Software
-
as
-
a
-
Service (SaaS) is a viable option for some companies bearing their business processes.
There is a considerable adoption rate, with companies already using more than two services for over
two
years. However, while some companies have plans to put more bu
siness processes supported by these
services in the near future, others do not know if they will. They have several concerns regarding t
he
software providers’ service level. These concerns are
mainly technical and functional issues, service
availability an
d payment models.
There are major changes compared to the traditional software that have
implications on how the software is developed and made
available to the users. The existing research
addresses specific aspects and few studies give a broader view of the implications of SaaS for anyon
e who
develops and provides software, and also for those who consumes it as an end user. What are the real
n
eeds of the Portuguese market? What fears and what is being done to mitigate them? Where should we
focus our attention related to the SaaS offering in order to create more value? Thus, to analyze the
se
questions four exploratory case studiesare used to ass
ess the possible implications of SaaS on software
developers or software providers based in Portugal and also on end
-
users.
This article appears in the context of a realistic and deep research that includes the involvement o
f
managers, leaders and decisio
n makers of Portuguese companies, to realize what actually constitutes a
problem in SaaS and what effectively companies would like to have available in this offer. The resul
ts of
this study reveal that SaaS effectively constitutes a very interesting and so
lid solution for the development
of Portuguese companies, however there is a lack for greater efforts particularly in terms of custom
ization
for each customer (tenant) and integration with the back
-
end on
-
premise applications
Nowadays the technological progress allows us to have highly flexible solutions, easily accessible with
lower levels of investment, which leads to many companies adopting SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) to
support their business processes. Associated with this movement and considering the advantages of SaaS, it
is important to understand whether work is being developed that is underutilized because companies are
not taking advantage of it, and in this case it is necessary to understand the reasons thereof. This
knowledge is important even for people who do not use or do not develop/provide SaaS, since sooner or
later it will be unavoidable due to current trends. In the near future, nearly all decision-makers of IT
strategies will be forced to consider adopting SaaS as an IT solution for the convenience benefits
associated with technology or market competition. At that time they will have to know how to evaluate
impacts and decide. What are the real needs in the Portuguese market? What fears and what is being done
to mitigate them? What are the implications of the adoption of SaaS? Where should we focus attention on
SaaS offerings in order to create greater value? These are questions we must answer to actually be able to
assess and decide. Often, decision-makers of business strategies consider only the attractive incentives of
using SaaS ignoring the impacts associated with new technologies. The need for tools and processes to
assess these impacts before adopting a SaaS solution is crucial to ensure the sustainability of the
information system, reduce uncertainty and facilitate decision making. This article presents a framework
for evaluating impacts of SaaS called SIE (SaaS Impact Evaluation) which in addition to guidance for the
present research, aims to provide guidelines for the collection, data analysis, impact assessment and
decision making about including SaaS on the organizations strategic plans.
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
As banks move to cloud-based banking platforms for lower costs and greater agility, they must seamlessly integrate technologies and workflows while ensuring security, performance and an enhanced user experience. Here are five ways cloud-focused quality assurance helps banks maximize the benefits.
Serving the long tail white-paper (how to rationalize IT yet produce more apps)Newton Day Uploads
Businesses benefit from having fewer technology tools in their 'enterprise stack'. Yet CIOs still need to encourage innovation and employ software tools as an enabler for growth and cost reduction. This white paper focuses on the role of Situational Applications platforms to reduce the number of technology platforms whilst increasing opportunities to serve the long-tail of applications demands from individuals and communities of users whose needs are unfulfilled by core enterprise platforms.
Our latest market report highlights some of the key themes for our clients this year. Please get in touch with one of the team if you'd like to discuss any aspects further
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Cognizant
Amid constant change, industry leaders need an upgraded IT infrastructure capable of adapting to audience expectations while proactively anticipating ever-evolving business requirements.
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersCognizant
The pivot to digital is fraught with numerous obstacles but with proper planning and execution, legacy carriers can update their core systems and keep pace with the competition, while proactively addressing customer needs.
Nowadays the technological progress allows us to have highly flexible solutions, easily accessible with
lower levels of investment, which leads to many companies adopting SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) to
support their business processes. Associated with this movement and considering the advantages of SaaS, it
is important to understand whether work is being developed that is underutilized because companies are
not taking advantage of it, and in this case it is necessary to understand the reasons thereof. This
knowledge is important even for people who do not use or do not develop/provide SaaS, since sooner or
later it will be unavoidable due to current trends. In the near future, nearly all decision-makers of IT
strategies will be forced to consider adopting SaaS as an IT solution for the convenience benefits
associated with technology or market competition. At that time they will have to know how to evaluate
impacts and decide. What are the real needs in the Portuguese market? What fears and what is being done
to mitigate them? What are the implications of the adoption of SaaS? Where should we focus attention on
SaaS offerings in order to create greater value? These are questions we must answer to actually be able to
assess and decide. Often, decision-makers of business strategies consider only the attractive incentives of
using SaaS ignoring the impacts associated with new technologies. The need for tools and processes to
assess these impacts before adopting a SaaS solution is crucial to ensure the sustainability of the
information system, reduce uncertainty and facilitate decision making. This article presents a framework
for evaluating impacts of SaaS called SIE (SaaS Impact Evaluation) which in addition to guidance for the
present research, aims to provide guidelines for the collection, data analysis, impact assessment and
decision making about including SaaS on the organizations strategic plans.
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
As banks move to cloud-based banking platforms for lower costs and greater agility, they must seamlessly integrate technologies and workflows while ensuring security, performance and an enhanced user experience. Here are five ways cloud-focused quality assurance helps banks maximize the benefits.
Serving the long tail white-paper (how to rationalize IT yet produce more apps)Newton Day Uploads
Businesses benefit from having fewer technology tools in their 'enterprise stack'. Yet CIOs still need to encourage innovation and employ software tools as an enabler for growth and cost reduction. This white paper focuses on the role of Situational Applications platforms to reduce the number of technology platforms whilst increasing opportunities to serve the long-tail of applications demands from individuals and communities of users whose needs are unfulfilled by core enterprise platforms.
Our latest market report highlights some of the key themes for our clients this year. Please get in touch with one of the team if you'd like to discuss any aspects further
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Cognizant
Amid constant change, industry leaders need an upgraded IT infrastructure capable of adapting to audience expectations while proactively anticipating ever-evolving business requirements.
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersCognizant
The pivot to digital is fraught with numerous obstacles but with proper planning and execution, legacy carriers can update their core systems and keep pace with the competition, while proactively addressing customer needs.
This whitepaper explores large scale corporations and join-ventures that need the right mechanisms in place to exchange data properly. These companies need collaboration tools that can be configured flexibly.
The proposal begins with an information paper, covering the importance of data management. This includes important concepts related to data quality (validity). It’s followed by a strategic plan to create a Data Management Section/Directorate.
T-Shaped: The New Breed of IT ProfessionalHaluk Demirkan
T-shaped development is especially important for IT professionals in a converging world because:
- The accelerating rate at which new IT knowledge is being created means that IT professionals must be more adaptive, with “boundary-spanning” abilities.
- The nature of IT project work today often requires IT professionals to work on multidisciplinary, multisector, and multicultural teams.
- The changing role of IT in the enterprise will require IT professionals with business and organizational knowledge in addition to technology expertise.
- Increasingly, IT innovation means providing an expanded role for customers and partners to co-create value on platforms, so Open Services Innovation initiatives are on the rise.
In this executive guide to Encanvas Applications Fabric, the company has brought together a series of articles that form a useful overview for executives on why code-less software is so important to businesses wishing to 'go digital'
EVALUATION OF COMPUTABILITY CRITERIONS FOR RUNTIME WEB SERVICE INTEGRATIONijwscjournal
T Today’s competitive environment drives the enterprises to extend their focus and collaborate with their business partners to carry out the necessities. Tight coordination among business partners assists to share and integrate the service logic globally. But integrating service logics across diverse enterprises leads to
exponential problem which stipulates developers to comprehend the whole service and must resolve suitable method to integrate the services. It is complex and time-consuming task. So the present focus is to have a mechanized system to analyze the Business logics and convey the proper mode to integrate them.
There is no standard model to undertake these issues and one such a framework proposed in this paper examines the Business logics individually and suggests proper structure to integrate them. One of the innovative concepts of proposed model is Property Evaluation System which scrutinizes the service logics and generates Business Logic Property Schema (BLPS) for the required services. BLPS holds necessary information to recognize the correct structure for integrating the service logics. At the time of integration, System consumes this BLPS schema and suggests the feasible ways to integrate the service logics. Also if the service logics are attempted to integrate in invalid structure or attempted to violate accessibility levels, system will throw exception with necessary information. This helps developers to ascertain the efficient structure to integrate the services with least effort.
