Scheduling Chronicles

Doing more with less in 2009: SaaS and green technology tops IT trends

It's no secret that just about ever company out there is looking to do more with less.  That's been the basis for our resource scheduling and energy managementsolutions here at PeopleCube for years.  Maximize productivity and efficiency and you'll maximize your bottom line.  The current economic crisis we're all facing has accelerated the need to fine tune the way we run our business. 

Richard Adhikari of Internetnews.com recently issued an article that highlights the importance of leveraging technology such as Saas (Software as a Service) and green technology as a way to survive financially in 2009 and beyond.  The article, titled SaaS, Green Tech in Top 2009 IT Growth Areas, focuses on the technology trends in 2009 that telecom giant Verizon sees as the way to weather the economic storm we're all in.

In relation to SaaS, As the article states "Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is one of the technologies [Verizon] picked. Many businesses are turning to the category of product to cut costs, avoid the expenses of installing and maintaining on-site software -- a point made often by Marc Benioff, the feisty chairman and CEO of SaaS vendor Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM)."

It goes on to include green technology as another means to survive.  As IT budgets are cut, green tech. is a way to support sustained growth.

"Another technology trend that will help cut costs is the greening of IT. Corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important to how companies are viewed by employees, customers and investors, and going green early will help businesses get a leg up on their competition, Verizon said."

"'Savvy companies today are embracing the green initiative to get ahead of government and business mandates that will eventually force the issue,' Verizon said.

"Research firm IDC has also identified green IT as one of the major trends for next year. That emphasis will be strengthened by President-elect Obama's appointment of Nobel physics laureate Steven Chu, a strong supporter of sustainable energy, to the post of Energy Secretary."

Gartner: SaaS Set for Strong Growth in 2009

Research firm Gartner recently reported the results of a survey that suggest that SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) will continue to grow at an impressive rate in 2009.  In fact, the report indicates that 90 of enterprise companies are expected to maintain or increase their investments in SaaS.  The reasons?  Cost and deployment efficiencies.

Further, more than one third of respondents expect to replace thier on-premise applications with SaaS in an effort to reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO).  The current economic likely plays a role given that SaaS applications require fewer IT resources to maintain critical enterprise applications.

One item of particular interest is the adoption rate (or lack thereof) of SaaS in Europe versus North America.  According to the report, 20 of respondents claim to have used SaaS applications for five years or more while 60 percent said they have begun using them in the last three years.  While I have seen this trend in my own business, I did find it interesting that 49 percent of European respondents claimed they expect an increase in SaaS investments slightly while 15 percent anticipate a significant investment increase.  This is compared to 62 percent and 15 percent in North America.   Clearly, costs, combined with added confidence in the security of SaaS data, is having an implact on how Europe plans to leverage SaaS in the future. 

"Users are demanding higher levels of functionality, sometimes prompting organisations to renegotiate their contracts early to opt for more feature-rich solutions, or to add more users as the organisational footprint expands," said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner.

The full report, titled "User Survey Analysis: Software as a Service" is available from the Gartner website.

New Functionality in PeopleCube's Exclusive Customer Care Center Extends Usability and Customer Communication

PeopleCube, the leader in workspace management and resource management technology, today announced that it has delivered new features that enable users of its on-line Customer Care Center to participate in user forums, access product documentation and downloads more easily, and quickly submit and track new cases. These enhancements are designed to make it easier to access information in the Customer Care Center and more intuitive to use.

As Carolyn Urban, PeopleCube's vice president of services and support states, "PeopleCube prides itself on providing industry-leading customer care, and our one-of-a-kind Customer Care Center is a wonderful example of that mission.  The customer forums, which were designed based on feedback from thousands of Care Center users, are just one example of the mechanisms we use to ensure the free exchange of information with and among customers."

The PeopleCube on-line Customer Care Center is designed to provide self-service product support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It serves as the central repository for all PeopleCube product documentation and new product releases, as well as informative Knowledge Base articles containing product-related tips, tricks, and shortcuts.

Customers can use the Care Center to submit cases and feature requests, and then track the status of the cases by simply logging into the Care Center.

To learn more about the Customer Care Center, PeopleCube's Maintenance Advantage program, or its other customer care and services offerings, visit www.peoplecube.com.