Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

Why in news?

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have released a study titled “India: The next global SaaS capital”.

What is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)?

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a software licensing model in which access to the software is provided on a subscription basis with the software being located on external servers rather than on servers located in-house.
• SaaS allows each user to access programs via the Internet, instead of having to install the software on the user’s computer.
• SaaS has many business applications, including file sharing, email, calendars, customer retention management and human resources.

How does software as a service work?

• SaaS works through the cloud delivery model.
• A software provider will either host the application and related data using its own servers, databases, networking and computing resources, or it may be an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) that contracts a cloud provider to host the application in the provider's data center.
• The application will be accessible to any device with a network connection.
• SaaS applications are typically accessed via web browsers.
• As a result, companies using SaaS applications are not tasked with the setup and maintenance of the software.
• Users simply pay a subscription fee to gain access to the software, which is a ready-made solution.

What does the study say about the Indian SaaS market?

• India is poised to become the global Software as a Service (SaaS) capital over the next few years mainly driven by Small and Medium Businesses with a focus on large enterprises.
• The Indian SaaS market is expected to grow multi-fold by 2025 accounting for almost 7 to 10% of the global SaaS market from 2% to 4% at present.
• Compared to one in 2018, India now has 18 SaaS unicorns with the country being the third-largest SaaS ecosystem globally, after the USA and China.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Which of the following are the advantages of ‘Software as a Service (SaaS)’model?

1. The application can be accessible by a device even without a network connection

2. Companies using SaaS applications are not tasked with the setup and maintenance of the software.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer