
Ask HN: Does everything has to be as-a-service? - pedro1976
I get the feeling that every product has to be &quot;SaaS&quot;. I wonder if my ovservation is valid and customers expect it. I am aware of the advantages from a customer perspective. Are there still products that ship just an on-prem version and thrive or is the SaaS path somehow unavoidable these days? Thanks for your opinions
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billyhoffman
The answer is, of course, “it depends”, but let’s zoom out for a second.

No one buys software because they like software. People buy software because
it’s solving a problem. Ideally they are buying the software because it’s the
most cost effective way to solve the problem given their circumstances. (Just
telling a human to go solve a problem for you is often the easiest, but very
expensive way)

SaaS as a delivery model has advantages that either help make the solution
easier or more cost effective. These can make it a better value than other
types of software. For example:

\- there’s nothing to install because I access it through a web browser. So
getting started is easy

\- there are rarely hardware or software requirements so the Potential
audience isn’t limited

\- the “state” and data is Usually stored in the cloud, so you can use the
software from pretty much anywhere even changing machines and still have
access to your data.

To be clear there’s are advantages with on premise software as well (data
doesn’t leave the premises).

The question of what delivery model you should use needs to be entirely framed
with what is the problem your customer needs to solve and what is the most
cost effective and easy just way for them to solve it

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giantg2
I think many executives see cost savings in the SaaS model. Cutting headcount
and systems that need to be maintained in-house are a big plus.

Even if it's not the right approach, the points above do make it unavoidable
in some organizations, mostly bigger non-tech companies. You can also see this
with role combinations, increased developer responsibilities, and reduction in
formal training. At least this is what I've seen in my company.