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategyNewton Day Uploads
In this article a describe how situational applications have come of age through enterprise situational applications platforms - and how they are helping organizations to rationalize IT platforms and empower innovation by producing tens if not hundreds of applications
Business Rule Management Framework for N-Tier E-Business Applicationsijmpict
Business rules have attained a major role in the development of software systems for businesses. They influence the business behavior based on the decisions enforced upon a wide range of aspects. As the business requirements are subjected to frequent amendments, new business rules have to be evolved to reinstate the previously formed ones. Business analysts count on the assistance from the IS developers for this accomplishment. As business rules are set and owned by the business, provisions must be enforced for business rule management by the business analysts directly. In order to get a clear picture of what the current policies and terms in the business are, business users utilize the document as a valuable tool. Unfortunately, documents are not updated as per the modifications in the source code. Moreover, as the software becomes larger, documents become increasingly large and hence difficult to understand and maintain. Thus they turn out to be a non-useful resource in such conditions. With a motive to resolve the above issues, several tools for extracting the rules from the business program code have been developed. In this paper, a
robust architecture for an extraction engine to isolate rules from the base source code has been proposed. This suggested model involves slicing of code segments which results in easy identification of domain variables which in turn would result in extraction of business rules, validating them and exchanging them with the newly formulated business policies. This is a new research dimension which paves waves for efficient and quick business rule management strategy.
Presentation by VondaSoft at the Zensar #TechShowcase. An iSPIRT ProductNatio...ProductNation/iSPIRT
Vondasoft – Mumbai and Bangalore based; Scans multiple social media for your relevant brand, filters data based on many attributes and provides the true social image metrics for your brand.
Software as a Service (SaaS): Custom Acquisition Strategies - LabGroup.com.auSusan Diaz
Software as a Service (SaaS) has the potential to transform the way information-technology (IT) departments relate to and even think about their role as providers of computing services to the rest of the enterprise.
Cloud Computing Applications and Benefits for Small Businesses .docxclarebernice
Cloud Computing: Applications and Benefits for Small Businesses
Abstract
Cloud computing is one of the most talked about topics in the world of technology and entrepreneurship. Until now it has never been so easy for people, especially small business owner’s, to have the tools and resources readily available just one click away and at the fraction of the cost of the typical investment a few years back. Cloud computing offers cost-effective solutions at various levels that can be customize to meet the needs of anyone. Cloud computing can be thought of as a new found technology and this paper defines the concept of the cloud and provides a brief background of where most business are in regards to the use of this technology. This is then continued by describing the types of cloud currently available and potential use. The paper then presents a short but important section of cloud security issues and challenges. Finally, the paper discusses the benefits each of the different levels of cloud computing can provide small business.
Introduction
The use of cloud computing has grown exponentially in the last decade, according to Weins (2015) eight-four percent of enterprises that make use of such services in one way or another. Could computing by definition is internet-based computing, where by shared resources, software and information are provided to the end user as metered services much like a utility does(Bradley, 2014). For businesses in many cases could computing is use for IT solution purposes as it can provide IT-related capabilities as a service using internet technologies.
With the fast pace of today’s market businesses need to provide fast and reliable services to their customers in order to remain competitive. The concept of could computing is not something new as it uses existing technology and processes; however it can be consider new in sense that using these technologies has revolutionized the manner in which we host and cater services to customers. Startup companies and small businesses can take advantage of could computing to reduce spending on IT, be more adept to changes in the market, change scale and lower risk and cost.
Given the structural complexity of larger organization, Alijani (2014) states that it is essential for cloud computing to deliver rear value rather than serve as a platform for simple task. The need to deliver rear value is just as important for small businesses. For small businesses value is important but it’s their customer relationship and public image, flexibility and continuity. As such small business owners need to consider the benefits, drawback s and the effect of cloud computing on their organization before taking the decision to implement.
Types of cloud computing
There are three categories or levels cloud computing, this are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Infrastructure as a Service (I ...
This whitepaper explores large scale corporations and join-ventures that need the right mechanisms in place to exchange data properly. These companies need collaboration tools that can be configured flexibly.
The proposal begins with an information paper, covering the importance of data management. This includes important concepts related to data quality (validity). It’s followed by a strategic plan to create a Data Management Section/Directorate.
T-Shaped: The New Breed of IT ProfessionalHaluk Demirkan
T-shaped development is especially important for IT professionals in a converging world because:
- The accelerating rate at which new IT knowledge is being created means that IT professionals must be more adaptive, with “boundary-spanning” abilities.
- The nature of IT project work today often requires IT professionals to work on multidisciplinary, multisector, and multicultural teams.
- The changing role of IT in the enterprise will require IT professionals with business and organizational knowledge in addition to technology expertise.
- Increasingly, IT innovation means providing an expanded role for customers and partners to co-create value on platforms, so Open Services Innovation initiatives are on the rise.
In this executive guide to Encanvas Applications Fabric, the company has brought together a series of articles that form a useful overview for executives on why code-less software is so important to businesses wishing to 'go digital'
EVALUATION OF COMPUTABILITY CRITERIONS FOR RUNTIME WEB SERVICE INTEGRATIONijwscjournal
T Today’s competitive environment drives the enterprises to extend their focus and collaborate with their business partners to carry out the necessities. Tight coordination among business partners assists to share and integrate the service logic globally. But integrating service logics across diverse enterprises leads to
exponential problem which stipulates developers to comprehend the whole service and must resolve suitable method to integrate the services. It is complex and time-consuming task. So the present focus is to have a mechanized system to analyze the Business logics and convey the proper mode to integrate them.
There is no standard model to undertake these issues and one such a framework proposed in this paper examines the Business logics individually and suggests proper structure to integrate them. One of the innovative concepts of proposed model is Property Evaluation System which scrutinizes the service logics and generates Business Logic Property Schema (BLPS) for the required services. BLPS holds necessary information to recognize the correct structure for integrating the service logics. At the time of integration, System consumes this BLPS schema and suggests the feasible ways to integrate the service logics. Also if the service logics are attempted to integrate in invalid structure or attempted to violate accessibility levels, system will throw exception with necessary information. This helps developers to ascertain the efficient structure to integrate the services with least effort.
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategyNewton Day Uploads
In this article a describe how situational applications have come of age through enterprise situational applications platforms - and how they are helping organizations to rationalize IT platforms and empower innovation by producing tens if not hundreds of applications
Business Rule Management Framework for N-Tier E-Business Applicationsijmpict
Business rules have attained a major role in the development of software systems for businesses. They influence the business behavior based on the decisions enforced upon a wide range of aspects. As the business requirements are subjected to frequent amendments, new business rules have to be evolved to reinstate the previously formed ones. Business analysts count on the assistance from the IS developers for this accomplishment. As business rules are set and owned by the business, provisions must be enforced for business rule management by the business analysts directly. In order to get a clear picture of what the current policies and terms in the business are, business users utilize the document as a valuable tool. Unfortunately, documents are not updated as per the modifications in the source code. Moreover, as the software becomes larger, documents become increasingly large and hence difficult to understand and maintain. Thus they turn out to be a non-useful resource in such conditions. With a motive to resolve the above issues, several tools for extracting the rules from the business program code have been developed. In this paper, a
robust architecture for an extraction engine to isolate rules from the base source code has been proposed. This suggested model involves slicing of code segments which results in easy identification of domain variables which in turn would result in extraction of business rules, validating them and exchanging them with the newly formulated business policies. This is a new research dimension which paves waves for efficient and quick business rule management strategy.
Presentation by VondaSoft at the Zensar #TechShowcase. An iSPIRT ProductNatio...ProductNation/iSPIRT
Vondasoft – Mumbai and Bangalore based; Scans multiple social media for your relevant brand, filters data based on many attributes and provides the true social image metrics for your brand.
Software as a Service (SaaS): Custom Acquisition Strategies - LabGroup.com.auSusan Diaz
Software as a Service (SaaS) has the potential to transform the way information-technology (IT) departments relate to and even think about their role as providers of computing services to the rest of the enterprise.
Cloud Computing Applications and Benefits for Small Businesses .docxclarebernice
Cloud Computing: Applications and Benefits for Small Businesses
Abstract
Cloud computing is one of the most talked about topics in the world of technology and entrepreneurship. Until now it has never been so easy for people, especially small business owner’s, to have the tools and resources readily available just one click away and at the fraction of the cost of the typical investment a few years back. Cloud computing offers cost-effective solutions at various levels that can be customize to meet the needs of anyone. Cloud computing can be thought of as a new found technology and this paper defines the concept of the cloud and provides a brief background of where most business are in regards to the use of this technology. This is then continued by describing the types of cloud currently available and potential use. The paper then presents a short but important section of cloud security issues and challenges. Finally, the paper discusses the benefits each of the different levels of cloud computing can provide small business.
