CW+ Premium Content/Computer Weekly

In 1999, Salesforce created the first true software-as-a-service (SaaS) package. Now there are more than 10,000 cloud-based applications aimed at enterprises and SMEs, covering everything from core business functions, such as finance or enterprise resource planning (ERP), to niche tasks. This proliferation of SaaS technology has helped organisations to modernise, digitise and automate business processes. These applications also enabled IT to reduce overheads including hardware, infrastructure and licensing. But firms now frequently operate multiple SaaS applications and so need ways to connect workflows and ensure consistent, accurate shared data. Companies such as Salesforce and NetSuite (now owned by Oracle) pioneered the model for subscription-based, or pay-as-you-go, enterprise software. Today, it is easy to forget how revolutionary the model of paying a simple fee, per user, per month was. And there are now businesses – and not just startups – that own hardly any enterprise IT infrastructure at all, running everything they ...