Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Computer science is still a relatively young body of knowledge, strongly linked to technology and therefore to the market. This explains why its historical development has followed complex and hardly predictable paths, including strongly emphasized topics soon forgotten (the network computer, just to mention one); promises never realized (fully automatic generation of software); and brilliant concepts that remained almost unknown for many years (object orientation). As it is commonly said, in computer science it is not easy to distinguish the hyper from the hype.

Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) have captured plenty of industry and press attention, but they have also created an equal share of confusion and even controversy. While there are solid reasons to be cautious about how to approach these rapidly evolving Web-based alternatives, there is also growing evidence that they are no passing fad. Instead, cloud computing and SaaS represent a fundamental shift in the way technology and business applications will be packaged, priced, delivered, and utilized going forward.

In this issue of CBR, we bring our mixed academic/practitioner approach to benchmarking to the domain of software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing. These are just two instantiations of a long-time move toward making the ability for a firm to acquire computing resources as a service, as needed, a reality.

This survey investigated software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing. Sixty-five percent of the 68 respondents who completed both parts of the survey are with organizations headquartered or based in North America; 21% are headquartered or based in Asia/Australia/Pacific; 12% in Europe; and the remainder in the Middle East and Africa.