Introduction
The use of cloud computing has grown exponentially in the last decade, according to Weins (2015) eight-four percent of enterprises that make use of such services in one way or another. Could computing by definition is internet-based computing, where by shared resources, software and information are provided to the end user as metered services much like a utility does(Bradley, 2014). For businesses in many cases could computing is use for IT solution purposes as it can provide IT-related capabilities as a service using internet technologies.
With the fast pace of today’s market businesses need to provide fast and reliable services to their customers in order to remain competitive. The concept of could computing is not something new as it uses existing technology and processes; however it can be consider new in sense that using these technologies has revolutionized the manner in which we host and cater services to customers. Startup companies and small businesses can take advantage of could computing to reduce spending on IT, be more adept to changes in the market, change scale and lower risk and cost.
Given the structural complexity of larger organization, Alijani (2014) states that it is essential for cloud computing to deliver rear value rather than serve as a platform for simple task. The need to deliver rear value is just as important for small businesses. For small businesses value is important but it’s their customer relationship and public image, flexibility and continuity. As such small business owners need to consider the benefits, drawback s and the effect of cloud computing on their organization before taking the decision to implement.
Types of cloud computing
There are three categories or levels cloud computing, this are: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
Infrastructure as a Service (I ...
International Journal of Computational Engineering Research (IJCER) is dedicated to protecting personal information and will make every reasonable effort to handle collected information appropriately. All information collected, as well as related requests, will be handled as carefully and efficiently as possible in accordance with IJCER standards for integrity and objectivity.
Many small and medium scale industries could not afford the expensive enterprise software either
on premise or through Application Service Providers as it incurred heavy installations cost, maintenance cost.
Mean while the development of social, economic, increasing Internet technology lead to the evolvement of Cloud
computing Technology which allowed the users to share the resources across the Internet. This development brought
about a radical change in the computing technology posing new challenges as the requirements of the users kept on c
hanging frequently and such an installed Application Service Providers on the premise of the user made it difficult to
meet these changed user requirement. Thus the vendors developed a new architectural style based upon the
constructional forms and changing the way the functionalities are delivered to the user. This shift in the way of
delivery of software created a new business market. In this the user is freed from the need of installation of the
software thus shifting the maintenance cost to the vendor. This type of business model is termed as Software as a
service which is one-to-many model based on “on use pay” (subscription) basis. SaaS not much different from
traditional ASP has some SaaS specific functions added to it like registry, billing etc. This paper reviews th is
business model comparing it with the traditional ASP application and the Service Oriented Architecture. It describe
the life cycle of SaaS by covering its maturity model and its architecture. It also highlights the advantages of SaaS
along with some of the characteristics required / desired in any SaaS application.
A proficient 5 c approach to boost the security in the saas model's technical...ijccsa
For anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet is cloud computing.These services
are classified as: IaaS,SaaS,PaaS.This paper focuses on SaaS security measures. SaaS is a cloud based
productivity suite that helps the business people to connect and work from anywhere on any device. The
data solely dumped behind a corporate firewall and it is physically accessed by the people through VPN
system or through online.The only hurdle while adopting cloud computing is the lack of security.It is a
major issue in the cloud for data as well as application and the platform. This paper gives an efficient
approach named 5C approach for applying security under SaaSmodel.Itmainly focuses on authentication
and authorization for customer data under SaaS in the cloud. The 5C mainly uses initial user level security
in the architecture of SaaS server by integrating the Visual Guard Web Admin Console with other controls.
A Seat at the Table: The Case for Making Professional Services a Strategic Fu...JoshuaWalovitch
As the cloud becomes more ubiquitous, software purchasing becomes more decentralized. Individual business units purchase point solutions to solve specific, department-related problems that don't always support the organization's overall efficiency.
Learn how companies can generate efficient sales processes by prioritizing professional services teams in the latest whitepaper from WorkRails.
Learn How to Maximize Your ServiceNow InvestmentStave
Understand how leading companies are adopting an aPaaS strategy
Learn the evolution of ServiceNow's platform capabilities
Assert IT's influence over shadow IT practices
In 2016, cloud technologies went mainstream. But with maturity came the realization that moving to the cloud doesn’t happen overnight. CIOs are prioritizing hosted computing and cloud data storage. But they’re approaching the shift as a gradual, multi-year journey.
Many startups and small businesses will continue to go all-in on cloud. But enterprises will find success in a slow but steady move from on-prem. Hybrid ecosystems—of data, software, and infrastructure—will be the reality for most established organizations.
As this shift to cloud progresses where are things are headed? This paper highlights the top cloud trends for 2017.
Web and internet computing is evolving into a combination of social media, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) solutions. There is a need for an integrated approach when developing
solutions that address web scale requirements with technologies that enable SMAC solutions. This paper presents an architecture model for the integrated approach that can form the basis for solutions and result in reuse, integration and agility for the business and IT in an enterprise.
Web and internet computing is evolving into a combination of social media, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) solutions. There is a need for an integrated approach when developing
solutions that address web scale requirements with technologies that enable SMAC solutions.This paper presents an architecture model for the integrated approach that can form the basis
for solutions and result in reuse, integration and agility for the business and IT in an enterprise.
Software as a Service — Things to Know Before you Build a SaaS ProductAlaina Carter
Software as a service is a public cloud service model in which third-party providers launch the software on a subscription basis over the internet. SaaS offers a remote accessibility option, which is it's USP. Read more to know the things that you need to know before you build a SaaS product.
ENHANCING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS THROUGH INTERNET-PLUS TOOLS IN THE PERSPECTI...ijfcstjournal
This investigation delves into incorporating a hybridized memetic strategy within the framework of English
composition pedagogy, leveraging Internet Plus resources. The study aims to provide an in-depth analysis
of how this method influences students’ writing competence, their perceptions of writing, and their
enthusiasm for English acquisition. Employing an explanatory research design that combines qualitative
and quantitative methods, the study collects data through surveys, interviews, and observations of students’
writing performance before and after the intervention. Findings demonstrate a beneficial impact of
integrating the memetic approach alongside Internet Plus tools on the writing aptitude of English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Students reported increased engagement with writing, attributing it to
the use of Internet plus tools. They also expressed that the memetic approach facilitated a deeper
understanding of cultural and social contexts in writing. Furthermore, the findings highlight a significant
improvement in students’ writing skills following the intervention. This study provides significant insights
into the practical implementation of the memetic approach within English writing education, highlighting
the beneficial contribution of Internet Plus tools in enriching students' learning journeys.
A SURVEY TO REAL-TIME MESSAGE-ROUTING NETWORK SYSTEM WITH KLA MODELLINGijfcstjournal
Messages routing over a network is one of the most fundamental concept in communication which requires
simultaneous transmission of messages from a source to a destination. In terms of Real-Time Routing, it
refers to the addition of a timing constraint in which messages should be received within a specified time
delay. This study involves Scheduling, Algorithm Design and Graph Theory which are essential parts of
the Computer Science (CS) discipline. Our goal is to investigate an innovative and efficient way to present
these concepts in the context of CS Education. In this paper, we will explore the fundamental modelling of
routing real-time messages on networks. We study whether it is possible to have an optimal on-line
algorithm for the Arbitrary Directed Graph network topology. In addition, we will examine the message
routing’s algorithmic complexity by breaking down the complex mathematical proofs into concrete, visual
examples. Next, we explore the Unidirectional Ring topology in finding the transmission’s
“makespan”.Lastly, we propose the same network modelling through the technique of Kinesthetic Learning
Activity (KLA). We will analyse the data collected and present the results in a case study to evaluate the
effectiveness of the KLA approach compared to the traditional teaching method.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE STYLESijfcstjournal
Software architecture is the structural solution that achieves the overall technical and operational
requirements for software developments. Software engineers applied software architectures for their
software system developments; however, they worry the basic benchmarks in order to select software
architecture styles, possible components, integration methods (connectors) and the exact application of
each style.
The objective of this research work was a comparative analysis of software architecture styles by its
weakness and benefits in order to select by the programmer during their design time. Finally, in this study,
the researcher has been identified architectural styles, weakness, and Strength and application areas with
its component, connector and Interface for the selected architectural styles.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN FOR A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BASED...ijfcstjournal
A design of a sales system for professional services requires a comprehensive understanding of the
dynamics of sale cycles and how key knowledge for completing sales is managed. This research describes
a design model of a business development (sales) system for professional service firms based on the Saudi
Arabian commercial market, which takes into account the new advances in technology while preserving
unique or cultural practices that are an important part of the Saudi Arabian commercial market. The
design model has combined a number of key technologies, such as cloud computing and mobility, as an
integral part of the proposed system. An adaptive development process has also been used in implementing
the proposed design model.
