The document provides a critical review of conventional definitions of Software as a Service (SaaS), highlighting their inadequacy for SaaS vendors and proposing a redefined SaaS business architecture. This architecture integrates marketing, technology, intellectual property, and business model to enhance scalability and reduce barriers to adoption. Key features include a focus on a unique value proposition, technology independence, and flexible revenue models to move beyond traditional constraints.

1. SaaS Business Architecture Preliminary Definition Slides 8/15/2009 Copyright© 2009 Sixteen Ventures / Lincoln Murphy. All Rights Reserved.

2. Conventional SaaS Definitions Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. “ a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand.” - Wikipedia “… software that’s developed and hosted by the SaaS vendor and which the end user customer accesses over the Internet. ” - CIO.com “… subscription based, and all upgrades are provided during the term of the subscription. […] is hosted and updated on a central location, and does not reside on client computers.” - Utah.gov

3. Problem… Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Most conventional definitions of SaaS are meaningless to SaaS vendors and result in industry-wide misunderstandings and confusion

4. Solution… Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Stop trying to fit legacy models into a modern model Eliminate legacy artifacts and start with what works Delineate SaaS and its defining characteristics Introduce the SaaS Business Architecture

5. SaaS Business Architecture Defined Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. The SaaS Business Architecture is a commingling of Marketing, Intellectual Property, Technology, and Business Model SaaS Marketing Intellectual Property Technology Business Model

6. Marketing Inherently Social Unique value proposition Self-Service focus Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Reduce barriers to adoption

7. Technology Single Instance in Production Multi-Tenant, implementation agnostic Customizations break the model Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Web-native, UI Agnostic

8. Intellectual Property Core Application Proprietary Functionality Cannot be the only focus of developers Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Value beyond the core application

9. Business Model Inbuilt Revenue Models Metering, Billing Internal to Application Not bound by single revenue model Copyright© 2009 Lincoln Murphy / Sixteen Ventures. All Rights Reserved. Focused on Business Scalability

10. SaaS Business Architects http://sixteenventures.com http://twitter.com/lincolnmurphy [email_address] http://linkedin.com/in/lincolnmurphy lincolnmurphy (972) 200-9317 Lincoln Murphy, Managing Director