IIP-SaaS
New ICT networks and services are changing our lives and society. We can connect with old and new friends and use their collective intelligence with just a few clicks. Google can see the development of a new flu epidemic two weeks earlier than the Centre for Disease Control, even with their vast network of doctors around the USA. Individuals can earn money by offering services online and large and small companies can develop and operate new channels for cooperation.
All this is made possible by a new way of combining and using pieces of different software systems. This is what we call Software as a Service, abbreviated as SaaS.
SaaS has a lot of potential for the future. The goal of this Strategic Research Agenda is to state which research questions and themes need to be addressed in order to take advantages of the (economic) potential SaaS offers to society with a focus on the Netherlands. This is the main reason the Software as a Service (IIP-SaaS) ICT Innovation Platform was established.
Our definition of SaaS is:
SaaS refers to a service delivery model in which remote componentised (business) services are accessible through a software interface and can be combined to create new (business) services delivered via flexible networks.
In this definition, several aspects are important:
• The components of the digital services can easily be combined in networks of nodes delivering services to each other
• By combining service components in novel ways, it is possible to create new value-added services and new business models.
• The ICT infrastructure needed for these digital services also enables the delivery of business services.
By definition, SaaS is neither focused exclusively on software nor exclusively on business services, but rather on the intertwining of services and software. Figuratively, this can be envisioned by imagining the software and service entwined like the structure of the double helix of DNA. The strands are held together by the main views on SaaS: business, technology, migration and operation. As shown in the diagram.
Economic importance
70% of our economy consists of services. For a long time, in services we have seen the productivity paradox of ICT. Even though we can clearly see the positive effects of the use of ICT in services companies, the effect is much harder to see on a macro-economic level (Van Ark et al., 2006) . Much of the evidence of these positive effects is exemplary and not consistent throughout sectors.
The reason for this discrepancy between the micro-economic and macro-economic level is that the use of ICT is often a disruptive innovation that requires the development of new business models, changes in products and services, changes in the delivery processes and in the value networks that produce the services. ICT in itself leads to little productivity gain; ICT in combination with the re-engineering of all aspects leads to a potentially huge gain in productivity.
Successful examples of this type of innovation like Amazon.com have turned industries upside down and forced everyone in the business to redesign their processes and services (Weeda et al., 2006) . These changes do not just affect the company but rather they affect the entire sector, from producers to delivery to the final customers. As such, SaaS is a potential disruptive technology where the interaction between technology, business models and the skills of people is paramount.
It is therefore important to focus the stimulation of SaaS not just on the development and implementation of the technology but on the combination with new business models within a sector and even between different sectors. The challenge here is to create innovation in the whole ecosystem of companies that are dependent on each other and have to move together in order to capitalise the potential productivity gains (Pilat, 2006) .
Societal importance
Not only is it important for businesses to take advantage of SaaS, government and non-profit organizations can also profit from using SaaS. Communicating with and informing citizens can get easier and more personalised information and services can be deployed. Hospitals are already actively involved in creating and testing services for people that are receiving care in their own home, for example. Electronic patient files are being developed in several countries in Europe. How can we use these files in the best possible way?
The Netherlands
The Netherlands has a strong tradition in trade, an excellent software sector and is one of the leading countries when it comes to developing services. Moreover, it has an excellent digital infrastructure and the vast majority of people and businesses is online. SaaS thus offers many opportunities for the Netherlands in the coming years. In order to take full advantage of this developing economic field of networked services the Netherlands needs to:
• Develop open testbeds or living labs that make the development of new services easier, especially the building and testing of these services in cooperation between different companies. In these testbeds or living labs, newly combined services can be tested in environments that simulate the real world.
• Create an infrastructure or community of people that knows how to build new business services on top of existing services and knows how to cooperate, thereby leveraging what exists. Especially in the Netherlands where services constitute more than 70% of our economy this will lead to a leap in productivity.
The Netherlands, an innovation and services-oriented country, should become a leader in this development, in order to maintain a leading position in services and trade. Therefore, investments are required for new, mainly digital services. This is not only desirable from an economic perspective, but the development of improved digital services is also necessary to cope with bottlenecks in social fields, including health care. Due to the networked complexity of SaaS, a stimulating role of government is needed to bring the parties together.
Research needed
The examples above give an idea of what SaaS can do. Actually, some of the examples, in a different context or form, are already on the web. Technically a lot can be done, while on the other hand, many of the potential advantages are not being used because of current organizational structures and market positions. We will focus in this SRA on four major themes that bring together technological and organizational aspects:
- Business Services Innovation: analysis and design of services from a business perspective
- Software Services Evolution: the software technology needed to execute these services
- Services Transition: the transition from classical software applications to service-based applications
- Services Governance and Operations: the operational aspects of keeping services available
SaaS is very much multidisciplinary in nature: aspects like software quality, business modelling, security, architecture, legal issues and many other areas have to be looked at to make innovation in real life possible. Research is needed into these various aspects and how they influence each other.
A new discipline: service engineering
Advancement in information technology allows (business) services to be produced and delivered in completely new ways. This movement leads to a whole new playing field worldwide in the delivery of services in digital form. Since the digital delivery of services is no longer dependent on time and place, it will lead to a further restructuring of services, which may be called Services Engineering. Services Engineering will bring together people from technological, organizational and human behavioural fields in the same way as has happened with logistics in the past. This field will consist of professional networks (guilds) as well as academic networks in close cooperation.
Our goal(s)
IIP-SaaS is determined to create projects together with businesses, science and government to advance capabilities in this field in the Netherlands. These efforts will lead to a business ecosystem, a testbed and a network of professionals that will help us improve productivity in services and make us more competitive as a country.