AN ALGORITHM FOR SOLVING LINEAR OPTIMIZATION PROBLEMS SUBJECTED TO THE INTERS...ijfcstjournal
Frank t-norms are parametric family of continuous Archimedean t-norms whose members are also strict
functions. Very often, this family of t-norms is also called the family of fundamental t-norms because of the
role it plays in several applications. In this paper, optimization of a linear objective function with fuzzy
relational inequality constraints is investigated. The feasible region is formed as the intersection of two
inequality fuzzy systems defined by frank family of t-norms is considered as fuzzy composition. First, the
resolution of the feasible solutions set is studied where the two fuzzy inequality systems are defined with
max-Frank composition. Second, some related basic and theoretical properties are derived. Then, a
necessary and sufficient condition and three other necessary conditions are presented to conceptualize the
feasibility of the problem. Subsequently, it is shown that a lower bound is always attainable for the optimal
objective value. Also, it is proved that the optimal solution of the problem is always resulted from the
unique maximum solution and a minimal solution of the feasible region. Finally, an algorithm is presented
to solve the problem and an example is described to illustrate the algorithm. Additionally, a method is
proposed to generate random feasible max-Frank fuzzy relational inequalities. By this method, we can
easily generate a feasible test problem and employ our algorithm to it.
LBRP: A RESILIENT ENERGY HARVESTING NOISE AWARE ROUTING PROTOCOL FOR UNDER WA...ijfcstjournal
Underwater detector network is one amongst the foremost difficult and fascinating analysis arenas that
open the door of pleasing plenty of researchers during this field of study. In several under water based
sensor applications, nodes are square measured and through this the energy is affected. Thus, the mobility
of each sensor nodes are measured through the water atmosphere from the water flow for sensor based
protocol formations. Researchers have developed many routing protocols. However, those lost their charm
with the time. This can be the demand of the age to supply associate degree upon energy-efficient and
ascendable strong routing protocol for under water actuator networks. During this work, the authors tend
to propose a customary routing protocol named level primarily based routing protocol (LBRP), reaching to
offer strong, ascendable and energy economical routing. LBRP conjointly guarantees the most effective use
of total energy consumption and ensures packet transmission which redirects as an additional reliability in
compare to different routing protocols. In this work, the authors have used the level of forwarding node,
residual energy and distance from the forwarding node to the causing node as a proof in multicasting
technique comparisons. Throughout this work, the authors have got a recognition result concerning about
86.35% on the average in node multicasting performances. Simulation has been experienced each in a
wheezy and quiet atmosphere which represents the endorsement of higher performance for the planned
protocol.
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS AND EVOLUTION OF CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY (PILL CAMERA) TECHNOLO...ijfcstjournal
This research paper examined and re-evaluates the technological innovation, theory, structural dynamics
and evolution of Pill Camera(Capsule Endoscopy) technology in redirecting the response manner of small
bowel (intestine) examination in human. The Pill Camera (Endoscopy Capsule) is made up of sealed
biocompatible material to withstand acid, enzymes and other antibody chemicals in the stomach is a
technology that helps the medical practitioners especially the general physicians and the
gastroenterologists to examine and re-examine the intestine for possible bleeding or infection. Before the
advent of the Pill camera (Endoscopy Capsule) the colonoscopy was the local method used but research
showed that some parts (bowel) of the intestine can’t be reach by mere traditional method hence the need
for Pill Camera. Countless number of deaths from stomach disease such as polyps, inflammatory bowel
(Crohn”s diseases), Cancers, Ulcer, anaemia and tumours of small intestines which ordinary would have
been detected by sophisticated technology like Pill Camera has become norm in the developing nations.
Nevertheless, not only will this paper examine and re-evaluate the Pill Camera Innovation, theory,
Structural dynamics and evolution it unravelled and aimed to create awareness for both medical
practitioners and the public.
AN OPTIMIZED HYBRID APPROACH FOR PATH FINDINGijfcstjournal
Path finding algorithm addresses problem of finding shortest path from source to destination avoiding
obstacles. There exist various search algorithms namely A*, Dijkstra's and ant colony optimization. Unlike
most path finding algorithms which require destination co-ordinates to compute path, the proposed
algorithm comprises of a new method which finds path using backtracking without requiring destination
co-ordinates. Moreover, in existing path finding algorithm, the number of iterations required to find path is
large. Hence, to overcome this, an algorithm is proposed which reduces number of iterations required to
traverse the path. The proposed algorithm is hybrid of backtracking and a new technique(modified 8-
neighbor approach). The proposed algorithm can become essential part in location based, network, gaming
applications. grid traversal, navigation, gaming applications, mobile robot and Artificial Intelligence.
EAGRO CROP MARKETING FOR FARMING COMMUNITYijfcstjournal
The Major Occupation in India is the Agriculture; the people involved in the Agriculture belong to the poor
class and category. The people of the farming community are unaware of the new techniques and Agromachines, which would direct the world to greater heights in the field of agriculture. Though the farmers
work hard, they are cheated by agents in today’s market. This serves as a opportunity to solve
all the problems that farmers face in the current world. The eAgro crop marketing will serve as a better
way for the farmers to sell their products within the country with some mediocre knowledge about using
the website. This would provide information to the farmers about current market rate of agro-products,
their sale history and profits earned in a sale. This site will also help the farmers to know about the market
information and to view agricultural schemes of the Government provided to farmers.
EDGE-TENACITY IN CYCLES AND COMPLETE GRAPHSijfcstjournal
It is well known that the tenacity is a proper measure for studying vulnerability and reliability in graphs.
Here, a modified edge-tenacity of a graph is introduced based on the classical definition of tenacity.
Properties and bounds for this measure are introduced; meanwhile edge-tenacity is calculated for cycle
graphs and also for complete graphs.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DIFFERENT ALGORITHMS TO SOLVE N QUEENS PROBLEMijfcstjournal
This Paper provides a brief description of the Genetic Algorithm (GA), the Simulated Annealing (SA)
Algorithm, the Backtracking (BT) Algorithm and the Brute Force (BF) Search Algorithm and attempts to
explain the way as how the Proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA), the Proposed Simulated Annealing (SA)
Algorithm using GA, the Backtracking (BT) Algorithm and the Brute Force (BF) Search Algorithm can be
employed in finding the best solution of N Queens Problem and also, makes a comparison between these
four algorithms. It is entirely a review based work. The four algorithms were written as well as
implemented. From the Results, it was found that, the Proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) performed better
than the Proposed Simulated Annealing (SA) Algorithm using GA, the Backtracking (BT) Algorithm and
the Brute Force (BF) Search Algorithm and it also provided better fitness value (solution) than the
Proposed Simulated Annealing Algorithm (SA) using GA, the Backtracking (BT) Algorithm and the Brute
Force (BF) Search Algorithm, for different N values. Also, it was noticed that, the Proposed GA took more
time to provide result than the Proposed SA using GA.
PSTECEQL: A NOVEL EVENT QUERY LANGUAGE FOR VANET’S UNCERTAIN EVENT STREAMSijfcstjournal
In recent years, the complex event processing technology has been used to process the VANET’s temporal
and spatial event streams. However, we usually cannot get the accurate data because the device sensing
accuracy limitations of the system. We only can get the uncertain data from the complex and limited
environment of the VANET. Because the VANET’s event streams are consist of the uncertain data, so they
are also uncertain. How effective to express and process these uncertain event streams has become the core
issue for the VANET system. To solve this problem, we propose a novel complex event query language
PSTeCEQL (probabilistic spatio-temporal constraint event query language). Firstly, we give the definition
of the possible world model of VANET’s uncertain event streams. Secondly, we propose an event query
language PSTeCEQL and give the syntax and the operational semantics of the language. Finally, we
illustrate the validity of the PSTeCEQL by an example.
CLUSTBIGFIM-FREQUENT ITEMSET MINING OF BIG DATA USING PRE-PROCESSING BASED ON...ijfcstjournal
Now a day enormous amount of data is getting explored through Internet of Things (IoT) as technologies
are advancing and people uses these technologies in day to day activities, this data is termed as Big Data
having its characteristics and challenges. Frequent Itemset Mining algorithms are aimed to disclose
frequent itemsets from transactional database but as the dataset size increases, it cannot be handled by
traditional frequent itemset mining. MapReduce programming model solves the problem of large datasets
but it has large communication cost which reduces execution efficiency. This proposed new pre-processed
k-means technique applied on BigFIM algorithm. ClustBigFIM uses hybrid approach, clustering using kmeans algorithm to generate Clusters from huge datasets and Apriori and Eclat to mine frequent itemsets
from generated clusters using MapReduce programming model. Results shown that execution efficiency of
ClustBigFIM algorithm is increased by applying k-means clustering algorithm before BigFIM algorithm as
one of the pre-processing technique.
