Whenever I hear the discussion of speed in the use of a SaaS technology or 'cloud-computing' I get the same gut reaction of hearing someone say, 'how hard is it?'

Just like a person's reference of how difficult a task is can vary so greatly, so can the impression of speed when talking about a responsive Internet connection or use of web-based applications in general.

When I am asked about the 'speed' of the SaaS environment we offer there are so many benefits in relation to speed it is difficult to know where to start.

Anyone considering the route of SaaS solutions may be intrigued by the 'speed' to adopt a solution and be operational. With no need to purchase equipment, configure those components into an existing network infrastructure, or installation of a new application. The 'speed' to adopt is by far superior to any on premises implementation.

Then there is the 'speed' of upgrades to the application. Many SaaS applications upgrade without the user recognizing. A popular web meeting program will simply notify you the next time you login that a new version has been updated and you need to perhaps upgrade a few Active-X controls. Our offering goes even farther to schedule upgrades with each individual user allowing for a scheduled upgrade that does not conflict with any business processes and the 'speed' benefit comes from having that third party handle all the arrangements from pre-tasks, process of upgrade, and post tasks to verify everything runs smoothly.

The last one I will mention is the most common interpretation of 'speed'; what the end user experiences when connecting to the web site to obtain access to their SaaS application. Of course there are a plethora of components that can affect this 'speed' both positively and negatively. There are the considerations of what is bandwidth available to the user logging in, but this is also going to be experienced if that user is attempting to remote into their work pc from home or on the road through some sort of a VPN connection such as Citrix or Terminal Services, and who’s to say connection to their local file server is degraded due to some other activities occurring on the corporate environment.

 Also is the available bandwidth through the SaaS provider to their service. This concern is legitimate considering all the host review applications that are out there. However if you are receiving your review software through a true SaaS provider, the network implementation is typically far superior than the average hosting server in the same server room as everything else within a business. Why? It's simple, that is the competitive advantage and core purpose for SaaS providers to offer the most reliable and efficient access. It is unlikely that the IT staff that has all the concerns of any other corporate IT department will put in the same level of technology or scrutiny to host a review application in-house than a SaaS provider implements in their services.