Software-as-a-Service market to grow 17.9 per cent to $US14.5 billion - Gartner

The spending rise is attributable to greater familiarity with how SaaS works, growth in related PaaS (platform as a service) offerings, and IT budgeting considerations, Gartner research director Sharon Mertz said in a statement. SaaS products are typically sold via subscription, allowing companies to avoid large up-front licensing fees and capital costs.

According to figures released by analyst firm Gartner, “Global spending on SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) will rise 17.9 per cent this year to $US14.5 billion. SaaS market growth will remain strong through 2015, when spending on the software is expected to hit $22.1 billion”.

North America is the most mature and largest SaaS market, expected to generate $US9.1 billion in revenue this year, compared to $US7.8 billion last year. And, Western Europe's SaaS spending will generate more than $US3.2 billion in 2012, up from $US2.7 billion in 2011. In the Asia-Pacific region, for which Gartner excludes Japan, SaaS revenue will jump from $US730.9 million in 2011 to $US934.1 million this year. Japanese companies will spent $US495.2 million on SaaS this year, compared to $427 million last year.

SaaS sales in Japan will be driven by CRM (customer relationship management) and collaboration software, "which already have actual demand”. The 2011 earthquake has also raised interest in SaaS there as a possible defense against such natural disasters.

SaaS spending in Latin America this year will be $US419.7 million, compared to $US331.1 million in 2011, Brazilian and Mexican companies will account for the majority of sales, with CRM, procurement and ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications the most popular choices. Meanwhile, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa remain "small and emerging markets overall" with "ongoing infrastructure challenges”.

Overall, the market growth predicted by Gartner can be attributed to both pure SaaS vendors (Salesforce.com, Corent Technology, LongJump, etc,.) which is predicting it will reach close to $US3 billion in annual revenue during its fiscal 2013, as well as increased emphasis on SaaS by dominant on-premises application vendors like Oracle and SAP.

Those companies recently spent billions to respectively acquire Taleo and SuccessFactors, which compete in the HCM (human capital management) market. HCM is seen as an effective way for on-premises vendors to make inroads in the SaaS market. For one, many offerings focus on areas such as recruitment and learning and development. Those functions are adjacent to core human-resources functions like payroll, which are already handled at many companies by on-premises ERP systems.

Source: CIO, IDG News Service.

Top 12 B2B e-Commerce Predictions for 2012

GXS, a leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions, announced its Top 12 B2B e-commerce predictions for 2012.  Thought leaders from GXS created the predictions based upon research, news, trends, industry discourse and customer discussions.  The predictions span different industry verticals, geographic regions and technology sectors. 

#1 – Cloud-Based Integration Platforms Come of Age: The market is at the right inflection point to massively adopt cloud-based integration. Much like SalesForce.com has built a platform for cloud-based applications in the CRM area, cloud-based integration platforms will emerge to support information exchanges between corporate ERP systems.
 

#2 – ERP and SaaS Providers Seek Partners for Cloud Integration: Traditionally, developers of ERP and supply chain applications have left the connectivity and integration of business partners to the customer’s IT department. In 2012 we will see more ERP and supply chain vendors leveraging cloud-based integration platforms to accelerate implementation.
 

#3 – Purchase Orders become Cross-Channel in Retail: As mobile goes mainstream and online sales reach double-digit percentages in many categories, retailers are re-engineering their supply chains to support these fast growing channels. In 2012, retail industry associations will lead efforts to enhance the standard B2B e-commerce transactions to better accommodate the cross-channel model.
 

#4 – Next Best Offer Forces Marketing to Align with Supply Chain: Next Best Offer (NBO) is the analysis that determines, often within 200 milliseconds, which marketing offer is most likely to entice customers. To deliver on NBO, the entire retail supply chain will need to exchange price and promotions information in real time.
 

#5 – Consolidation Wave Hits e-Invoicing: More than 550 vendors provide e-invoicing services in Europe alone, many of which are small providers with less than $50 million in annual revenues. In 2012, we will see a continuation in the consolidation of the e-invoicing  sector that started in 2011 when SAP acquired Crossgate and Ariba acquired b-process.
 

#6 – Austerity Drives Public Sector e-Invoicing Adoption: Within Europe and the United States, austerity and growth are the government watchwords of today. By implementing e-invoicing, public sector authorities can decrease back-office expenses. Already, the governments of Norway, Denmark, Spain and Greece have announced e-invoicing programs. More will follow in 2012.
 

#7 – Bank Payment Obligation Booms in Emerging Markets: Suppliers in emerging markets are beginning to push back on open account terms due to the credit risk imposed on them. Paper-based letters of credit (L/C) are not an attractive alternative due to the costs. The Bank Payment Obligation (BPO) functionality of SWIFT’s Trade Services Utility (TSU) may be the answer. 
 