A MUTATION TESTING ANALYSIS AND REGRESSION TESTINGijfcstjournal
Software testing is a testing which conducted a test to provide information to client about the quality of the
product under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to
allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. In this paper we
focused on two main software testing –mutation testing and mutation testing. Mutation testing is a
procedural testing method, i.e. we use the structure of the code to guide the test program, A mutation is a
little change in a program. Such changes are applied to model low level defects that obtain in the process
of coding systems. Ideally mutations should model low-level defect creation. Mutation testing is a process
of testing in which code is modified then mutated code is tested against test suites. The mutations used in
source code are planned to include in common programming errors. A good unit test typically detects the
program mutations and fails automatically. Mutation testing is used on many different platforms, including
Java, C++, C# and Ruby. Regression testing is a type of software testing that seeks to uncover
new software bugs, or regressions, in existing functional and non-functional areas of a system after
changes such as enhancements, patches or configuration changes, have been made to them. When defects
are found during testing, the defect got fixed and that part of the software started working as needed. But
there may be a case that the defects that fixed have introduced or uncovered a different defect in the
software. The way to detect these unexpected bugs and to fix them used regression testing. The main focus
of regression testing is to verify that changes in the software or program have not made any adverse side
effects and that the software still meets its need. Regression tests are done when there are any changes
made on software, because of modified functions.
GREEN WSN- OPTIMIZATION OF ENERGY USE THROUGH REDUCTION IN COMMUNICATION WORK...ijfcstjournal
Advances in micro fabrication and communication techniques have led to unimaginable proliferation of
WSN applications. Research is focussed on reduction of setup operational energy costs. Bulk of operational
energy costs are linked to communication activities of WSN. Any progress towards energy efficiency has a
potential of huge savings globally. Therefore, every energy efficient step is an endeavour to cut costs and
‘Go Green’. In this paper, we have proposed a framework to reduce communication workload through: Innetwork compression and multiple query synthesis at the base-station and modification of query syntax
through introduction of Static Variables. These approaches are general approaches which can be used in
any WSN irrespective of application.
A NEW MODEL FOR SOFTWARE COSTESTIMATION USING HARMONY SEARCHijfcstjournal
Accurate and realistic estimation is always considered to be a great challenge in software industry.
Software Cost Estimation (SCE) is the standard application used to manage software projects. Determining
the amount of estimation in the initial stages of the project depends on planning other activities of the
project. In fact, the estimation is confronted with a number of uncertainties and barriers’, yet assessing the
previous projects is essential to solve this problem. Several models have been developed for the analysis of
software projects. But the classical reference method is the COCOMO model, there are other methods
which are also applied such as Function Point (FP), Line of Code(LOC); meanwhile, the expert`s opinions
matter in this regard. In recent years, the growth and the combination of meta-heuristic algorithms with
high accuracy have brought about a great achievement in software engineering. Meta-heuristic algorithms
which can analyze data from multiple dimensions and identify the optimum solution between them are
analytical tools for the analysis of data. In this paper, we have used the Harmony Search (HS)algorithm for
SCE. The proposed model which is a collection of 60 standard projects from Dataset NASA60 has been
assessed.The experimental results show that HS algorithm is a good way for determining the weight
similarity measures factors of software effort, and reducing the error of MRE.
AGENT ENABLED MINING OF DISTRIBUTED PROTEIN DATA BANKSijfcstjournal
Mining biological data is an emergent area at the intersection between bioinformatics and data mining
(DM). The intelligent agent based model is a popular approach in constructing Distributed Data Mining
(DDM) systems to address scalable mining over large scale distributed data. The nature of associations
between different amino acids in proteins has also been a subject of great anxiety. There is a strong need to
develop new models and exploit and analyze the available distributed biological data sources. In this study,
we have designed and implemented a multi-agent system (MAS) called Agent enriched Quantitative
Association Rules Mining for Amino Acids in distributed Protein Data Banks (AeQARM-AAPDB). Such
globally strong association rules enhance understanding of protein composition and are desirable for
synthesis of artificial proteins. A real protein data bank is used to validate the system.
International Journal on Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST)ijfcstjournal
International Journal on Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST) is a Bi-monthly peer-reviewed and refereed open access journal that publishes articles which contribute new results in all areas of the Foundations of Computer Science & Technology. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion in the field of computer science to solve various problems from mathematics to engineering. This journal aims to provide a platform for exchanging ideas in new emerging trends that needs more focus and exposure and will attempt to publish proposals that strengthen our goals. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:
Because the technology is used largely in the last decades; cybercrimes have become a significant
international issue as a result of the huge damage that it causes to the business and even to the ordinary
users of technology. The main aims of this paper is to shed light on digital crimes and gives overview about
what a person who is related to computer science has to know about this new type of crimes. The paper has
three sections: Introduction to Digital Crime which gives fundamental information about digital crimes,
Digital Crime Investigation which presents different investigation models and the third section is about
Cybercrime Law.
DISTRIBUTION OF MAXIMAL CLIQUE SIZE UNDER THE WATTS-STROGATZ MODEL OF EVOLUTI...ijfcstjournal
In this paper, we analyze the evolution of a small-world network and its subsequent transformation to a
random network using the idea of link rewiring under the well-known Watts-Strogatz model for complex
networks. Every link u-v in the regular network is considered for rewiring with a certain probability and if
chosen for rewiring, the link u-v is removed from the network and the node u is connected to a randomly
chosen node w (other than nodes u and v). Our objective in this paper is to analyze the distribution of the
maximal clique size per node by varying the probability of link rewiring and the degree per node (number
of links incident on a node) in the initial regular network. For a given probability of rewiring and initial
number of links per node, we observe the distribution of the maximal clique per node to follow a Poisson
distribution. We also observe the maximal clique size per node in the small-world network to be very close
to that of the average value and close to that of the maximal clique size in a regular network. There is no
appreciable decrease in the maximal clique size per node when the network transforms from a regular
network to a small-world network. On the other hand, when the network transforms from a small-world
network to a random network, the average maximal clique size value decreases significantly
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
The field of Information retrieval (IR) is currently undergoing a transformative shift, at least partly due to the emerging applications of generative AI to information access. In this talk, we will deliberate on the sociotechnical implications of generative AI for information access. We will argue that there is both a critical necessity and an exciting opportunity for the IR community to re-center our research agendas on societal needs while dismantling the artificial separation between the work on fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in IR and the rest of IR research. Instead of adopting a reactionary strategy of trying to mitigate potential social harms from emerging technologies, the community should aim to proactively set the research agenda for the kinds of systems we should build inspired by diverse explicitly stated sociotechnical imaginaries. The sociotechnical imaginaries that underpin the design and development of information access technologies needs to be explicitly articulated, and we need to develop theories of change in context of these diverse perspectives. Our guiding future imaginaries must be informed by other academic fields, such as democratic theory and critical theory, and should be co-developed with social science scholars, legal scholars, civil rights and social justice activists, and artists, among others.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)
Business and technical requirements of software as-a-service implications in portuguese enterprise business context
1. International Journal in Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST), Vol. 3, No.6, November 2013
BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS OF
SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE: IMPLICATIONS IN
PORTUGUESE ENTERPRISE BUSINESS CONTEXT
Virginia Maria Araujo and José Ayude Vázquez
Informatics Department, University of Vigo, Vigo-Pontevedra, Spain
ABSTRACT
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a viable option for some companies bearing their business processes.
There is a considerable adoption rate, with companies already using more than two services for over two
years. However, while some companies have plans to put more business processes supported by these
services in the near future, others do not know if they will. They have several concerns regarding the
software providers’ service level. These concerns are mainly technical and functional issues, service
availability and payment models. There are major changes compared to the traditional software that have
implications on how the software is developed and made available to the users. The existing research
addresses specific aspects and few studies give a broader view of the implications of SaaS for anyone who
develops and provides software, and also for those who consumes it as an end user. What are the real
needs of the Portuguese market? What fears and what is being done to mitigate them? Where should we
focus our attention related to the SaaS offering in order to create more value? Thus, to analyze these
questions four exploratory case studiesare used to assess the possible implications of SaaS on software
developers or software providers based in Portugal and also on end-users.
This article appears in the context of a realistic and deep research that includes the involvement of
managers, leaders and decision makers of Portuguese companies, to realize what actually constitutes a
problem in SaaS and what effectively companies would like to have available in this offer. The results of
this study reveal that SaaS effectively constitutes a very interesting and solid solution for the development
of Portuguese companies, however there is a lack for greater efforts particularly in terms of customization
for each customer (tenant) and integration with the back-end on-premise applications.
KEYWORDS
Software-as-a-Service, Business model, Software Architecture, IT investment, Software Industry.
1. INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of the current millennium the term SaaS is officially introduced. Although, until
today, there is still no consensus about the concept of SaaS, it can be defined as a software
distribution model that consists in providing a piece of software, application or service to multiple
customers or tenants through the Internet (multi-tenant). The SIIA (Software & Information
Industry Association) in the article entitled "Software as a Service: Strategic Backgrounder," says
- "[...] In the Software as a Service model, the application or service, is deployed from a
centralized data center across the network - Internet, intranet, LAN, or VPN - providing access
and use on a recurring fee basis. Users "rent", "subscribe to", "are assigned" or "are granted
access to" the applications from the central provider" [1].
