Software as a Service (SaaS) Application Management

LATEST THINKING

Organizations are turning to the cloud first for core business functions. They seek breakthrough results as applications become increasingly powerful and the security and scalability of the cloud more reliable.

Broader SaaS adoption requires organizational and operational change to manage applications effectively. It also demands a new approach to ongoing application management to deliver the business promise of SaaS.

This new approach requires business and IT to work closely together to capture the value available as SaaS vendors continually evolve and update applications. Achieving that requires a new, more agile mindset. The SaaS world is different, and the ‘go-live” is no longer the only focus. This new approach is characterized by a willingness to accept ‘good enough’ and a commitment to improving and refining iteratively in response to a flow of updates and releases.

Effective SaaS application management also demands new skills to complement this more agile approach. As the SaaS vendor now controls the schedule for releases, resources to support ongoing SaaS updates and improvements must be considered upfront. The most in-demand resources will overlap business and IT domains, and operate with equal comfort in both. Those people are typically scarce and consequently in high-demand, so organizations need to commit to training and recruiting the new skills they’ll need and/or working with third parties.

SaaS offers a compelling vision of scalable innovation and agility. Making the most of it requires organizational and operational change—with the resources to match.

Accenture has discovered a number of critical success factors in delivering application management for SaaS.

Build a support organization that is scalable and able to deliver short burst projects.

Define support roles and verify alignment with SaaS requirements.
Equip support organization with the right technology skills and agile methodology.

Employ intelligent tools to harvest previous experience and use automation to infuse intelligence into IT delivery, resulting in breakthrough productivity, performance and quality gains.