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Over the past few years the On-Demand business model for software has steadily gained popularity. Although the revenues associated with the On-Demand segment are small in comparison to the traditional delivery model, its impact in terms of mind share has been sizeable. According to IDC reports, around 79% companies are now purchasing and/or reviewing On-Demand offerings. On-Demand applications have proven cost effective and surpass the legacy of On-Premise Software in terms of capabilities, customization, and ease of use. Delivering software On-Demand opens up new opportunities and also some concerns with respect to customization, robustness, reliability, integration, security, and viability. 

VOICE&DATA organized a summit on 'Software on Demand: Hype or Reality' to bring together all the key stakeholders on one platform and discuss various benefits and challenges related to On-Demand applications.

The panelists discussed various aspects related to On-Demand applications-the applications that are in demand, what are the challenges for software On-Demand and what are the future prospects for software On-Demand services. The possibility of change in mind set and what were the issues that the user had to keep in mind, while opting for software on demand were also discussed.

Abnash Singh, group CIO, MphasiS, pointed out that from the technology point of view, a BPO using software On-Demand applications could reduce future investment. He added that for enterprise the information security aspect is the most important and not email. “The On-Demand service provisioning market is really focused on point solutions, we are looking forward to using a loosely connected service oriented architecture middleware, which develops for a scenario where different service providers can provide services,” he emphasized. He stated that Software On-Demand is at a nascent stage in India, but it is all set to catch pace. He added that the market size will we a combination of telecom services, software services, and outsourcing services in the future. He pointed out that Software On-Demand is basically, outsourcing a software application investment and support investment. Enterprise is still waiting for application, which will need their enterprise integration requirement. On services side there will be growth of point solutions. On corporate side CRM On-Demand will be the hot new thing. In future the whole IT platform will be available On-Demand.

Dr Sridhar Mitta, MD and CTO, e4e India, was of the view that most of the new software companies are offering Software On-Demand as the scenario is changing. “Today software services is an area where cost of delivery has been reduced considerably so the equation is right now,” he added. He pointed out that the market condition is such that the software services market will go beyond the expected $8 bn. According to him it is a golden opportunity to innovative software companies to offer services instead of being an outsourcer for life.

Krishna Kumar, CEO, MindTree pointed out that the enterprise software companies are riding the hype, but as an organization software, On-Demand has not been workable for us. He added “Enterprise software companies are facing the business model challenges and along with operational challenges of delivering consistent and scalable services to the consumer.” He added that the products are not yet architectured to be delivered at the service. Opportunity in India for Software On-Demand will be in the mid range enterprises where best-of-breed applications can be deployed

R Mohan, advisor, HTMT, added that where the application was more commodities or more general we could use Software On-Demand, but as the application became more unique using software on demand becomes difficult. He added, “Software on demand will be used in an enterprise of the enabling applications such as sales, quality, and infrastructure. The application that are difficult to manage with in the organization will be hot areas for software on demand.” He added that the mindset of the users is to own an application but the mindset is bound to change. Processes pertaining to management of people will need Software On-Demand in the future.

AK Sharma, CTO, Cranes Software added in terms of external application software on demand worked, but the case was not the same for internal operations. “Everybody is building their hardware on demand so voice, data, connectivity, and security are available on scalable platform.” So the users will be benefited in a way that they can use software on demand where the price parity is available along with the scalable hardware systems. There a scope for us that if someone offers software it will be accepted only if the pirated versions are not available. The companies using collaborative tools will need software on demand in the future he added

Natraj, CIO, Aztec Software informed that they were provided software on demand to their clients and used them internally. He was of the view that email cannot be outsourced as the cost of that will be huge.” The smaller companies are using e-mail outsourcing, but it has not gone to the large enterprise level, he added. Cost will be the immediate factor and the use of software on demand will increase if the cost comes down, he pointed out. He was of the view that the shift to software on demand is already happening not only on the software side, but also on the hardware as well as telecom. “Few years down the line the CIO's will be opting for software on demand that in-house applications” he added. He also pointed out that SLA will be the key differentiator for software on demand and after that it will be performance, scalability, time to market, and cost efficiency will be the factors responsible for popularity of software on demand. The hottest area for software on demand will be ERP and CRM both in mid-market segment and large scale enterprises.

Sonia Sharma
sonias@cybermedia.co.in

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