Forrester Sees a Bright Decade for Cloud Computing

Forrester Research has unearthed more evidence that cloud computing, also known as software as a service, is rapidly gaining traction in new vertical business sectors.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based IT researcher said in a new report published March 13 that providers are now finding success selling SAAS subscription applications in Web conferencing, collaboration, and ITSM (IT service management).

SAAS's earliest sales successes -- beginning in 2003 -- were in CRM and HCM (human capital management) applications. Forrester also said that both of those applications continue to demonstrate high potential for growth in the enterprise.

All of these categories will experience significant SAAS success over the next decade,  Forrester said.

Despite the current recessionary economy, SAAS users, vendors and industry analysts at the OpSource SAAS Summit in San Francisco March 12 were cautious but optimistic.  For example, OpSource CEO Treb Ryan told eWEEK that his startup company -- which provides a complete Web operations suite for SAAS and Web companies -- is anticipating breaking into profitability for the first time in 2009, based on its good sales prospects.

eWEEK carried an article March 13 about another report -- this one from Strategy Analytics -- that charts SAAS's climb up the charts as a real-time networking tool and as cost-saving, recession-response measure.

The Forrester study evaluates the top 14 SAAS application technologies based on growth and greatest potential for success.

This is the latest in Forrester's TechRadar series -- a research methodology that aims to predict the success of a set of related technologies over the next decade.

"SAAS applications have advanced beyond early market applications in human resources and CRM to become a game changer in the enterprise software market," said Liz Herbert, senior analyst at Forrester Research, who coordinated the study.

"SAAS adoption continues to increase, and it is now relevant for a wide array of applications. This new research provides strategic direction to end users evaluating SAAS technologies and planning their next decade of investments."

The SAAS TechRadar evaluation is based on interviews with industry experts, vendors building or implementing SAAS application technologies, and enterprise customers and users of various SAAS technologies.