What's New In SaaS And Cloud Computing

A number of companies have announced new products and tools to get smaller businesses onto the cloud. And those companies' leaders have a lot to say about how they're protecting businesses' data, why the resistant should make the leap onto the cloud, and what the future of SaaS and cloud computing holds.As 2008 winds down, bMighty has declared cloud computing is the biggest trend among small and midsize companies. And while plenty of smaller companies cite a general case of inertia as their main reason for not switching to the cloud, these new cloud and SaaS solutions might change their minds.

NTRGlobal. The folks at Barcelona-headquartered NTRGlobal are perplexed that smaller businesses have hesitations about cloud computing. "Switching isn't about return on investment; rather, it's a return on deployment," said Andrew Harsch, vice president of marketing.

And he and Andre Angel -- president of NTRglobal, Americas -- agree that the confusion about what the difference between cloud computing and SaaS is thus: There is no difference. "Cloud computing is a sexier name for SaaS and is easier to say, but it's the same principle," said Harsch. "All the power is driven off a server rather than directly on a computer."

Angel and Harsch agree that cloud computing is ideal for smaller companies that don't have as much capital, since it's a "pay as you go" model.

And they also acknowledge that while security is a real concern, "a lot of people have been educated by referrals, and people are more comfortable," said Angel. "We use an architecture that's end-to-end encrypted." Harsch reminded me that cloud computing can be a lot more secure than applications that reside on computers. "Laptops are lost every day, hard drives crash, and statistics prove that companies don't properly back up data," he said.

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Boomi. Bob Moul, president and CEO of Berwyn, Pa.-based Boomi, said that when his company launched about nine years ago, its roots were in the small- and midsize-business tier. Those companies couldn't afford enterprise solutions, so the Boomi platform was built to be SMB-friendly. And now the mantra of Boomi is to make integration available to the masses -- earning it a bMighty Innovation award.

Last month, Boomi launched AtomSphere, a Platform-as-a-Service solution that allows independent software vendors or provide integration with SaaS vendors. And early next year Boomi plans to release integration widgets, which are intelligent wizards that will let nontechnical users connect to applications without writing code or mapping -- they will be menu-driven.

"Our pricing model is to charge by the connection," said Moul. "Each application that is being integrated is counting as a connection. A company pays a monthly fee, from $65 to $495 per month."

In addition to integration, Moul recognizes that smaller businesses are also concerned about security. "Everyone points to stories such as Salesforce.com for proof of SaaS success. And now there's SaaS certification, which gives people added comfort," he said.

Cemaphore Systems. San Mateo, Calif.-based Cemaphore recently launched MailShadowX for Exchange Online and MailShadowG for Google Apps. MailShadow synchronizes e-mail, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes between internal Microsoft Exchange servers and Microsoft Exchange Online Service as well as Google's Gmail.

In an interview with Tyrone Pike, president and CEO of 41-employee Cemaphore, we discussed the concern among smaller companies about the security of their data. "It's a very topical subject," Pike said. He's convinced that as more and more businesses make the leap, others will be reassured of the security.

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Clarizen. Mountain View, Calif.-based Clarizen has a host of new announcements, including integrating with Autodesk's AutoCAD, extending project management to Microsoft Outlook, and offering project management and CAD integration for design and engineering.

"While companies promote project management, they don't use tools. They think it's too hard, it slows people down, it's a project to use a project management tool," said Avinoam Nowogrodski, co-founder and CEO of Clarizen, while adding that his company enables teams to plan and execute projects "with very little effort."

Nowogrodski agrees that security is one of the main challenges of SaaS, "but it's getting to be less and less of a challenge, because there have been so many success factors." And he's assured that companies will come on board in the next couple of years "once they see how secure it is."