DOI:10.5121/ijfcst.2013.3601
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2. International Journal in Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST), Vol. 3, No.6, November 2013
SaaS is a very attractive alternative for small business, medium and large enterprises. The SaaS
approach has the potential to transform the way the information technology (IT) departments
relate to each other and even what you think about your role as a service provider [2]. There are,
however, still several concerns and challenges that developers and SaaS providers have to
overcome. Keep in mind that technical issues should be early identified since the’re changes
compared to traditional software development. Most organizations know well the value of
information and how important data security is. The customers will pay for the use of the service
that is configured or customized according to their specifications. This can, for example, require
that their data should be separate from other customers. In this case, the provider has to ensure the
full isolation that can pass through the separation of the data in its own database for that
customer. Another aspect that is important to consider about the development this type of
software is the business model that can be used because it can involve higher costs and larger
issues on software development.
Based on this discussion and to answer the research questions we intent to establish an
involvement with the managers and owners of Portuguese companies, in order to evaluate the use
of SaaS in their organizations and to confirm the hypothesis that SaaS brings benefits and
potentiates their development. We selected companies for the study sample to address aspects of
SaaS from different points of view to have a broader and more realistic purpose of the
investigation. Existing research examines specific aspects such as risk factors and adoption [3],
[4] [5], and technical aspects [6] [7] [8]. A study where we take a more holistic view considering
the implications in the development, provision and use of SaaS in different types of businesses
(small, medium and large companies) is more than justified and even more in the Portuguese
market where this research theme is still very sparing. Examine the issue from different points of
view from all stakeholders, analyzing the individual aspects and interdependencies between
multiple domains, allows taking a broad view of the concept and its implications for thus identify
aspects and issues for future research.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Until today there is no consensus about the concept of SaaS. According to Chong & Carraro, if
five people are asked about the concept of SaaS probably we get five different answers [2].
However, the experts are in agreement about some fundamental principles that distinguish SaaS
from the software as a traditional product and on the other, from the simple web site. Gartner
defines “cloud computing" as a style of computing where IT capabilities are massively scalable
and delivered as a service to external users of technologies [9]. Cloud computing is a broader
subject that cannot be confused with SaaS, which uses cloud computing only in its architecture
[10]. In terms of the SaaS architecture, there are many doubts and questions about the most
effective model to use. Desisto and Paquet present the four architectural models most used by
SaaS developers and providers [11].
In the definition "Software deployed as a hosted service and accessed over the Internet" [2], we
see that it does not describe any specific architecture for the software, it says nothing about the
specific technologies or protocols to use, does not draw a distinction between service-oriented to
the business and to the general consumer, and does not require specific business models.
According to this definition, the main differences from SaaS are the place where the application
code is executed, how it is implemented and how it is accessed. Analyzing from the general to the
specific, we can identify two main categories of software as a service [12]:
a) Line of business services, offered to the businesses and organizations of all sizes. The
lines of business solutions are usually large, customizable, aimed to make easier the
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3. International Journal in Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST), Vol. 3, No.6, November 2013
processes execution such as finance, supply chain management (SCM) and customer
relationship. Typically these services are provided to the customers through a service
subscription.
b) Consumer-oriented services offered to the general users. The customer-oriented
services are sometimes provided through a subscription, but are generally provided free
of charge and funded through advertisements.
Desisto and Pring said that despite the expansion of SaaS, switching to this model cannot be
applied in all kind of software and in all type of organization. Taking advantage of software and
services, it is possible to maximize the choice, flexibility and capabilities of users in general [13].
However, before the move to a SaaS model, organizations should first obtain answers to several
questions, such as [13]:
What are the business and IT needs?
What benefit has the IT department in adding SaaS applications to their service
portfolios?
Is there a need for customization and integration?
What are the implications of adding hosted applications in an external environment to the
organization?
What are security levels?
What is the roadmap of the services?
Users often face difficult choices. SaaS applications are easy to use and have lower
implementation costs. SaaS providers have the advantage of lower-cost implementations
compared to the traditional software. However, the thin client SaaS applications do not have the
full functionality and performance of desktop systems. Moreover, it is always a challenge to
integrate SaaS applications with on-premise backend systems. There are always risks of adopting
a SaaS application and therefore there must always be a balance between the implementation
costs and the application performance [4]. Exploring the adoption of SaaS, some studies reveal
uncertainty factors, such as technical factors, process, economic risks or uncertainties associated
with the functionality needs, as well as service volume. There is still a lack of research on the
empirical analysis of risk factors for the delivery of SaaS applications [3]. SaaS solutions are
managed and maintained by the provider, enabling customers to change the application ability
and capacity without investing in new infrastructure, personnel training, or on new software
licenses. The uncertainty around the service volume is no reason for the existence of incomplete
contracts, since the service volume for an application can be measured using variables such as
space storage, the volume of transactions and number of licenses. It is quite easy to develop
metrics and set prices based on these variables, defining deployment models according to the
ownership of the service [5].
According to Caldwell & Eid, although large scale businesses are less likely than small ones to
consider SaaS solutions for the financial activities of GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance),
the experiences of managers show no significant drawback that prevents the use of SaaS solutions
for SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) and other types of financial activities of GRC. Companies should
consider SaaS GRC solutions when [14]:
The data that could be achieved by the provider or other third parties are not regulated
information or when the regulated information is available by the provider or other third
parties are contracted security services and effective access controls.
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4. International Journal in Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST), Vol. 3, No.6, November 2013
Compliance Officers cannot readily meet the need for support and maintenance of IT
infrastructure that support to GRC activities.
The costs of a licensed application are more difficult to approve than the cost of a SaaS
subscription (€10,000 per month for a SaaS subscription may be easier to justify than a €
400,000 investment to implement a licensed application plus the annual maintenance cost
of 20%).
Despite the advantages of SaaS, its adoption still causes doubts in many CIOs (Chief Information
Officer), especially with regard to the security and confidentiality of data. This type of question is
one of the obstacles to the growth and expansion of the SaaS model, making the decision harder
between either to adopt or not software as a service.
Another concern is the service availability. Donna Scott worked with Robert Desisto and Alexa
Bona, to draw the attention to the unplanned downtime costs of SaaS [23].
In many cases, integrating SaaS applications with local applications, means creating dependencies
that require synchronization and data transfer between the SaaS solution and one or more internal
applications [15]. To answer these concerns of integration with SaaS, software providers should
provide different options. Organizations have four options to solve the SaaS integration problem
[16]:
Use the APIs (Application Programming Interface) and provider’s software technologies;
Use a SaaS integration technology from a third party;
Use integration solutions-as-a-service (IaaS);
Use professional services or a system integrator.
SaaS customers should set their own strategies for integrating SaaS and must incorporate them in
a holistic approach to multi-enterprise integration in all projects [16]. Companies should consider
the flexibility and the implications of risk management in adding SaaS to their IT services
portfolio. The integration and customization are critical components in the successful SaaS
architecture strategies, in a service centralized IT infrastructure [15]. The main activities of a
SaaS developer and SaaS provider are the development , implementation and maintenance of
software that support the business processes of its customers, giving them, by this way, a greater
chance of creating value. When developing applications using these models, providers should
consider several factors that are not present in the common methods of providing software. The
differences between the developments of software to be delivered as a good service are clear. It is
necessary to consider technical aspects that change the way how this new kind of software
applications are being developed [6]. The SaaS business model is the balanced configuration of
various elements being essential the scalability. This is the factor that allows us to explain the
difference between ASP and SaaS [7].
Offering software as a service rather than as a software product requires changes on software
developers and telecom operators. It is necessary to change the thinking in three interrelated
areas: business model, the software architecture and operating structure [2]. The role of the
provider has to change radically from a remote application storage, to an active agent for
management of a complex software ecosystem, where all the IT resources required are
coordinated in order to maintain and create value for all parties involved [8].
From the literature review the conclusion is that SaaS is much more than a software distribution
model and is a combination of business model, application architecture and operational structure.
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3. METHODOLOGY
The purpose of this paper is to study the motivations and concerns of Portuguese companies
regarding SaaS and identify organizational implications and techniques in the transition to this
type of solutions, as well as to realize the extent to which SaaS improves their efficiency and can
be a decisive factor for its growth strategy. For this, it is concluded to be more appropriate to
adopt a research strategy based on a combination of research methods. We identified nonfunctional aspects and also technical aspects, based on the literature review and on a quantitative
study results collected using a survey sent to developers, providers and SaaS end-users.
Through the combination of methods, complementing the disadvantages of one method with the
advantages of the other, it increases the reliability and significance of the research. A combined
approach of quantitative methods with qualitative methods complements and enriches the
research [17].
