Companies remain cautious of placing their mission-critical applications and data offsite and onto the cloud, says Steven Ambrose, MD of World Wide Worx Strategy.
Ambrose will speak at the upcoming ITWeb software-as-a-service (SaaS) conference, being held on 4 August at The Forum in Bryanston.
He will discuss issues around the emergence of a broadband culture as well as predictions for Internet penetration and growth in the next five years. He will also reveal the logical progression to cloud-based services and how it fits in with SaaS.
Ambrose says: “One of the major trends around SaaS is that applications are moving off the computer and into the cloud. Application processing is moving into the cloud and that allows a vast number of devices other than PCs to access these applications. An example would be mobile phones. The Web browser becomes a terminal for these multiple devices.”
The conference will reveal what companies need to consider before implementing SaaS and how to safeguard SaaS applications. The speakers will discuss trends around the platform as a service and how to develop a unified approach to SaaS and cloud computing.
High-speed connection
Seacom claims its undersea fibre optic cable will bring high-capacity bandwidth and result in cheaper Internet connectivity. The broadband service is expected to be up-and-running by the middle of this month. Businesses are gearing themselves to add more feature-rich SaaS applications as Internet costs are expected to drop.
However, Ambrose notes that people should not hold their breath: while connectivity costs are expected to come down, Ambrose predicts the public will only experience this within 12 to 18 months. He says the learning curve of three to five years will apply to the adoption of SaaS as people take time to trust a system over which they do not have physical control.
“Already all the major telcos are starting to position themselves. There is going to be a fairly slow roll-out to the man on the street. Without true ubiquitous broadband, SaaS becomes a bit of a non-starter.”
Ambrose adds: “Corporates like to touch and feel and own what they use, and the SaaS mindset is going to take a lot of time and awareness. Corporates are still very wary of relinquishing control of their data, such as when their applications are hosted offsite. When it's 100% proven that corporates have ubiquitous connectivity at a reasonable cost, then we will start seeing a true shift.”
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