SAP, Microsoft, Google, and Adobe have all recently announced new forays into the on demand application space where software as a service rules. Notably absent is Oracle, but that’s no joke and also our punch line.

Software-as-a-Service and Web 2.0 advantages are well known. Lower costs, greater flexibility, and higher user adoption are just a few of the benefits to organizations of all sizes from Fortune 100 leaders to growing businesses.

Two articles caught our eye on the topic. Forrester Says 'Design for People, Build for Change' describes four important design factors that SaaS and Web 2.0 applications are uniquely positioned to deliver:

1. Business processes adapt to changing business conditions.
2. Applications evolve continuously while preserving process integrity.
3. Processes, tasks and the associated information always maintain context.
4. Systems are unitary, information-rich and reflect the social needs of the business.

3 Guiding Principles to Technology Acceptance outlines the keys to manager and employee user adoption in an interview with Bob Otto, the former CIO and CTO of the USPS:

I have three guiding principles—principles I've used since I was young. First, standardize everything. If you find a process you like, standardize it. Second, centralize everything you can. If you have services in five different places and you can centralize them, you will have reliability, predictability. Third, simplify. The computer has taken over your life, so I want it to be intuitive.

At Taleo, we’ve seen the advantages that Web 2.0 technologies offer and incorporated them into our continuously evolving recruiting and performance management SaaS applications to make them more personalized, intuitive, and socially and contextually connected. Why? Because our customers benefit by being able to drive a higher level of business performance at less cost.

Now let’s look at the other side. Information Week reported that when queried on Oracle’s SaaS strategy, Larry Ellison provided our punch line:

Larry Ellison told financial analysts in a quarterly earnings call yesterday that Oracle hasn't participated in the software-as-a-service trend because there's no money to be made there.

In the same article, Mary Hayes Weier delivers the bottom line:

“If a traditional software vendor tries to convince you that SaaS is no good for your specific need, don't take it as gospel. Do the research and find out if what you want really does need to be on premise. After all, it's your money.”