An information and communication technology (ICT) is an all inclusive term for all information processing and communication activities. It covers digital technologies used in communication (protocols, equipment and media) as also techniques for information processing and storing (computing software, hardware and data storage). The term has been coined due to the amalgamating effect of information technology (IT) and telecom technology. In today’s business and economic spheres, all activities have been influenced by ICT in the form of quick and global access. The outcome is economic growth of the society.
Software-As-A-Service or SaaS has emerged to be a great ICT tool. In the Software-as-a-Service, the vendor supplies the hardware infrastructure, the software product and interacts through a front-end interface with the client. This model can help businesses to deliver new products and services quicker and at a lower cost. Investing in software as a service (SaaS) could help businesses operate with lower costs by providing back and front office business functions and help them grow in spite of the present global economic recession. The SaaS model has already becoming popular with many software companies and application providers offering databases, project management, CRM and human resource applications. Organizations opting for SaaS save due to less application expense and implementation costs. Users do not have to pay for hardware, installation and maintenance charges, software licensing charges and the cost of IT infrastructure in the form of expert human resource needed to administer systems. SaaS offers pay-as-you-use pricing that allows organizations to use cutting-edge technology without installing, upgrading, maintaining or securing those systems. SaaS is particularly beneficial to growing businesses in countries with underdeveloped infrastructure, stringent capital budgets and limited resources as SaaS services take care of all these constraints. Today, SaaS offers human resources, accounting, procurement, billing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales and marketing, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and business intelligence (BI) services. Leasing costs vary a great deal depending on the type of service. SaaS services usually have a lower total cost of ownership to start with, because they do not require large capital investment in software licenses or hardware support infrastructure. But later on, on-premises cost decreases as the capital assets depreciate while the SaaS operating cost remains constant. So growing or newly-launched businesses now have a choice of hosted services at their disposal, only to be accessed through a web browser and a secure internet connection.
SaaS has thus emerged as a formidable asset for the ICT sector services.
