Software + Services Making Sense

I've never dived into the details of our Software + Services strategy, lazily assuming it's just another name for Software as a Service (SaaS), SOA, etc. But during a recent brown bag lunch I finally understood that Software + Services vision is a different thing from e.g. SaaS. Where SaaS see software as something virtualized that is accessed over Internet as a service, Software + Services see software as an essential component in and as a complement to the services delivered over Internet.

Software + Services is a combination of several technology trends; one way to view it is as platform for delivering functionality similar to SaaS using SOA and a Web 2.0 experience to a multitude of different types of devices (e.g., laptop and phone).

There is no contradiction between a thicker client and a service in the cloud. Both have specific usages, e.g. depending on your level of interaction with the data response times for modelling can be different if your are using a local client to the remote data or if you model them through a remote tool.

Assume a company offers an application as a service in the cloud which fulfills your need when you're in the office. But what do you do during a customer presentation when you don't have a network present? Do you scribble down notes by hand and later add them to the online tool? Wouldn't it be much easier if you had an offline client which could handle this case for you? Such a client would be an example of the Software in Software + Service. The services are available in the cloud, but it doesn't mean that you always work with them directly in the cloud. Synchronizing data and temporary working with them in a local application makes sense to me.

I'm sure we will hear much more about this in the future!