#8 – Supplier Risk Management: At least three Global 1000 brands will suffer a public relations disaster in 2012 for issues related to environmental impact, product quality and human rights in their supply chains. As a result, risk management in their supplier community will become a paramount concern in 2012.
 

#9 – Freemium Models Gain Traction in B2B: In a freemium model the majority of users are subsidized by a small group of customers who pay for access to enhanced features. Examples of freemium models already exist in the EDI network and e-invoicing sectors.  In 2012, we will see a freemium-style file sharing service enter  B2B .
 

#10 – OFTP 2.0 Adoption Levels to Triple: OFTP2 has seen widespread adoption by the major car manufacturers and tier 1 suppliers in Europe. Expect the use of OFTP2 to expand beyond Europe in 2012. The increasing requirement to exchange engineering and design files has led automakers to find a reliable, secure and fast way to exchange this big data.
 

#11 – The End of Managed File Transfer: Historically, technical and commercial limitations drove a distinction between moving small and large, structured and unstructured files between companies. As the availability of network bandwidth, processing power and storage capacity, increase this unnecessary division of technologies will dissolve. The category of MFT will become a feature of broader integration suites.
 

#12 – The Digital Economy Grows: As technologies such as RFID, sensors, video cameras and GPS devices, more and more information will be exchanged via machines creating fully digital business processes. Middleware and integration technologies will form a critical underpinning of this second (or digital) economy as they do in the physical world today.

Consumer Surveys by Google for effective Market Research

Google has launched a tool for fast, affordable and accurate consumer Surveys and it will act as an alternative revenue model for publishers. ‘Google Consumer Surveys’ is quite cheep one to the respective company and gives more realistic insights and reports about consumer perceptions.

According to Google Consumer Surveys product manager, Paul McDonald, “the tool has been introduced to make research affordable to small- and mid-size businesses that typically can’t afford to hire a market research firm. The tool allows users to create anonymous surveys via a self-service online interface which also analyses and presents the data in real time, simple reports.

Company

Companies can create online surveys to gain consumer insight. And much more with the survey like - Which version of my new logo will people like better? How much are dog owners willing to pay for an organic cotton leash? Is my brand awareness growing over time? We all have nagging questions about our own products, companies, and industries. Now it’s easy get answers and make major decisions with your consumers’ behavior and preferences in mind.

company gets nicely aggregated and analyzed data. Google automatically aggregates and analyzes responses, providing the data back through a simple online interface. Results appear as they come in, not days or weeks later.

There are sample templets, where one can customize and make a result oriented questioner/survey. With this surveys we can target entire internet users or selected (Gender wise, age group, preferences, etc.)

Results & insights: In addition to raw data, charts summarize responses and insights highlight interesting differences. Using the DoubleClick cookie and the respondent’s IP address, Google Consumer Surveys infers demographic and geographic information for each response so one can easily segment by age, gender, location and more. See which results are statistically significant or order additional responses if your initial sample wasn’t sufficient.

Methodology & accuracy: Unlike other online survey platforms which send questionnaires to predetermined “panels,” Google Consumer Surveys takes a new approach to survey sampling, data collection and post-stratification weighting. This produces a close approximation to a random sample of the US Internet population and results that are as accurate as probability based panels.

Pricing: The service works as a DIY research tool, charging users 10 cents per response to questions of the their choice. Buyers of the research have the option to pay an extra 40 cents per response to target sub-populations based on gender, age and location and can target more specific audiences, such as dog owners, with a screening and follow-up question option that costs an additional 50 cents per response.

People

People complete questions in order to access premium content. People browsing the web come across the questions when they try to access premium content like news articles or videos. Opinions are valuable, so answering the question gives them near instant access to the page they want for free. They don’t have to pull out a wallet or sign in and you gain insight into what people think.

Publishers

Publishers get paid as their visitors answer. Questions run across sites in our diverse publisher network in order to get the necessary respondents. Publishers—online news sites, video creators, and app developers—make money as site visitors provide answers. Everyone wins.

Google Consumer Surveys provides both a new way to perform Internet surveys and a new method for publishers to monetize their content. Since Consumer Surveys run directly within publisher sites, the respondents may be more representative than respondents of more traditional internet surveys. Response rates for Google Consumer Surveys are higher than telephone surveys and standard Internet panels, and are much higher compared to many Internet intercept surveys. This higher response rate is due, in part, to the short survey length of Consumer Surveys and the inferred demographic data.

For more info - http://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/home