It was only a few years ago that the Software as a Service model was considered too slow, too expensive and too scary to represent a viable opportunity for the SME market. How times have changed!
The next step in extracting value from Saas solutions is in integrating various best of breed solutions together at a business level to provide an end-to-end, customised solution. Huge steps have been taken in this direction with amazing tools now available to connect the dots.
In an NZ sense I would say these solutions tend to be beyond the reach of an average SME – but as with the underlying applications, prices are only heading one way – down – and fast. In addition, most vendors are also making API’s available to allow easy connection to nominated partners and in many cases this will be sufficient for many small businesses.
Boomi is a big US player in this market – following is a recent article discussing some of their approaches to integration. It is a matter of time until we can deliver services of this nature at a price that makes sense for the average NZ business.
