SaaS may be back but it still has the same problems as ASP

Software as a Service may be the new Application Service Provision, but it's still got some of the same problems. CIOs generally like to keep their operations in-house because they can keep an eye on them. If things go wrong, it's their fault but at least they've done all they can to prevent disaster.

So out-sourcing those capabilities is always something CIOs think twice about. It's one of the reasons ASPs floundered - the services provided weren't reliable enough. But SaaS promises far greater reliability - technology has moved on, as has the Internet, and reliability and speed are far easier to accomplish at an acceptable price.

That promise is for nothing if providers can't actually provide that reliability, of course. So it has to be a blow to the whole idea of SaaS that one of the icons of the movement, Salesforce, managed to crash for four hours yesterday. Four hours without a CRM: any CIO who suffered that outage internally would probably be for the chop. With the current backlash against outsourcing in full swing, SaaS might just have suffered a killer blow.