Software as a Service Considerations

With all the hype and increasing popularity of SaaS BI, organizations are used to hearing the positive aspects of using a SaaS BI solution. Some of these include:

1. BI as a service vs. the effort required to develop and deploy an in-house solution
2. No additional hardware required
3. Lower initial implementation costs
4. Subscription licensing models
5. Professional services expertise

These areas represent common benefits for companies interested in SaaS offerings.  For smaller businesses and targeted applications, the use of SaaS may be the most practical way of integrating new BI applications within the organization due to quicker implementation times and lack of dependence on IT for long-term maintenance.

On the other hand are considerations that organizations should look at to identify whether SaaS BI represents the right choice for them:

1. Growth over time – many SaaS providers charge based on users and data storage.  Initial implementations take into account current requirements but may not consider future growth, additional historical data captured, or end user expansion.  All of these areas can increase the yearly subscription fees astronomically.

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