Dedicated SaaS or how to start “selling soup”

In 2010, after reading the article about the problems and shortcomings of SaaS in Habré, I, along with its author, asked myself the same questions: “Why doesn’t anyone sell borscht?” And how to get away from the shortcomings inherent in modern SaaS solutions?

I am convinced that the solution to all the problems identified is the provision of services in the Dedicated SaaS model. What does the term “Dedicated SaaS” mean, and how does this approach deal with the problems of traditional SaaS solutions?
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Now, three years later, such problems as dependence on the Internet channel and a relatively low speed for most organizations are gradually ceasing to be a barrier to the provision of cloud services — communication channels are expanding, technical shortcomings are becoming a thing of the past. The real reason for not using SaaS services is other problems typical for this model.

Among these problems, I highlight the main ones:

• Low customizability

SaaS solutions hopelessly lag behind in the part of fine-tuning for the client from the traditional applications installed at the customer.

• The complexity of integrating SaaS applications with the rest of the company's infrastructure

This greatly increases the cost of IT, completely absorbing the savings from using software as a service.

• The threat of business continuity

In the event of a disaster affecting the SaaS data center provider, the probability of irretrievable loss of all data is high.

• Low functional scalability

As the company grows, business processes become more complex. To date, only a few SaaS solutions equally well satisfy all the needs of both small businesses and large customers. In most cases, the organization has to change as the SaaS provider changes along with the platform for a higher level solution.

All of these problems are caused by such an element of the SaaS service architecture as Multitenancy (multi-organizational or multi-tenancy). Such an architecture implies the use of a single application installation for a large number of customer organizations. Another suitable term for this model is “Shared SaaS”. The opposite of Shared SaaS is Dedicated SaaS (a separate installation for each customer). The same application can be architecturally provided in both Shared and Dedicated mode. Why do SaaS try to firmly associate with the multi-organizational model?

Shared SaaS provides significant benefits for the provider. Allows you to save on computing resources, RAM and disk space consumed by an instance of the application. Compared with a large number of installations such savings are significant. Reduced costs for licensing the operating system and database. Simplified update procedure for new versions and deployment of intermediate releases. Therefore, the vast majority of SaaS providers are actively promoting the idea that Multitenancy or multi-organization is a necessary component of the software-as-a-service model. But is this true, and are there any positive moments for the client from the neighborhood with other companies on one copy of the information system?

Such positive arguments in favor of SaaS such as high speed of deployment, no need to install clients on workstations (and as a result - multiplatform), reduced service costs and predictability of payments are not specific or a consequence of the organization of the service in Shared mode, which we will discuss below. But in terms of shortcomings, Shared SaaS is the cause of all the problems mentioned at the beginning, and also adds the following to them:

• Information security and data privacy threats.

Since users of Shared applications work with a common instance of the system, data isolation is carried out only at the level of the application itself. This means that errors in the system of differentiation of access rights can lead to the threat of information leakage to users of other organizations.

• The uncontrollability of procedures for updating system versions.

The next version of the application is deployed simultaneously for all customers. This can mean both significant delays with the rollback of new versions associated with the lengthy testing of the update common to all systems, and a relatively premature update for a particular customer to the new version.
Now we see the disadvantages of the Shared SaaS architecture. Do they leave when switching to the Dedicated SaaS model?

The Dedicated SaaS model completely eliminated all the characteristic flaws of modern SaaS solutions:

• The client can modify and tweak together with the provider the application for their own needs (while monitoring the compatibility of improvements with new versions), using for this purpose all the possibilities laid down in the information system platform.
• A dedicated installation makes it relatively easy to integrate the application with other systems that are also located in the leased cloud.
• Having your own copies of the application and databases allows you to set up a backup copy, both to a remote backup site and to the customer’s own site, without considerable effort.
• The transition to a new platform associated with business growth is greatly simplified.
• The presence of a server (or server complex) allocated for each installation guarantees maximum isolation of client data from other customers within one SaaS provider. This provides a high level of information security.
• The application is updated when there is a need for the client’s business.

Since we are talking about dedicated servers for each installation, does it follow from this that using the Dedicated SaaS model means higher costs for the provider and higher prices for customers?

Reducing the cost of the solution in the Shared SaaS model is provided by multi-organization, but there are other, often more effective, ways to reduce provider costs without using Multitenancy. The best indicators of reducing the costs of servicing a large number of users are shown by server virtualization systems. The technology leader in this direction is the company VMware. The introduction of VMware technologies allows not only to use server capacity more efficiently than in the Multitenancy mode, but also to provide automatic deployment of server complexes with pre-configured applications. In addition to reducing costs, the Dedicated SaaS provider allows the use of automated tools for deploying updates to a large number of client servers. In the end, the cost of Dedicated SaaS with the proper organization of the architecture of the service does not exceed similar costs for Shared SaaS, while retaining all the advantages: speed of implementation, and high speed of deployment, and relatively low cost solutions with a monthly fee for real consumption.

A definite plus of the concept of Dedicated SaaS is the simplification of life for software developers. In order to start providing your software product in the SaaS model, you no longer need to modify your application to support the Multitenancy mode, nor rewrite the thick client under the web interface (considering the application delivery tools developed today). And if you also use a ready-made platform for publishing Dedicated SaaS solutions, such as, for example, www.1cloud.ru, then the need for organizing a cloud environment, developing the functionality of billing consumption and collecting money from users will also be eliminated . The only question remains the development of a mechanism for activating a new type of license, called SPLA.

In conclusion, we can say that with a well-constructed cloud environment that takes into account the nuances discussed above, we get an effective tool to increase the competitiveness of software products for developers and a flexible integrated solution for business.