Cloud computing, SaaS, on-demand computing… more and more software is moving off hard drives and onto networks. Even these guys are getting in on the act. You know by now that Sonar6 is SaaS – but what does that mean?

What IS SaaS?

SaaS is software that’s hosted by a vendor and delivered to clients via a network (in Sonar6’s case, delivered via the internet and accessed with a web browser). Unlike ‘traditional’ software, there are no CDs, no DVDs, nothing to install.

Why not do it the usual way?

SaaS has a couple of major advantages over locally installed software: it usually costs less, and it’s far more flexible:

• You pay for the actual software, not for production and distribution costs
• You always have access to the latest versions, updates, upgrades and bug fixes
• You can influence the software’s evolution. Flexible development means SaaS solutions can easily adapt to the ways actual users interact with the software
• You avoid getting locked in to one product or one vendor. SaaS is usually subscription-based so if your needs change it’s relatively painless to switch to something different. It’s a little bit trickier to be that flexible if you’ve spent thousands of dollars on software and the tech to support it!

What do you need to know?

In our 5 Weeks to Really Useful Performance Reviews, we suggest some questions to ask vendors when you’re looking at performance management software. We go into specifics, but the things you need to know are the same regardless of the type of SaaS solution.

As a starting point, we quite like this list of considerations from Xactly Corp (a Sonar6 customer and a leading provider of on-demand sales compensation solutions, so they know whereof they speak!)