The researchers feel that the biases inherent in one method may counteract the biases of other
methods. From the original concept of triangulation of different data sources are being crossed
quantitative methods with qualitative methods [18]. The current literature presents the following
main reasons for the combination of methods:
1) The results of a method can help develop another method;
2) A method may be combined with another method to provide information on different
levels or analysis units;
3) The methods may have a higher purpose and more comprehensive, changing or defending
marginalized groups such as women, ethnic and racial minorities, specific communities
or people with disabilities, or those who are poor;
This study uses a research strategy based on a combination of research methods sequentially. In
first place a survey is used to get a broader view and to provide background information through a
quantitative research, allowing subsequently to have a greater depth in qualitative research,
helping to interpret and contextualize the qualitative results. Thus, the study starts with a
quantitative analysis of data using two online surveys sent to a sample of Portuguese companies
with the purpose of evaluating the adoption level of SaaS solutions for their organizations. One
survey is sent to different types of businesses (small, medium and large) based in Portugal,
developers and / or providers of SaaS solutions. A second survey is sent to companies that already
adopted one or more SaaS solutions in their organizations, to collect the perspective of the users.
The results of this first quantitative research complement qualitative research discussed in this
paper, which aims to understand the different types of Portuguese companies according to the
perspective of the decision maker, manager or director within its specific operational context and
reality.
In this research, data is collected through semi-structured interviews, face-to-face with the
directors and managers responsible for IT strategy of their organization or business area. The
interview is a standard tool for data collection and a primary source of information for case
studies [19].
Two interview guides are elaborated. One oriented to the SaaS developers and providers and
another addressed to SaaS users. Each interview is audio-recorded with duration of two hours.
During the qualitative interview, notes are taken from the observations made by the interviewer /
researcher. Mainly, all interviews are processed in an identical manner to permit identify the
existence or not differences and what factors can explain these differences.
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4. RESULTS
The main benefits that all companies involved in this study have, in addition to the features
inherent in the service that they provide, are fundamentally savings in infrastructure costs and
operational maintenance that SaaS customers no longer need, and also the ease of access to the
information from any location and at any time. The access to a software always updated without
having to worry about installation and software deployment on their local infrastructure is another
major benefit that is identified by their customers.
The change to this new business paradigm brings several implications and difficulties that
companies have to overcome. It requires internal reorganizations, changes on strategies and
update skills. In many cases, integrate SaaS solutions with local applications means creating
dependencies that require synchronization and data transfer between the SaaS solution and one or
more internal applications [15]. SaaS customers should set their own strategies for integrating
SaaS and must incorporate them in a holistic approach to integrate multi-company, in all projects
[16]. The integration and customization are critical components in the strategies of successful
SaaS architectures and in an IT infrastructure centralized on service [15]. Integration with other
applications is identified as a key requirement in many processes of any company and a point of
failure in many SaaS solutions. Besides some services not making available SaaS integration
processes, others always requires the software provider’s intervention. Also at this point,
theoretically, SaaS services provide interfaces that allow the customer to make the integration
with internal systems. For this integration if at the client-side development is needed, from
supply-side it needs a configuration at the most. However that has not been verified yet and even
intervention in the application by the supplier is necessary. The customization is a problem found
in the SaaS software. Theoretically the possibility is given to the customer to customize the
application according to their specific needs without interfering with the core of the application,
not impacting the processes of other customers and the correct functioning of the application.
However, in practice this has not been verified. In all analyzed cases, the customization is very
sparse and only gives the client the opportunity to send suggestions for improvement, entering
them in the providers pipeline to be implemented in a later release available to all customers.
4.1. Non-functional requirements
The analysis results show that all enterprises assign a great importance to the quality of service on
SaaS applications. To measure the quality level of the services associated with SaaS applications,
generically the software providers are based on the security levels, availability, compliance,
service levels and trust that customers place on the service that they provide.
The service reliability is closely related to the credibility of the company that provides this service
has on the market. Thus, some companies establish partnerships with credible and recognized
organizations in Portugal that leverage the acceptance of their SaaS offer and potentiate its
development.
Cost savings for the SaaS service customer is one of the main reasons for the adoption as seen in
the analyzed cases. All providers and SaaS software developers reveal that in fact the initial low
investment or zero in some cases capture customers to choose this type of software. Other studies
reveal that in 2014, about 34% of all new software purchases are consumed through SaaS and
constitute about 14.5% of software worldwide spending [20].
Regarding the payment model, generally the model based on subscription is used. The reason for
this situation of suppliers adopting subscription-based models is because it is simpler for both the
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provider that avoids control processes and reporting consumption of various customers, and on
the other hand is also simpler for the customer who always pays the same, with no surprises in
costs and highly variable. Theoretically, the subscription-based model is the most appropriate for
the customer that pays exactly what it consumes. However, customer feedback, as seen in the
results of the surveys and also the feedback from the interviews, is that customers prefer the
subscription model that gives them more comfort.
Table 1. Non-functional requirements
Company Quality of
service
Case1
High level
Benefits and
efficiency
Productivity
Reliability
Costs saving
1) Redundancy on
infrastructure,
applications and
data;
2) Without service
interruption.
1) Redundancy on
infrastructure,
applications and
data.
2) Without service
interruption.
1) Lower setup cost and
sometimes zero;
2) Payable monthly,
yearly, or based on
use.
Case 2
Provides
quality
Collaboration
Case 3
Provides
quality
Process
improvement
1) Credible provider
with a high
number of
worldwide
customers.
2) No service
interruptions.
Case 4
Provides
quality
Tracking the
market and
time-tomarket
1) Credibility of
SaaS software
partners;
2) Infrastructure
support
1) Communications
operator does not
charge any traffic in
data transfer to their
customers, and each
customer has access
to the service without
additional cost.
2) Each accountant
chamber is entitled to
three subscription
licenses. Above this,
is paid a
subscription.
1) Indirect costs;
2) Reduction of hours
of classroom
training;
3) Increase in the
number of E-learning
training hours.
Savings in infrastructure
costs
Table 2. Non-functional requirements (cont.)
Company Payment model
Time to market
Implications
Satisfaction
Case1
SaaS is core
competence of the
company
Difficulties in
accepting this type of
software offer in the
Yes
1) FTEs;
2) Subscription;
3) Based on use
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4)
Case 2
1)
2)
3)
Case 3
Case 4
by transacted
document;
Measurement
of
consumption
use with online
access.
Subscription;
Monthly;
Integrated in
the operator's
billing;
Portuguese market
SaaS is core
competence of the
company
1) Greater difficulties
in software
deployment
without causing
service
interruptions;
2) Greater difficulties
in finding qualified
staff to develop a
SaaS software
architecture.
Yes
Subscription
1) Cloud solution
made easier
the new
performance
management
process in
cross-company
group;
2) Simpler
service
management.
Content for e-learning
are more expensive
than classroom
training content.
Yes
Subscription
1) Technological
developments;
2) Simpler
management
services
3) Time-tomarket
1) New model of
projects
2) Changes in the
service providing
3) Changes in the
culture of the
company
Yes with
improvements
4.2. Technical requirements
The architecture is the foundation that determines the success in building a software system.
There are many doubts and questions about what is the most effective model to use. Desisto and
Paquet feature presents the four architectural models most used by developers and SaaS provider
[11]:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Single tenant
Shared execution
Multitenant / version
Multitenant / Multiversion
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The analyzed cases show that they have a multi-tenant application and data architecture and also
multi-tenant application only. This raises some questions about the difficulties on customization
in these cases.
Data security is the key in any information system not only in SaaS solutions. This is a major
concern for SaaS users and one of the biggest challenges for software architects. In August 2012,
Michael E. Davis presents the results of a survey conducted by InformationWeek and aimed to
assess the extent to which providers of cloud services ensure the security of data customer and
what the risks associated with cloud services [21].
Much remains to be done on these topics that are requirements to consider in the design of any
software application and also on SaaS applications. These are the challenges for engineers,
software architects and researchers, whose mission is to transform these challenges into
opportunities and solutions to these problems. Some initiatives and projects are ongoing to
investigate these issues for companies to create new products, new value that can address these
concerns. The European Union under the Europe Digital agenda program is conducting a great
political movement to research and find solutions to these problems. The new strategy of the
European Commission entitled " Unleashing the potential of cloud computing in Europe "
outlines actions to achieve a net gain of 2.5 million of new jobs in Europe, and an annual increase
of EUR 160 billion to EU GDP in 2020 [22] . Under the Europe 2020 strategy, a project titled "
Tcloud " is created financed by funds of the European Union and the FP7 (Seventh Framework
Programme), for which Portugal contributes with the participation of some companies.
Security has been one of the most criticized aspects of the solutions in the Cloud and on which
projects have been developed further investigation. The analyzed cases show that this is a
constraint to SaaS adoption compared to on-premise solutions. They use authentication processes,
SSL certificates and encryption.
