ITM501 MOD 4 Cases Assign Mangement Information System Essay

ITM501 MOD 4 Cases Assign Mangement Information System - Essay Example With the advent of technology as uprising of modern techniques, it is believed that the notion of â€Å"software as a service† will dominate the next few years of software business (Wainewright, 2011). SaaS has the ability to draw a new canvas of business. However, from the perspective of a business, the IT infrastructure needs to be advanced so as to support its functions (Guptill, 2012). This study intends to lay emphasis on the significance of â€Å"software as a service† in the present days and will try to establish how this concept is going to dominate the next several years in information management. Discussion The notion of SaaS has been into the limelight over a considerable number of years now and its origin dates back to the early 1960s. However, the initial concept was limited to time sharing and common data base storage. During this epoch, IBM along with other mainframe service providers, carried out a service bureau business which is often termed as a time sharing business. The services provided by these companies were however limited to large organizations and financial institutions. Theorists believes that in the coming years, most business software or solution packages will be delivered via the mechanism of SaaS. In addition, scholars also believe that the notion of SaaS will be elongated by the next big thing in IT, which is ‘Utility computing’. The ‘utility computing’ is a concept in which IT will be more accessible for common man and will act just as other necessary stuffs of the daily life such as electricity and telephone. Likewise, electricity and telephone bills, people in the near future may have to pay IT bills. ‘SaaS’ is also sometime referred to as on-demand software" provided by the Application-Service-Providers (ASPs). The mechanism is simple as software packages are delivered to the customers which are centrally hosted in the cloud. It has become one of the most common of softwar e delivery forms. For example, solution packages such as management software, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing software, management information systems (MIS), and service desk management software to name a few can be delivered via this distribution mechanism. This is the reason why it has been observed that a number of companies have already incorporated this strategy as a part of their business strategy. These evidences clearly suggest that â€Å"SaaS† is the future of information management (Wainewright, 2011). There are several advantages of â€Å"software as a service†. The cost gets reduced to a great extent for everyone who is involved in the process. From the point of view of a customer, they do not have to pay incur large upfront cost for gaining the access to that particular software; on the contrary they can avail renting option and can pay on a monthly basis. For example, if a customer need access to one o f the word processing software. If he or she wants to buy it, the cost to be incurred is around $300. On the contrary, if the customer rents it, the cist will be merely $10 a month. Thus, the pressure on customers gets reduces to a great extent and the opportunity to access increases simultaneously. In the similar way, the software vendors also get highly benefitted for pursuing the â€Å"software as a service† strategy. The software vendors