Survey Reveals 95 Percent of Respondents Expect to Maintain or Grow Use of SaaS

More than 95 percent of organizations expect to maintain or increase their investments in software as a service (SaaS) and more than one-third have migration projects under way from on-premises to SaaS, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
In June and July 2011, Gartner surveyed 525 organizations in nine countries spanning 12 vertical industries to understand their usage patterns and key trends for SaaS in the enterprise.

Nearly 70 percent of organizations have used SaaS for less than three years, also indicating a continuing stream of net-new users for this deployment model. More enterprises are renegotiating contracts early not only to satisfy demands for more functionality and an expanding user base, but also to take advantage of improved financial terms as downward pricing pressures continue in the wake of economic turbulence and increasing vendor competition.

A comparison of Gartner SaaS user-survey results from 2008 and 2010 indicate that the percentage of decisions made at the executive level is increasing. The latest survey results show that the decision process is shifting to a joint decision between the business and IT.
Analysts found that deployments of both horizontal and vertical-specific SaaS solutions (VSS) vary greatly by industry, as do planned deployments for 2012 and those considered beyond. Many industries that have not pursued SaaS in the past are beginning to do so.

Currently, communications (52 percent), utilities (51 percent), and banking and securities (49 percent) industries rank highest with respect to SaaS deployed across the horizontal and vertical-specific categories sampled. In 2012, those industries ranking highest with respect to their plans to use SaaS include federal government (33 percent), banking and securities (22 percent) and wholesale trade (20 percent). Beyond 2012, top industries considering SaaS are manufacturing and natural resources (37 percent), wholesale trade and retail (each 29 percent).

When respondents' 2012 deployment plans are combined with those considering SaaS beyond the coming year, federal government ranked highest (60 percent), followed by manufacturing and natural resources (50 percent), wholesale trade (49 percent) and retail (46 percent).

More information on CRM and SaaS can be found at www.CRMIndustry.com.