In basic terms, today’s move to cloud computing, including SaaS cloud, is simply a return to the old utility model of time-sharing started in the 1960s. The ideas are the same: You leverage a system that’s offered and maintained by somebody else, and you only pay for the resources you use, as well as other advantages including other people maintaining and improving these systems ongoing, no hardware to mess with, and a reduction in risk driven by OPE, or other people’s efforts.
Of course, SaaS-based cloud computing is much more sophisticated than traditional timesharing, considering that we now leverage remote systems via broadband and secure networks. We can do so as if we own the systems rather than leverage yesterday’s tightly controlled and managed services. However, the consumption models of yesterday and today are very much alike. Both are metered services where you only pay for the resource you leverage and the amount of time you leverage it. If we focus just on the innovative nature of the SaaS consumption model, we may be missing a larger more valuable picture.
We’re extending the SaaS model today to solution patterns once only thought to run within an enterprise data center, most uniquely, data resiliency systems, including backup and recovery operations. These, once only thought to be operated within the confines of the enterprises, are now leveraged by a remote SaaS model that provides much more value in terms of the cost of consumption, operations, maintenance, and even peace of mind that these operations are being carried out in repeatable and consistent ways.
There are a few core advantages of data resiliency operations occurring through remote SaaS systems that need to be considered today, including defining the values of using this model. Consider the following:
Today we better understand the value that businesses put on capital
We once considered millions of dollars’ worth of computing equipment and data centers just part of the cost of doing business. These days, businesses eye those investments as capital boat anchors that do not allow them to fund areas of the business with a higher ROI potential. For example, the purchase of another company could provide better channel access to the market, or they might spend additional money on innovation that could result in unique differentiators enabling the business to become a market disruptor.
When another company provides core operational services, that frees up the costs of hiring and maintaining those skills
When businesses went into the systems operations business, the number of people needed to operate those systems exploded. Staffing costs leapfrogged to include hard-to-find and costly skillsets.
The value of moving with technological innovation
Today, most innovation happens in the cloud, and on SaaS clouds specifically. If you want to leverage best-of-breed, then you’re on a forced march to the cloud: It’s where you’ll find the most effective and efficient best-of-breed technology. Databases, security, development, and operations are all state-of-the-art within public clouds such as AWS, Google, or Microsoft. This is where vendors made and will continue to make most of their research and development (R&D) investments.
Thus, we can focus on the core strategic advantages of leveraging SaaS, and especially leveraging SaaS for utility-type services, such as data resiliency operations. This is something that was traditionally left out of cloud computing migration discussions, due to most considering data resiliency operations as being “sacred grounds” not to touch. Many have ended up using traditional approaches to data resiliency that are leading to reduced business value, through increased costs, efficiency, and technical debt.
Explore the benefits of SaaS in our new webinar
To this end, I’ve put together a Webinar in partnership with Druva. This won’t be about selling a specific product, or even selling SaaS as a consumption model. This will be about teaching you how to define the core business advantages of leveraging SaaS, and how to create a business case for SaaS migration for traditional infrastructure-related services, with a focus on utility services like data resiliency.
We’ll be breaking new ground here by defining net new approaches that you won’t see anywhere else. Please register for the on-demand webinar. This could be the first step toward saving your company millions of dollars over the next several years, and more importantly, driving value, and allowing you to rethink traditional approaches to IT. Perhaps it’s about time.
Learn more!
Visit the SaaS Advantage page of the Druva website or engage with some of our new resources to explore SaaS for yourself:
- The SaaS Advantage for IT Cost Reduction — Druva white paper
- Leveraging the Benefits of SaaS-based Data Protection in IT Transformation — White paper authored by David Linthicum
- Generate your own free, personalized TCO report and discover how your team could benefit from SaaS-based data protection