Is SaaS killing traditional IT?

Before two decades, IT was the only department that handled IT services for an entire organization like a software development company — one department to rule them all, if you will. From mail to softwares to hardware problems like problems in printers, they were trusted upon for a variety of issues.

But now as technology continues to grow, more companies are moving towards to Software as a Service (SaaS) for their business needs. Of course there are lot of benefits that are associated with this new IT and employee dynamics, but also unplanned consequences i.e. a rift in the way IT works.

(Gartner Symposium Executive Summary Report, 2014) says enterprise apps will have sales of $40 billion for developers by 2016. A grip for consumer-friendly image applications, games, and renegade business applications, the app stores of today are now going through a major makeover as the enterprise-class comes into its own.

It’s apparent to see that enterprise mobility is rapidly acquiring ground, but it’s still a challenging experience for most developers due to the technical complications and extravagant delivery models for most enterprise mobile platforms. Adding to that the swiftly evolving nature of mobile technologies, and you can see, why most approach the world of enterprise applications (developing and implementing) with anxiety. But this is shifting, and affordable opportunities to build, test, and monetize are now more voluntarily available in the enterprise space.

What’s important in today’s world, is that ‘Application is not the only concern’; it’s also about how the application works within a system. The procedure of bringing data or a function from one application program together with that of another can turn out to be nightmarish for an IT company such as a software development company if it isn’t dealt with correctly. Companies are going to drift down towards the technologies that are simple and effective for their specific needs, meaning integration will be a part of the development process.

In recent years, SaaS has been merged into the strategy of all leading enterprise software development companies. The USP is this: Reduction in IT support costs by outsourcing hardware maintenance and support to the SaaS vendor.

However, the wide array of available applications requested by each department has made managing user access and approval an increasing challenge. The task of letting the users have access to dozens of different applications is time-consuming, and determining which department is using which apps and who has user access and permissions to what, is leading to a fragmented IT department. As the sales team requests different applications than that of engineers, IT is becoming more particular — an IT member for sales and a different IT member for the engineering department — and also more diversified.This diversification is happening across all businesses as departments start adopting new technologies. The question now is ‘Can this model be continued as technologies continue to grow?’ There will always be arguments to keep the traditional integrated IT department model. It’s a model that has worked well for years; however, it’s important for businesses to introspect and see which model will generate profits for them, the most.

(Forrester research on IT departments) predicts that IT departments could disappear as soon as 2020. However, we are not sure that it would go so far. Without a doubt, IT is always going to develop as it races to keep up with new technologies. It’s about how rapidly departments can familiarize.

Actually, the success will be achieved when the IT departments figure out these changes before others. This will unavoidably change the role of the CIO in software development companies as their IT team fragments and transfers into various departments. As this happens, their role will be defined by the central technology and business strategy of the day, in the same manner as by their own drive and talent and CIOs will be networking with the world in a whole new way. The question now is ‘Are they ready?’

Bibliography

Forrester. (n.d.). Forrester research on IT departments. Forrester.

Gartner. (2014). Gartner Symposium Executive Summary Report. Orlando: Gartner.