Availability is another of the aspects we consider of utmost importance in the SaaS solutions that
must be available whenever a customer needs it. So, have a disaster recovery processes and
replication, which in addition to allowing recover from disasters as they have replication between
data centers that are in different geographical locations, allows them to make interventions on the
platform without causing unavailability of the service.
The virtualization technology used by some companies greatly facilitates this process. As
development technologies they use Java, .Net, Web services, SOA, Mobile, Open Source,
Postgres, C, Ruby On Rails, HTML 5.
Table 3. Technical requirements
Company
Functionality
levels,
updates and
roadmap
Customization
Integration Architectur
with other
e
applications
Security
Case 1
Releases
Monthly and
quarterly
Few
Yes
Multi-tenant
aplication
and data
Case 2
Frequent
updates
No
Partly
1) multitenant
applicati
1) Encryptio
n
2) Authentic
ation
1) Encryptio
n
2) Authentic
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on
2) singletenant
database
Case 3
Case 4
1) Three
Releases
per year
2) Annual
releases
Annual
releases
No
Yes
Few
Few
ation
1) Encryptio
n
2) Authentic
ation
Multi-tenant
aplication
and data
1) Encryptio
n
2) Authentic
ation
Table 4. Technical requirements (Cont.)
Company
Availability
Virtualization Technologies
Case 1
1) Disaster
Recovery
2) Without
interruption
Yes, Vmware
Case 2
1) Disaster
Recovery
2) Without
interruption
Yes, Vmware
Case 3
1) Disaster
Recovery
2) Without
interruption
Doesn’t know
Case 4
1) Disaster
Recovery
2) Without
interruption
Yes
Java,
Net,
Webservices,
SOA,
Mobile
Open Source,
Linux server,
Postgres
Database, C,
Java
Ruby On Rails
HTML 5
Cornerstone
Dynamics
NAV,
Dynamics
CRM,
Business
Objects
Sana
Commerce
Emerging trend in the
software industry
Globalization
Mobility
1) More services in the
cloud with modularity
and more integrated;
2) Greater customization
can direct the
investment
1) Mobility
2) SaaS architectures
standardization
5. D ISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR P ORTUGUESE COMPANIES
All selected managers consider that the Software-as-a-Service brings benefits and makes the
management of its business easier, although varying systems and technology used as well as
business processes and needs. The savings in infrastructure and operational costs, the access to
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software always updated, always available from anywhere and any device, the ease of software
deployment and centralized management, are the major advantages and major benefits cited by all
interviewed companies. The service reliability and information data security are referred as the
major concerns for all inquired SaaS companies. The customization and integration with other
systems that support the business processes of different companies, are the major problems in the
adoption of SaaS and therefore do not consider its use in critical business processes.
In contrast to previous studies, this study reveals the adoption of SaaS for medium and large
companies on the predictions of micro and small businesses that would be interested in this model
of providing Software. The study find outs that generally, the developers do not have a software
architectural model sufficiently mature to allow the coexistence of different organizations with
specific functionality within the same application in a centralized application environment. In
addition, to the users concerns regarding information data security, as evidenced by several
previous studies, it is confirmed that this is the main constraint to SaaS adoption leading to
greater research and more technological developments.
The results imply that managers of Portuguese companies recognize the added value of the
Software-as-a-Service in their organizations. However, there are some modifications to do, to
adapt and evolve. Listed below are the findings of this study and its implications:
It is confirmed that in fact the SaaS model can turn into a positive way to develop and
deploy the software. It is necessary for developers and software providers reconsider
SaaS in their offer;
SaaS is directly related to volume, scalability and speed. The mass adoption is based on
the experience and satisfaction. SaaS developers and providers must have agile ways of
gathering customer feedback and measure their satisfaction level.
The scalability of the solutions is crucial to achieve critical volumes, in order to generate
the desired profits. It is necessary to predict the needs for scalability and draws the SaaS
solution accordingly to those needs. It is necessary to deep the design of highly scalable
solutions that can easily increase or decrease according to the needs of SaaS software use.
It is important to design SaaS applications in order to make it easy to adapt with the needs
of each customer or organization. The recognition by the user that the software works for
their organization and their specific needs starting the virtuous cycle of references that is
reflected in a viral marketing. This is important for customer retention and for the
continuity of the profits. The customization is a confirmed need for all organizations and
as such it is necessary to explore the software architectures.
The security and privacy of information data is an area of concern and uncertainty about
the use of SaaS. The focus on application architecture, ensuring security information has
to be a strong point of attention by the software developers. Customer data and payment
information in e-commerce solutions is imperative to be transacted securely. The SaaS
offer should highlight this point and show to potential customers.
The inquired companies are focused on Time-to-Value. There should be a short distance
between the decision and the implementation of an application or feature. SaaS is a rapid
application deployment.
SaaS is advancing rapidly. The time-to-market is more important than on-premise
solutions. The integration of SaaS applications with on-premise solutions is a necessity.
The SLA (Service Level Agreement) of SaaS services is very important. Users are
concerned with the service levels over which they have control. So, it is very important to
have a transparent view of the service and its performance. SaaS providers should
therefore supply reports of service performance.
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The complex licensing models can be a handicap (disadvantage). Because SaaS is
different from traditional software sales plan, it is imperative to develop sales plans and
set appropriate licensing models that must be simple to understand.
Companies have a valid concern between having too much infrastructure and have little
infrastructure. Some of them think that a large infrastructure slows down the organization
and inhibits innovation. Others think that no infrastructure is unlikely to succeed and
climb. Maintaining an infrastructure in-house using SOA principles and Private Cloud
used as support for SaaS solutions, can be considered viable for most organizations.
6. C ONCLUSION AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The results of this study imply that managers of Portuguese companies recognize the added value
of the Software-as-a-Service in their organizations. However, some changes are needed, to adapt
and evolve. SaaS is not just a different software distribution model but a new way of doing
business with software. Today, companies have at their fingertips the technology that allows them
to embrace new markets and new business. They should identify business strategies, needs of
organizational changes and human resources such as acquiring new skills and reorganization of
functions and tasks.
The major contributions of this study are the knowledge of the implications that SaaS can have in
the competitiveness enhancing and development of Portuguese companies to carefully plan
appropriate investments in its human capital, processes and relevant technologies. The nonfunctional requirements presented in a business perspective and technical requirements presented
in a technological perspective are based on an extensive study. The added value of this study lies
mainly to the integration of these two perspectives in terms of who provides and who uses the
software. Requirements to evaluate the impact of a SaaS transition and provide an understanding
of the Portuguese company’s real needs that can be generalized to other geographies. The
reported research results and the raised issues can provide information for decision making
regarding the adoption of SaaS in the strategic lines of IT organizations. It can also be useful in
the discussion or clarification of technological issues needed to support the information data and
business processes.
This study brought new insights to conduct future studies to answer the following questions and
recommendations:
The way companies use SaaS services need to be better understood. Does it really take
advantage of them? Or the only reason for adoption is the lower setup cost?
How to solve the integrating problems of SaaS? How to integrate SaaS services with onpremise applications? How to create an efficient platform for integrating SaaS?
What factors influence the implementation of SaaS applications in an organization? What
factors determine the type of solution on-demand, on-premise, or mixed?
What SaaS architecture proposals can be used to create highly efficient solutions of MetaData, Multi-Tenancy, easily adaptable to each organization and country?
How to extend the identification of differences between software on-demand and onpremise, in order to define a methodology for developing SaaS applications, considering
development techniques and agile methodologies such as Scrum, eXtreme Programming
and Lean software development (LSD)?
This study shows some reluctance and uncertainty about the adoption of SaaS by the
Portuguese companies. We suggest new studies and the development of new tools to
assess more realistically the causes of this insecurity.
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13. International Journal in Foundations of Computer Science & Technology (IJFCST), Vol. 3, No.6, November 2013
Opportunities for further research arise from methodological limitations, expanding the
scope of the study based on the results obtained. A future study might adopt a more
rigorous positivist approach to collect data from a larger number of companies using
propositions or hypotheses generated from the results of this study.
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Authors
Virginia Maria Araujo: Received her Licentiate degree in Computer Sciences in 1995
from Minho University, Portugal, her MAS degree in 2009 from Vigo University, Spain,
in Computer Engineering. She works as a Senior Project Manager in a big Portuguese
company and at the same time she is a Ph.D.student in Vigo University, Spain. Her
interest subjects include Cloud computing, Software Engineering, IT Technologies, Data
Security, and Project Management.
José Ayude Vázquez: Received his Ph.D. degree in computer science from Vigo
University, Spain, in 2001, his MSc from Vigo university, Spain, in 2011. He is
currently an associate professor in the Department of Informatics of Vigo University,
Spain. His research interests include Software Engineering, Object Oriented
Programming and Content Analysis Software.
14