Saas, software as a service, is the ability to use/rent software on an as-needed basis through the internet. Ironically CPA’s who engage in audit and attest services use SAS, Statements on Audit Standards, every day. I would love to be able to tell you that their functions are alike based on the pronunciation being the same, however their purpose is a world apart. Before I get started on my Saas rant, I would like to pull a definition from my trusty wiki to have a common understanding of the acronym. Software as a Service is a model of software deployment whereby a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand. In laymen’s terms you need no costly infrastructure to run software. You simply activate the service, and use it as you need it. The “other guys” have created the software, built the infrastructure, applied the security, ensured the backup, completed the updates, tested and retested the processes; leaving me with what I know how to do best, make money. The subscription is user based, so if you are a one man shop, you pay for one license. This environment is perfect for the small accounting firm that does not want to pour major cash into servers, server racks, cooling systems, backup drives, battery backups etc. One issue that older partners are obsessed with is, data integrity. Data integrity is a thing of the past in my mind. These guys have their data centers backed up, imaged, saved from here all the way to Moscow. My point is, I would feel safer with my critical data at one of these data centers rather in the back of my civic.
