Software as a service (SaaS) is an undeniably green alternative to traditional computing. It's one form of cloud computing in which people use software applications that are located on the Internet rather than on their own computers or networks. A very common example of it is web-based email. The green aspect of SaaS or cloud computing is that it shifts the computing power responsibilities to a relatively small number of Internet servers and can slow the continual demand for hardware upgrades to meet the needs of new software. Essentially, a software hosting provider can utilize a server more efficiently than you can in your office; it can also make setting up and managing your software a whole lot easier. As you rely more on the cloud, you may find that you rely less on an in-house IT person. It also usually lowers your upfront costs since you no longer have to buy and maintain the server or the software. But is it the right solution for you and your organization?

Risks

Since these services usually charge some sort of subscription fee, the lower upfront costs need to be balanced against the generally higher operating costs to determine what is right for your budget. Check out the thoughts and concerns of some of our forum users in this thread (read past the first few posts about the initial article to get to the real discussion). Their main concerns were around security, potential for data loss and availability. Major SaaS providers like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have had significant outages causing inconvenience to their users, but more importantly, one actually lost data in the process.

Popular Types of Software as a Service

Gartner has researched which types of functionality is most often delivered as software as a service. Office suites, customer relations management (CRM), Human Resources (HR) management systems and Digital Content Creation (DCC) seem to have the most overlap for nonprofits and also often embody the least risk. We have also seen nonprofit adoption of hosted fundraising software and project management / collaboration software like Basecamp.

"Many factors are driving adoption of SaaS, including the benefits of rapid deployment and rapid ROI, less upfront capital investment, and a decreased reliance on limited implementation resources," said Sharon Mertz of Gartner. "Greater market competition and increased focus by the "megavendors" is reinforcing the legitimacy of on-demand solutions. Many enterprises are further encouraged by the fact that with SaaS, responsibility for continuous operation, backups, updates, and infrastructure maintenance shifts risk and resource requirements from internal IT to vendors or service providers."

Determine for which functions SaaS is most appropriate within your overall software strategy before you begin looking for a service provider. Learn more about cloud computing for your nonprofit or library on TechSoup's cloud page.

Resources

Read these articles to help you find the right balance for your organization.

• The Truth About Hosted Software Packages: How do you decide if hosted software is right for your nonprofit?
• Comparing Online vs. Traditional Office Software: Will desktop or online office software fit your nonprofit needs best?
• Who's Reading Your Google Docs?

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