SAAS : Riding The SaaS Wave

Starting a business is never an easy decision but knowing where to take it
and under­standing that one has to make changes as per the situation is what
makes all the difference. The same held true for industry veteran Vishal Bindra,
CEO of New Delhi-based ACPL. Founded in 1990 by three partners, including Bindra,
ACPL has grown steadily in the information security space, and created a niche
for itself in the security-as-a-service space.

Over the years the company has emerged as a leading specialist provider of
end-to-end quality solutions in the area of information security to customers
across India-products, services, training and consultancy.

The company started with the development of the first Indian anti-virus
solution called Smart Dog. This software was later discontinued when the three
partners dissolved their partnership. In 1997 the company moved on to focus on
service-oriented environment. This was the time they tied up with companies like
Trend Micro, RSA, Check Point and Watch Guard to name a few. 2001 saw a shift
towards consulting services. Speaking about their current focus Bindra stated,
“As of now we are in the services business and offer consulting services to our
clients.”

SaaS beckons

It was about a year ago that Bindra realized that SaaS was a hot technology
and could be leveraged to offer security solutions. While he started toying with
the idea immediately it was only about six to eight months back that he finally
took the plunge to offer the complete SaaS model to clients. “Our primary reason
for getting into SaaS market was because customers were asking for it. They all
wanted to reduce costs but didn't have the capital expenditure (capex), so they
wanted to shift to the SaaS model. Today, through SaaS customers are getting the
best of vendors and partners. All updates from OEMs are instant, SLA levels have
improved immensely, companies are offering 99.9 percent uptime and if they fail
to provide it then they have to pay the customer,” pointed out Bindra, while
adding that for a 100-user business there was a lot of value additions to look
forward to.

Vishal Bindra CEO, ACPL, New Delhi

So SaaS was, in a sense, giving businesses the choice to utilize the money
they would otherwise have to invest in buying infrastructure, applications and
manpower. Bindra explained that investing in SaaS was not an expensive ordeal.
On the contrary, he said that self-managed applications meant that the client
would see as high as 50 percent savings within a year's time.

Expanding business

One of the first vendors Bindra tied up with in the SaaS space was Trend
Micro. After that came Websense and F-Secure. “Our revenue from selling SaaS
models is not very substantial at the moment. There are many customers who are
in the process of evaluating the applications. Earlier there was a lot of
apprehension over the security aspect of it but that is now finally ebbing away.
As of this year about 15 to 20 percent of our revenue is coming from SaaS. Next
year we are looking forward to taking this figure up to 40 percent,” shared
Bindra.

One of the challenges that Bindra feels is now no longer as big a hurdle as
it was a few years ago is awareness about the SaaS model. “As compared to last
year, this year we have seen that customers are more educated about SaaS and
most importantly, they are ready to experiment,” elucidated Bindra.

One of the points on his agenda is to expand the service offering at both the
large and small level. Speaking about his experience with the growth verticals
Bindra stated that he saw the most takers for SaaS models from large enterprises
and small companies, surprising for a market full of people who have been
harping on and on about the SMB segment being where the money was. But then
Bindra clarified that that was his experience in the market so far.

“In a very large company the RoI from deploying SaaS model is drastic, hence
the shift is looked upon favorably. Likewise, for a small company the pros of
investing in SaaS are huge. SMBs on the other hand have CIOs who prefer to take
the task upon themselves of managing the company's applications,” opined Bindra.

The road ahead

For now, Bindra is experimenting with different models of SaaS, services and
platforms. “There are so many services and almost all are moving the SaaS way.
We will keep adding new services to our portfolio every month or so,” said
Bindra. He deduced that as per his experience, three to five years down the line
about 50-60 applications of clients would move to SaaS. “These are my figures
and our business plans have been made according to the feedback we have been
getting from our clients and the kind of contracts they are signing,” stated
Bindra.

Asked if he would consider expanding his portfolio beyond
security-as-a-service, Bindra shared that as of now and for the next one or one
and a half years ACPL's focus would continue to be on this particular segment.
“Until we have good leverage, customer base and offering base we will continue
to experiment with service delivery platform. Once we have that aspect firmly in
our grip then we will add services and move further in that direction,” said
Bindra.

With his eyes firmly on his goal and a penchant for taking the road less
traveled, Bindra is sure to taste success in his endeavors. No telling his
competitors are going to be wondering what he did right.

SNAP INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS		Venugopala Palakirti Sales Director- India & SAARC Region F-Secure Corporation		Prasad Rai Senior Director- CRM On Demand Asia, Oracle		Ganesh Swaminathan Director- Office of Innovation CSC India
Who can offer SaaS?	ISPs and mobile operators		Companies that develop applications or third party vendors can offer SaaS		Corporations with established credentials in the enterprise software products and with prior experience of developing and hosting B2C and B2B solutions can offer SaaS.
Why should SPs get into Saas?	It's an easy to offer model under revenue sharing monthly		Given the large number of benefits offered by the SaaS model, we are increasingly seeing the adoption of SaaS solutions by companies across different industry segments especially the mid-sized business segment.		Cost optimization pressure on the Core IT infrastructure will drive enterprises to move towards SaaS and availability of the solution in a SaaS model will be a mandatory criterion for selection, as we go along.

Ruth Samson

ruths@cybermedia.co.in