The SaaS Debate and the Business 2.0 wave

In recent weeks and months there has been an element of debate on AccountingWEB and various blog sites around the SaaS topic.  Several of the players from traditional software vendors like Sage or Pegasus have weighed in, as well as contributing editors from the site itself, and don't forget some of us from the accounting and business community at large.  Over on AccMan Pro, Dennis Howlett is taking it further with a series of pieces on "The Nightmare Scenario" of how this is part of several disruptions collectively called Business 2.0 (which is what this site's all about!) and how it, with Web 2.0, will change the business world that our kids are growing up to join.  If you've got teenage kids, they need to know about this, but maybe they are ahead of you and are already thinking of ideas like Alex Tew's  Million Dollar Home Page that has been so much in the International press in the last week. 

AccountingWEB, to their credit, have come up with the excellent idea of setting up an Oxford Union style debate around the SaaS topic.  It's a great idea, and in the context of what normally happens around these kinds of discussions, it's different!

On a site called Cluetrain, there are some fine words that relate to the topic:

"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies."

They also have a manifesto with 95 theses.  It's worth some of your time to trigger some ideas, but here are a few of them:

6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
7. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.
8. In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.

I believe 2006 is going to be a year of change, and you'll hear a lot more about this debate.  But more importantly, join in with it, find out about it, and prepare to make some changes in your business approach to catch this wave. 
Technorati Tags : SaaS, Business 2.0, Web 2.0, ASP, debate, cluetrain, AccountingWEB

Powered By Qumana