Ecosystems to accelerate SaaS adoption in Asia, says Springboard Research
ConvergenceAsia staff
11/06/2008

SaaS vendors, ISVs, telecom and hosting providers in Asia are coming together to create a powerful SaaS ecosystem that will accelerate the technology’s adoption in the region, according to the latest research report by IT Market Research company Springboard Research.

The Springboard report, titled “SaaS Enablement - The Emerging Ecosystem”, points out that the current SaaS ecosystem landscape in Asia is comprised of pure play SaaS application providers such as Salesforce.com, NetSuite and WebEx, new age SaaS enabling technology and infrastructure providers like OpSource and Jamcracker, established system integrators and technology providers like IBM and Microsoft, application hosting service providers like WebCentral and Kaz, and telecommunications service providers such as Tata Communications and Telstra, all of whom are bolstering SaaS growth in Asia Pacific.

“As enterprises become used to buying software as a service and as more and more ISVs step in to fill demand for additional applications, the importance of a robust SaaS ecosystem will grow,” said Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, Senior Manager of Emerging Software for Springboard Research. “Our analysis of these ecosystems indicates that although they are still in an early stage of evolution in the region, going forward they will play a key role in the growth and expansion of Asia Pacific’s SaaS market,” added Aggarwal.

Springboard added that many SaaS vendors are building ecosystems to broaden their offerings and to create a portfolio of integrated business applications through partnerships with other ISVs. In addition, these ecosystems aim to attract ISVs with a range of incentives that include access to technology, infrastructure and customers.

“While every group of SaaS enabler has taken a different approach to building their ecosystem, the creation of a common marketplace for on-demand software applications appears to be the goal,” continued Aggarwal. “These ecosystems also present promising opportunities for ISVs, especially small ones, looking to reach new customers and geographies through the existing SaaS enabler customer base, and to benefit from SaaS players’ technical expertise and marketing efforts.”

Springboard’s research report further stated that telecom companies have started participating in the SaaS ecosystem as it provides an opportunity to expand their offerings to enterprises. Examples of this include Tata Communications in India (which tied-up with Microsoft to sell communication and collaboration software as a service to SMB customers) and Telstra (through its subsidiary, Kaz) in Australia.

“Tie-ups with telecom service providers help SaaS providers focus more on application delivery and customer service, as infrastructure-related issues are handled by the telco,” Aggarwal said.

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