In the cloud or On-Premise? This model discussion sounds much like many of the model or technology discussions of the past. These discussions are usually driven by investors, and rightly so, as they are searching for the next great model so they can drive a high return for their investments! Or, they are driven by visionaries that are changing /morphing the technology landscape, and again, rightly so! Thank goodness for capitalism.

That stated, our customers are not asking about SaaS (software-as-a service or hosted services, also called on-demand), Multi-tenant, On-Premise or in-the-cloud.  What they are asking is how we can solve their business pain. They're asking about time to productivity. They're concerned about how to improve their business, to grow their business.  They're concerned about security and who owns their data, total cost of ownership, ease of use, customization to their business, and much more at a granular level.

We see several models in the midst of convergence. The Internet was built for a one-to-one model - a capitalistic model. When I shop at Amazon they try to personalize my experience. Small business owners want the same thing for their own business operations around ERP, accounting and finance, supply chain management, and so on. Software should be built in a multi-tenant architecture that provides flexibility and scalability. And, software should leverage open technology and platforms wherever possible, that's what the Internet is all about. One-to- many has its place, but not if it propagates more control and lack of flexibility. When we say to customers "one size fits all and we know best for everyone, trust us," then we are probably not listening to them.

At Everest, we are building software in a 30-day agile development cycle utilizing the SCRUM methodology. We provide customers with ease of use, price, IT outsourcing, and time-to-productivity COMBINED with control they manage, customization, data integrity, ownership and total cost of ownership. We are building software as fast as any SaaS-model company while delivering what our customers say they need - what helps their particular business. While doing so, we never support more than two code bases. These are not customized platforms that all are different. Our customers are able to take advantage of speed and consistency. 

There are many technologies or solutions, such as CRM and e-commerce that are best delivered from the cloud. There are also many software offerings that are best delivered on a LAN or SAN environment, such as point-of-sale, inventory and supply chain management, so that the customers can drive their business their way. These worlds are coming together and will provide value to the customers who rely on software to improve their business.

We should allow the customer to decide versus what model we, as developers of business software, propose as the best business model. Right?  In the end, if we are customer-focused and the customer sees value, the business model will be good for the shareholder!