31 Mar 2009

SaaS 'continues to grow'

European firms are continuing to adopt software-as-a-service (SaaS) as a means of cutting costs during the recession, recent research reveals.

Sector analyst Gartner reveals that the number of companies across the continent adopting hosted services is increasing.

A poll of 99 IT leaders revealed nearly three-quarters of French firms now use SaaS, along with 68 per cent of UK firms.

Vendors looking to use SaaS may find businesses are more open to using the service than they were five years ago.

"The survey results clearly indicate that adoption of SaaS application software in three of the largest country markets in Europe continues to evolve," he explains.

Other findings from the study reveal only four per cent of French organisations have been using SaaS for less than one year, compared with 17 per cent of firms in the UK.

John Paterson, chief executive officer at Really Simple Systems, recently claimed many small-to-medium enterprises are turning to SaaS as a means of reducing IT overheads.