The growing demand for cloud solutions has expanded past pure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings, with many customers focused on the application tier. Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are becoming a common area of focus, and many assume that this space in the market can be filled by simply installing software applications in an IaaS cloud. However, there are more challenges to address in delivering a true SaaS solution.

A key element of a SaaS solution is pricing. Customers expect to “pay by the drink,” meaning that the price should scale up and down based on usage. There are various usage metrics that can be applied, depending on the software, but common metrics include the number of users and the number of transactions processed by the software. To offer SaaS pricing, a technical model must be developed to allow the infrastructure supporting a system to scale based on demand. Without scalability, systems will be too expensive and/or will not adequately perform.

Another important characteristic of a SaaS solution is that software upgrades are built into the service. The responsibility for performing upgrades shifts from the customer to the service provider in a SaaS model. For the customer, this shift in responsibility correlates to price predictability. For the service provider, it is important that a regular upgrade schedule is planned and executed to ensure features are kept up to date and necessary platform changes are made as well.

One example of a SaaS solution that CGI is bringing to market is a learning management system. Working with our partner Meridian, we are implementing a SaaS learning management system for use by our clients. The Meridian Global Learning Management System provides employees, contractors and partners access to courseware, documents, data, instructors and other learning resources at anytime from their desktops or mobile devices. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is the first client to decide to leverage this solution, and other clients are expressing interest in how they can gain the benefits of a SaaS model for learning management without sacrificing functionality or security.

SaaS solutions present an exciting opportunity because as the customer base continues to grow, the price increases more slowly. As a leader in providing SaaS solutions, CGI is able to provide savings to clients as we leverage existing infrastructures and processes. Our new learning management system is one of many SaaS solutions that CGI is bringing to market as we evolve the model for how cloud systems are licensed and accessed by clients.