Software as a Service (SaaS) is an idea whose time has come. Graphic communications service providers must embrace this idea if they hope to accelerate the delivery of value-added services and be competitive in today’s high-tech market. The technical and market obstacles that once held back hosted Software as a Service models have been resolved. During the Internet “dot-bomb” era, there was some concern about the market viability of providers, but organizations like Printable, Four51, PagePath, and MindfireInc. have demonstrated stability. For years, application service providers (ASPs) sought to make SaaS a reality, but last-mile bandwidth was insufficient, server infrastructures were not reliable enough, and operating platforms were not stable enough. ASPs also lacked multi-tenant applications (for simultaneous sharing by multiple customers), and many customers were reluctant to allow data to reside outside of their firewalls. This has changed, and the advantages of SaaS can be realized with technologies that successfully address these issues.

From a graphic communications perspective, printers are diversifying to provide non-print value-added services in addition to "ink on paper." Printing company managers hope that offering these new services will rejuvenate revenue growth and improve profit margins. The reality is that successful diversification is hard to achieve based on the challenges of developing and maintaining the IT infrastructure associated with solution delivery. Web-to-print, digital asset management, variable data printing, and integrated marketing campaign management are all offerings that graphic communications service providers are assessing in their quest for decommoditization. This is balanced with the desire for super-efficient workflows so organizations can ensure that they are the most cost-effective producers in the market. Graphic communications firms are relying more heavily on application software solutions for all facets of their businesses. Rather than paying expensive support staffs to manage complex applications, many graphic communications service providers would just as soon pay an outside organization to buy the software, maintain it, upgrade it, debug it, and make sure it's up and running whenever the organization needs it. This concept, once known as the application service provider (ASP) model, has returned and is now called "software as a service."

What is Software as a Service?