Among the numerous predictions that were made about technologies that would be hugely popular, cloud computing and SaaS found place in the top five on many lists. Cloud computing is beginning to pick pace among vendors and enterprises alike, irrespective of their size and scale of operations. In a brief interaction with Shreekanth Joshi, associate vice president and practice head for SaaS and Cloud, Persistent Systems, Biztech2.com gets a quick perspective on the dynamics linking the cloud to CIOs.

Cloud, SaaS and PaaS, what next?

India is still to see a wider adoption of these concepts. Market studies show this segment is growing and is estimated to reach a worth of $200 million and beyond. Getting acquainted with infrastructure is one of the main inhibitors for adoption of the cloud and related concepts.

There has been a survey that indicates that Indian enterprises are not very gung-ho about cloud computing. What could be the reason behind this?

In my opinion, CIOs yet need to get better acquainted with the concept. Elements such as specific business value, lock-down pricing option and clarity on total cost of ownership can give a fillip to cloud computing. Talking about India in particular, there are bandwidth issues; the business impact has to be looked at; and all players have to contribute to augment its adoption.

What trends do you see emerging in the SaaS space?

Globally, SaaS has just moved beyond the early adoption stage. In India, it is now being adopted across verticals. PaaS will take at least two to three years of runway time before it actually becomes widespread and this will depend on the SLA and the pricing model. On the infrastructure front, the market is maturing more quickly, though that is also in a pricing flux right now. The cloud will take at least another three to five years to mature and be adopted by CIOs, while SaaS is leading the market right now.

What are the key drivers for making SaaS a success?

The model of SaaS is going to invert. The key here is to reduce upfront costing, providing a feasible delivery model and leveraging a wide range of offerings without multiple sourcing. Basically, the offering should be a one-stop-shop. The business model adopted by a company will determine how technology is implemented within the organisation. That is where SaaS comes into the picture. It is a different method of deploying technology. At the end, justice has to be done to the business model.