Dear fellows, inviting you to read the technical article I’ve written for TechRepublic. Complete with diagrams, this how-to guide covers 5 steps necessary for building an integration with Salesforce.com.

“If you’re considering or currently administering a SalesForce.com account, this article may help you explore how to integrate your CRM data between SalesForce.com and in-house databases, flat files, and legacy applications. Here’s a deep look at how to get the job done without having to study SalesForce.com APIs and writing, debugging, and maintaining custom code.”

Read the full article at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=265

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It seems like the term “webware” is getting hot these days. Phil Wainewright and Paul McNamara claimed in their blogs that they prefer the word “webware” to the SaaS acronym. This is how Paul put it in a funny manner:

I imagine that to the horse and buggy manufacturers, the automobile was nothing more than the ‘Horse and Buggy as a Self Propelled Vehicle’ (HaBaaSPV). And to the manuscript producers of the middle ages, the printing press (which in the early days was operated by Scribes) was simply the ‘Scribe as an Operator of a Repeatable and Automated System for Increased Productivity and Broad-based Distribution’ (SaaOoaRaAMfIPaB-bD, pronounced Sa-ō-ŏ-ra-A- … oh never mind, you get the point).

Later, he wisely notices:

Whereas the term ‘SaaS’ wrongly places its emphasis on the very technology component (software) that users of web-based applications no longer need to think about. Webware is a revolutionary new approach to satisfying information needs.

The term is also promoted by Rafe Needleman, CNet editor. Rafe suggests labelling as “webware” for all Productivity Applications, Data-Driven Applications, and Community Services, which are being delivered over the Web.
So, we already have software, freeware, adware, middleware, and even mashware (credits to Dave Linthicum). The term “webware” is becoming the edge of this “ware” hype.

But wait, folks! Someone should protect the copyrights, as well. Because there’s a suite of Python packages and tools for developing object-oriented, web-based applications, which is called “Webware for Python”.

p.s. For simplicity, there’s also a word “buzzware”.

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‘Software as a Service’ gurus Zoli Erdos and David Linthicum commented on a new study by Nucleus Research. According to the report, companies of all sizes are shifting to project management and content management initiatives, while implementing SaaS technologies. Here’s how Zoli put it:

A new study by Nucleus Research confirms these findings:  63% of companies with over 1000 employees adopted some On-Demand solution, vs. 46% of those with less then 1000 employees.  The study turned up a few more “surprises”, perhaps the most striking one being the market-share of particular types of applications.  Salesforce.com is the poster-boy of SaaS, in fact many would argue they created this market, yet CRM appears to have a relatively low adoption rate amongst SaaS customers, only 32%.  Project Management comes close, 23% of the responding organizations deployed PM solutions.

So, Content Management and Project Management are currently the new growth areas in SaaS world. “Rapid implementation and ease of use were the two reasons cited most often for adoption,” Nucleus reported.

This survey shows how Software as a Service technology is evolving. WikiPedia has already become a standard, as we know. On the other hand, the need for effective collaboration is overwhelming, so it is not a surprise that enterprise CMS is moving towards SaaS.

A number of benefits explain why software vendors adopt SaaS model to improve their project management, too. Process integration is one of the main trends for this year, according to multiple researches.

As a result, one trend produces others.
 

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The hype around Google Apps is on the rise. With the recent launch of this service, analysts are talking about Software as a Service (SaaS) pros and cons. Again. And security is being discussed, either. I liked this excerpt by Phil Wainewright about the fight between on-premise and on-demand advocates:

“So here is a selection of news stories culled from the past few months that allow us to objectively evaluate what happens when users “have total control over things like privacy and security” as Ryan puts it:

·         U.K. company fined over laptop theft
·         Hard drive vanishes from VA facility
·         Stolen Boeing laptop held ID data on 382,000
·         Commerce Department counts 1,100 missing laptops
·         Theft of laptop puts thousands of identities at risk 

And how likely is it that Google will be so lax as to allow any unauthorized access to its servers? As Talkback regular Donnieboy noted in a comment to my post on Google Apps last night, Google doesn’t even hand over search data to Federal investigators.”

Well, it seems to me that the more SaaS is being adopted, the more it is being criticized. It’s natural. However, if SaaS technology were as vulnerable as the skeptics say, then it wouldn’t be so popular. And don’t forget, SaaS popularity is increasing.

To make a forecast, I’d say that the market will surely put everything in its right place. There will be a robust niche for on-demand packages, and there will be other niches for on-premise applications. We’ll see how these niches will shape the portrait of a devoted SaaS optimist.

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Here’s a good reminder from David Linthicum about hidden Software as a Service (SaaS) costs. Really, training, troubleshooting and outages do increase support charges, but this is not the whole story.

SaaS approach doesn’t completely avoid core expenses like software maintenance. A lot of companies need customizing and adding features which are critical to them. Such application integration may be not a zero cost yet necessary. 

And the bandwidth expenses, too. A company may require broader bandwidth to keep up with SaaS technology, which is an issue in areas where telecom costs are high.

So, don’t be naive while choosing SaaS services and keep your eyes on the ball. However, remember another reminder from David, ‘the other values of SaaS make it a compelling proposition’.

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