Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing, + Website

Summary

From a high-level perspective, the benefits and value of PaaS and SaaS resemble those of infrastructure as a service. However, these two layers offer additional value in many dimensions.

PaaS has benefits in terms of accelerating the deployment of IT-based solutions, thus generating business benefits for those businesses that are IT enabled in some way—which includes virtually all firms these days. Beyond that, there are cultural dimensions to PaaS that are extending the reach of IT beyond the traditional IT organization, thus enhancing the agility and broadening the contribution of IT through its democratization.

Similarly, SaaS has unique characteristics that can’t be defined in terms of mere cost savings. The ability to rapidly turn up service and updates, customize functionality, and enable management to focus on strategic areas can’t be underestimated.

We have treated IaaS, PaaS and SaaS as separate entities, but they can be closely interwoven. Zynga uses a hybrid strategy for infrastructure (IaaS), which enables it to deliver some of the world’s leading games (SaaS), but also has launched the Zynga Platform (PaaS) to create a new line of business for the company: generating revenue while enabling its ecosystem of game developers.