Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions allow industrial companies to capture new value across the enterprise, maximizing collaboration, product innovation, and reducing total costs
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a product licensing, delivery, and management model that empowers software solution accessibility, scalability, collaboration, and security without consuming in-house IT resources – unlike traditional on-premises solutions. In many instances, SaaS also creates new capabilities and functionality to existing software.
SaaS has been around for nearly two decades, but more recently adoption has accelerated to become standard across all industries and most business functions. For example, SaaS represents over 80 percent of customer relationship management (CRM) and over 70 percent of human capital management (HCM) software solutions.
Where SaaS has not been prevalent, until recent years, is in manufacturing and industrial software. Programs like computer-aided design (CAD) and product lifecycle management (PLM), which are the backbone of product development, have been slow to make the transition to SaaS. This, however, is changing. We are seeing an inflection point in technology, attitudes, and availability toward manufacturing-focused SaaS solutions. In recognition of this shift, PTC has been making consistent efforts to become the leader in SaaS for industrial applications.
Licensing model: Customers pay to access the software on a subscription, often monthly or annually.
Deployment: The software is owned, delivered, and managed in the cloud and by a third-party.
Architecture: The software is uniquely designed to deliver new value through multi-tenancy and non-relational databases.
Choosing enterprise SaaS solutions yields both strategic and practical advantages. Here’s how we see them at PTC:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing that delivers computing resources over the internet. For many SaaS, IaaS is included in the subscription fee, so customers don't need to worry about the computer power, storage, and networking resources. Well-known IaaS vendors include Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
Platform as a Service (PaaS) takes IaaS one step further where a third-party vendor delivers not only the computer power, but also development tools, database management, and business analytics for customers. Essentially, it supports the web application lifecycle from build to test to deploy to scale. Well-known PaaS vendors include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce Platform, Google App Engine.
Everything as a Service (XaaS)—or sometimes anything-as-a-service—describes an overarching trend where services and applications can be accessed on the Internet. The type of "service" runs the gamut from artificial intelligence to database management, or a total package of cloud computing services. Many companies are using digital transformation to unlock new service opportunities that deliver more (and unique) value to customers.
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