When software licenses shift from Server based software to SaaS, what organizational changes should be promoted?
Sort by:
When shifting to SaaS, it is imperative that the contract address the concerns of your internal customers. Items like the service level agreement, recovery point objective and recovery time objective, response times etc. If the now SaaS software is operational and critical to your business, you must include Disaster Recovery testing as well as SOC2 compliance from your SaaS provider.
One should also consider where the SaaS is hosted and the availability and throughput of access to the SaaS instance.
Is your data mingled with other customers or is your SaaS instance unique to you? What safeguards are in place for your data?
What is the SaaS providers normal response to a data breach?
Security. That’s the first thing to promote in the organization. Everyone should clearly understand the repercussions.
I agree. No security, no business.
Additionally, internal cost management and chargeback. Often server-based software is purchased and then maintenance renewed at something like 20% annually. Licensing may also be by instance or server sizes rather than usage or number of users. SaaS (and much of cloud) is paid by subscription, so the more that it is used the more is charged. Internal customers who are used to server-based internal chargeback or cost recovery can get sticker shock if they aren't prepared for subscription-based charges in out years.