What do you mean, it doesn't "just work"
Stop pissing on the parade, El Reg!
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is sold to line of business people as a way to get the applications they need, without all the hassle, time and expense required to have an IT department build and run an application. But while off-the-shelf SaaS can do an awful lot for a business, doing SaaS well needs ancillary tools that SaaS …
HR and marketing types have learned not to to send their best people to liaise with IT
Not just over stuff like this, even when they need to do something HR related it is the lowest ranked member who knows nothing and doesn't have the authority to order lunch who is sent and emails back with the answers (you hope to the questions you ask).
From off-the-shelf SaaS to something that works for your business and it processes will need a *lot* of expensive consultant time to configure, customise, script, integrate with other systems, migrate data, retrain and support users etc...
In this respect SaaS is no different to on premise. SAP in the end became famous mainly for its monumental implementation and customisation costs (nearly killed Lego) and things like SalesForce are no different.
Data Escrow, once they have your data, how do you get it back when you decide to change vendor, or have a dispute. They can shut you off, and close your business down if you don't meet their contract terms, which are based in a tax haven of their choice. So don't for get exit clauses.
What do you mean, they wouldn't do that.
Some very wise tech SMEs I deal with, do not rely on the good will of their 'X'aaS vendors, but use multiple cloud vendors, and keep copies of their data
"...EMM improves on MDM by creating phones-inside-phones so that BYOD can access SaaS from a special secure zone. If a phone goes missing, or an employee goes rogue, you can wipe that zone and leave their happy snaps alone."
Is there a consumer or small business version of this? Above & beyond all of the encryption I've turned on my Android phone, I'd love to have an additional "wall" for sensitive data & selective remote wiping.
"IT departments therefore need to work hard to show relevant expertise when they learn of SaaS "projects."
But please, whatever you do, don't mention your relevant expertise around confidentiality, integrity and availability. You'll just interfere with the sales process.
Let's be real, the very last thing a SaaS wants is a competent IT department involved.
I'm working with a customer who have purchased a number of SAAS offerings and they are just realising that the hype wasn't true.
That they do impact on infrastructure networks and that some do have end user device pre requisites. Best off all a vendor will change them which may affect all of the above.
o joy !!
They thought it was on the internet / the cloud and all ills would be removed for ever, I'm waiting for a cloud evangelist to claim they can solve world hunger as long as it's on the cloud ...
Don't get me wrong some offerings are great .. but some are not and when users/procurement buy offerings without IT people getting involved it can go all pear shaped