TOPdesk research: Dutch SMBs sceptic about SaaS

Delft, 07 November 2007 – SaaS has become very popular in the United States, but Europe seems to be a bit more reluctant in adopting it. A minority of the Dutch organisations, 27%, is positive towards purchasing SaaS - Software as a Service – for service management or facilities management. When questioned about whether they would start to use SaaS in the near future, only 13% responded positively. These are the main conclusions of a research that was recently conducted by TOPdesk of SMBs.

 

The term SaaS – Software as a Service – is mentioned more and more often in IT and Facilities management magazines. For software provider such as TOPdesk it becomes increasingly important to keep up to date on the latest developments in SaaS.

Preference for traditional software

Of the 300 questioned SMBs, a large group of 42% feels neither positive nor negative towards using SaaS services. When asked whether they would actually purchase a SaaS product in the near future, 41% responded neutral. The research shows that SMBs are generally familiar with the SaaS concept and are relatively positive about it, but are reluctant to actually starting to use SaaS services. The main reasons that traditional software is still preferred over SaaS are insufficient knowledge and experience concerning SaaS.

Presumptions and uncertainties

The research, conducted in cooperation with Tilburg University, also focused on how software providers can respond to the relative unfamiliarity of SMBs with SaaS. The surveyed organisations stated that there are many uncertainties on things such as implementation costs, dependency on the SaaS provider, protection of data and the tailoring of the SaaS service to company-specific processes. By responding to these insecurities, software providers could optimise their SaaS services.

This research was conducted by TOPdesk and is part of a larger research project in which TOPdesk investigates the possibilities of SaaS for the service management and facilities management sector, on behalf of the organisation and its customers. The full text of the article on this research can be requested via this link.