Evolving dynamics of SaaS: Changing the future

Whilst data volumes continue to surge, the capability of human operators using manual processes have plateaued. This has led to a need for storage technology that automates many of these processes and allows teams to focus on outcomes.

We spoke to Matthew Oostveen, Vice President & CTO, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage,
to understand challenges, Security and AI developments.

The Post COVID SaaS trends

COVID-19 represents one of the most significant business disruptions for decades. Although a move to remote work was already in progress, the pandemic pushed that with rapid speed, forcing it on many businesses that were not ready. It would be easy to simplify it by saying that technology has enabled businesses to carry on working during the outbreak. But digging deeper into what exactly has been the key to allowing people to work from home and keep business-critical services going, there is one constant: SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) which is an element in cloud computing. Cloud expenditure is getting a lift because emerging technologies such as edge computing, virtualization, and containerization are becoming more mainstream. However, according to Gartner, SaaS remains the largest market segment and is forecast to reach $122.6 billion in 2021.

The advantages of SaaS typically involve lower upfront costs, quick configuration, scalability, and total ease of use. And that's why I believe SaaS is expanding rapidly. A few trends are driving the cloud to make both business and everyday life even faster, easier, better, and more affordable. AI is one of the most dominant tools influencing SaaS, and software developers are increasingly integrating it into every aspect of life. Also, we have seen a rise in technologies like VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and desktop as a service. Now that we've emerged from the fog of the pandemic, a lot of this is sticky and we're not seeing organizations returning to the way that they were working in the past. Hence, we have seen a big cyclic jump in the middle of last year towards these technologies.

We have however also seen companies repatriating some of the workloads that they were hosting in the public cloud. But this is not an indication of companies going back to pre-pandemic practices but rather taking advantage of new hybrid cloud models or discovering improved ways to balance on-premises workloads with public cloud services.

The future of SaaS in cloud computing

In the last few years, there has been a significant rise in subscription-based software, and there are indications that SaaS will only continue to grow. Since countries around the world went into ‘lockdown’, changing workforces from the office to remote, cloud-based software has become vital for all businesses with teams working remotely, ensuring convenience, collaboration, and business continuity. Whether your business is already dependent on the use of cloud-based SaaS applications, or you’re considering implementation, it is important to assess the risk and benefits to your business. SaaS is not only widely accessible but also now part of fundamental, day-to-day operations for many businesses.

Cloud computing has a big future because it's still changing and it's becoming more customized. We're now having conversations that have evolved beyond the public cloud. In the future, we will have discussions around the distributed cloud. This is where an end-user organization now can better tailor-make a cloud delivery model to their business. The future of cloud computing is to take on this new hybrid model, where there is an inclusion of technologies that you can touch and see, storage and servers that sit on the edge but are also delivered seamlessly. So, there's a unification between the edge and core. That's the future of the cloud.

Micro-SaaS and its benefits

Micro-Saas is an interesting technology for companies who are looking to offer solutions to a limited target audience. Micro-SaaS is useful to businesses as it focuses on solving a problem in a niche market, using minimum resources. There is no need for huge budgets and investments. The most important distinguishing factor, and why micro SaaS is a useful concept is because micro-SaaS solves a specific problem for a specific group.

The challenges

There are some well-known limitations with SaaS models and these include interoperability, limited customization and data exchange challenges. Pure offers a Storage-as-a-Service solution which we call Pure as-a-Service that a customer can operate on-premises, in the cloud or across hybrid clouds and which they scale up or down the storage they require without long-term commitments. We encourage our customers to weigh the pros and cons of anything-as-a-service models to their specific needs before they decide on which way to go.

Why go for SaaS?

Users are constantly asking themselves the question; should I buy or build a particular solution? The utilisation of SaaS is a great option for users that have decided there is no competitive or strategic advantage in building their own solution. Instead, they can opt to use solutions available off-the-shelf, and use the time and money they’ve saved to invest back into a strategically important technology.

Matthew Oostveen, Vice President & CTO, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage

Security is the prime concern

Security has always been a top concern for enterprises. We have however witnessed a rise in ransomware attacks during the pandemic as accelerated cloud computing, a remote workforce, and dynamic network access created more attack paths for threat actors. Companies are taking security more seriously than ever, as evidenced by the subject now getting CEO and board-level visibility.

How is AI reshaping storage technologies?

AI systems love data. There is a proven link between the size of a dataset and the effectiveness of an algorithm. This fact is so important that we know that a less sophisticated algorithm with a large dataset will outperform a more sophisticated algorithm with a smaller dataset. In recognition of this, we have also implemented AIOps into Pure1®, the management platform for all Pure solutions. Pure1 uses AI to provide full-stack monitoring with predictive analysis and support. Pure1 provides a simple single view for you to monitor, analyze, and optimize your storage from anywhere in the world. It also helps you see into the future by predicting requirements based on the workloads you’re currently running.

Pure will continue to build AI into our solutions to help simplify data management, even as data continues to grow exponentially. For us, it’s all about reliability, availability, and scalability. And making things easier for our customers.

Impact of hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud is deeply significant for users as it helps rebalance power from the cloud provider back to the customer. With hybrid cloud, customers are taking back control of their applications and data, and making critical decisions on where they should be located based on what matters most to the business; cost, application performance, security, governance and latency.