Although it has been labeled as a disruptive emerging technology since 1999, recent articles and studies underscore that a Software as a Service (SaaS) has earned its proven track record as an established force between the lines.

McKinsey’s Delivering software as a service cites the lower barrier to entry and economic advantages to both vendor and customer: “since software as a service delivers fees over time rather than large up-front license purchases” and “reality of ongoing relationships with customers rather than periodic upgrades.” They also put SaaS on their list of Eight business technology trends to watch.

Phil Wainewright’s blog posting Eight reasons SaaS will surge in 2008 points out that software is all about services now that the Internet provides the proven network that services oriented architecture (SOA) has promised all along.

Even Wall Street is bullish on SaaS in an uncertain economy as Fortune’s story titled Tech stocks for tough times proclaims.

So why SaaS now? Why talent management now?

Because a talent management solution delivered on demand as a service provides four levels of winning for everyone involved in organizations of all sizes regardless of the economic climate.

Users Win
You may wonder what the new Datamonitor report called Decision Matrix: Selecting a CRM Vendor in the Pharmaceutical Industry discussing the rapidly growing trend towards on demand CRM has to do with talent management. It’s another validation of the superior user experience offered by SaaS that’s similar to any other web experience: "End users of such products are more satisfied with customer support and services provided by SaaS vendors rather than by traditional vendors," Datamonitor stated.

IT Wins
On demand solutions require no software license purchase or costly maintenance. Secure, configurable, best practice processes run on the Internet. Users access the system on a web browser—anytime, anywhere—without creating a hassle for IT. THINK IT lists the Top Ten Reasons Why On-Demand Services Will Soar in 2008 and describes the advantage to corporate IT departments: “Now, a growing proportion of IT people see managed services and SaaS as a way to out-task mundane work or overcome complex application/technology deployment and maintenance responsibilities.”

HR Wins
With SaaS delivery, HR becomes the strategic enabler of talent processes for managers and employees. Innovative technologies empower business-centric talent management that can drive a new level of business value: Performance 2.0: Empowering the Next Level of Business Results.

The Planet Wins
SaaS is green and eRecruiting delivered on demand is much greener than traditional paper processes or on-premise solutions that create redundant computing environments:
“Software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications running in a multi-tenant environment…tend to be greener than on-premise software and servers. Multi-tenancy delivers more efficient power utilization per customer resulting in a smaller carbon footprint…helping reduce carbon emissions instead of powering more servers.”