Interop: Jumping to SaaS -- Look Before You LeapInterop: Jumping to SaaS -- Look Before You Leap

Got SaaS yet? If not, you're either a nattering nincompoop or blazingly brilliant. For every drumbeat touting the power and ease of Saas to remake your IT operations, there's competing tympany warning of the dire hazards of leaping into SaaS headlong.Into the breach steps Alistair Croll of BitCurrent with his Interop presentation about the potential pitfalls of SaaS -- a cautionary message he leavens with a heavy dose of unbridled enthusiasm and no shortage of tips and tricks about how to skirt screwing yourself with SaaS.

There was a striking graph of Google's spike in market share for hosted apps and services, but more interesting still was the list of almost 20 SaaS pitfalls (many not unique to SaaS).

--Pricing incorrectly for TCO --Time spent customizing --Lack of user visibility --Unclear support path --Increased load on the network --Heightened mobility expectations from users --Loss of intellectual property --Poor application performance --Unclear activation and termination protocols --Access to complete data in usable format --Overwhelmed users --Tepid commitment to SaaS --Forced upgrades --Application fails to meet needs --Users don't embrace SaaS --Executives change course post-purchase --Unknown reliance on SaaS pre-purchase

But, in keeping with the tone of this pragmatic session, mitigation plans were offered for each. For more, take a gander at his complete presentation:

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