Guest Column: The Economics Of SaaS vs. On-Premises ECM Applications

In the first article in this series, Why ECM Is Broken And How SaaS Can Fix It, I explored how ECM SaaS not only delivers ECM at a lower cost and more rapid time to value, but also how, by preintegrating a broad set of technologies — from capture through document and business process management, and through to fax, e mail, and print on demand — SaaS ECM transforms the effectiveness of ECM for companies and departments of all sizes. In our second article I shared Five Tests To See If SaaS Is Right For You – easy to apply filters that can help you to identify projects that are best served by SaaS ECM.

If you are now at the point where you can see how SaaS-based ECM can bring many advantages to your organization, then the next logical question you may be asking is, "How do the economics of SaaS solutions differ from that of the traditional on-premises software model?"

When Information Week surveyed 374 business technology managers about the biggest challenges they face with on-premises software, it was not surprising that the top three challenges reported dealt with cost. Specifically, the cost of IT support staff to support and manage systems and applications, the cost of upgrades, and the cost of ongoing maintenance. Further, when Forrester Research asked a survey audience to list their most important reasons for adopting SaaS, the number one choice (79% of respondents) was to lower overall costs.