Microsoft Research Reports

Organizing for Software as a Service (Sidebar)

There are three organizational strategies for successfully delivering Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings:

Assigned. This approach locates the SaaS development team in the same company as the existing development team. Both teams report to the same manager and work at the same physical site. This approach requires the smallest upfront investment of time and money and returns the fastest result, if executed perfectly. However, existing development teams may harbor resentment or ill will toward the SaaS development team, and managers of existing projects will always be tempted to "borrow" SaaS developers during emergencies. Finally, assigned teams may fall victim to the influence of traditional tools and methods.

Isolated. This approach leaves the SaaS development team in the same company but reporting to a new manager, working at a new physical site, or both. Like the assigned team approach, an isolated team requires minimal upfront investment and can return fast results. This approach alleviates—but does not eliminate—the risks of resentment and the influence of existing methods that are inappropriate for SaaS development.

Independent. This approach moves the SaaS development team to a new company chartered with the creation of the application. The new company has its own management and its own physical site. This completely removes the risk of exposure to resentment and old methods. However, it can be prohibitively expensive. It requires the new company to replicate costly functions that would have been automatically provided by the previous organization (such as human resources, finance, and marketing).