23 Feb 2009

SaaS payment 'is changing the industry'

The way businesses pay for IT is being changed by hosted solutions, a sector specialist asserts.

David Keene, vice president of large enterprises at company software provider SAP, told the Intellect Annual Regent Conference 2009 that firms are now paying for cloud computing such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), through operating expense, rather than capital expenditure.

"Cloud application platforms will essentially battle with the on-premise platforms [and they] will become available more and more as long as it manages solutions. What you are likely to see is the way we pay for IT is going to change," he said.

Standardisation technologies would enable hosted platforms and custom-built solutions from system integrators and internal departments to be plugged together more easily, Mr Keene adds.

Infrastructures that are service-oriented would enable elements of the operation to fit together more easily and clarify the blur which is created by competing hosted and on-premise platforms, he concludes.

Organisations were recently advised to use operating expense as a means of reducing energy output and maintenance costs by Paul Tyrer, vice president for the UK and Ireland arm of cooling service provider APC by Schneider Electric.