solutions- A good look at remote data backup issues on the Data Recovery Blog.
Overheard: Cloud Computing - Learn It Or Lose- On the IT Management and Cloud Blog, John Willis is interviewed by Jim Ericson.
SaaS Silos Create New IT Management Challenges- Phil Wainewright has an interview with th Scott Bils of Conformity on the management challenges organizations are facing as they increase the number of SaaS applications they take on, and learn why SaaS and cloud require a new approach to identity and systems management.
Business case for SaaS- Dennis Howlett gives his take on the business case for SaaS, by David Terrar.
…and a couple of shameless plugs from the Aprigo blog:
Sponsored By Aprigo
