The Second ‘S’ in SaaS

The second ‘S’ in Software as a Service (SaaS) stands for service. The service in SaaS is much more than making the software available for use from a remote location in a reliable and usable manner. That is just the foundation. A service is a promise to be available and help a customer get the best value for their investment. It is also a promise to help them avoid problems or solve problems when a customer runs into them.

Evaluating a service is hard. You cannot see a demonstration of it, watch a video of it, see a glossy magazine advertisement of it or get a trial version of it.  One way to evaluate a service is to learn about the service delivery model (SDM) of a provider. A service delivery model is a set of principles, standards, policies and constraints used to guide the design, development, deployment, operation and retirement of services delivered by a service provider with a view to offering a consistent service experience to a specific user community.

A clearly articulated SDM conveys the commitment of people and time made by a service provider to help customers get the most out of their investment. Another way to evaluate a service is to look at the experience of the organization as a service provider.