Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as software on demand, is a new paradigm which redefines the delivery of software products and its usage. Traditionally, software products were bought by the customers and were installed on their desktops or in their enterprise. This model has some inherent drawbacks for both the user as well as the product companies.

Drawbacks for User:

• The user has to pay for the whole product even if he is interested in using very few features or uses the product sparingly
• Has to constantly upgrade his installation whenever a new patch or release is made; sometimes it amounts to upgrading the OS because of backward compatibility issues
• Gets stuck with the same vendor, even if the user is not satisfied with the product or the support since the user has already paid for the license

Drawbacks for Product Company:

• Releasing a new version or patch means releasing multiple versions of the product, different supported platforms, which increases the release time and production cost
• Distribution of the releases and patches adds to unnecessary cost
• Differential pricing is not possible because of which the product company is unable to tap all types of consumer. A user who uses the product sparingly and the user who uses it extensively both have to pay the same price
• Since the product is installed at the user site, increased support calls because of installation or configuration issues
• Recreating the user scenario for a bug encountered by the user in the test lab is often difficult

SaaS gives the ability for product companies to release their products as a service. The product is hosted by the product company in his control which the users can access through the desktops remotely.

The user can use the service in a subscription mode or usage mode. In the subscription mode the user can make one time payment for a stipulated amount of time. The user can subscribe to a service in different membership models e.g. platinum, gold, silver etc. In the usage mode the user is charged based on his usage. For e.g. it can be based on the services or features the user accesses, time for which the service is used etc.

Since the product is deployed with the product company, they have total control over the installation, configuration and upgrades. The new versions can be made accessible in a short time frame. Testing is also easy as simulating bugs is facilitated as the product is installed with the product company and therefore logs, errors, test data resides with the client.

Wipro's SaaS Enabler IP
Wipro’s SaaS Enabler IP gives the necessary software infrastructure to make any web based, web service or WAP-based product into a SaaS. In future releases, non-web based, non-web service as well as non-WAP-based products will also be supported.

The SaaS Enabler in its current state allows HTTP-based products to be SaaS enabled without a single line of integration code. A web, web service or WAP-based product can be integrated seamlessly just by configuring through the admin interface provided with the enabler.

The SaaS Enabler is a highly scalable and robust framework providing the following functionality:

• Seamless integration with web, web service and WAP enabled products
• License management
• Differential pricing
• Payment charging
• Personalization at user and consumer level
• User provisioning
• Secure transactions
• Helpdesk for 24x7 online support
• Administration module