Filipino-owned open-source, platform as a service (PaaS) provider Morph Labs, says SaaS is gaining significant popularity among enterprises, as well as software vendors. According to Morph Labs executive chairman Winston Damarillo, market demand continues to accelerate especially during this global economic crisis as SaaS "frees companies from making capital investments, turning them into more manageable operational expenses."

Salesforce.com agrees, believing the economic disruption makes it especially difficult for companies to make a commitment of capital to build new capability. Likewise, market conditions demand increased attention to keeping the customers one already has, and finding ways to strengthen those relationships. "This combination is clearly compelling many companies to move vigorously forward with cloud computing and SaaS initiatives," the firm says.

In Asia-Pacific, the adoption of SaaS is not uniform due to the diversity and economic complexity, according to HP's Ananth. "Interestingly, we are seeing a growing interest and adoption of SaaS in the emerging markets including the Philippines as companies are seeing value in buying subscription-based software services for its ease of deployment and lower total cost of ownership," the official adds.

Local IT firm, Impart Solutions Inc., which offers ERP solutions distributed through this on-demand model, describes SaaS as "key" for organizations to do well amid the ongoing global economic crisis.

According to Greg Martin III, president of Impart Solutions, using SaaS is 40% less expensive compared to traditional enterprise level service providers. "The technology would not only help companies to save on costs in these times of crisis but would also help them to streamline their operations and focus on their core competencies."

GETTING SaaSY

Morph Labs' Damarillo believes Philippine companies are beginning to understand the value of the software as a service model. "When we started talking about SaaS back in 2007, nobody seemed to truly grasp its meaning. Now, we see a lot more enterprises--small and large-- identifying with the on-demand approach."

Damarillo explains that SaaS is akin to the Filipino concept of "tingi" and as such, SaaS adoption in the country will continue to grow and eventually pervade in the everyday business landscape. Philippine businesses that shy away from investments will grab SaaS with both hands as they begin to realize its value over the traditional model, he says.

Meanwhile, HP sees the adoption of SaaS happening across all major verticals, saying that it is especially getting significant interest from security-conscious sectors like the public sector, along with verticals like telecommunication and financial service institutions.