SAAS continues to smash on premise

23.01.2007
SAAS (software as a service) continues its onslaught against traditional on-premise applications this week with two announcements that reveal the increasing depth of the on-demand model.

SuccessFactors, a SAAS performance and talent management solution vendor, launched Next Labs, a service that will allow its customers and subscribers to build and use online customized HR solutions, this week.

Not unlike Salesforce.com's AppExchange architecture, Next Labs will offer users a set of open APIs for mashups and for sharing user-created content across the enterprise.

The company is also offering 30 custom templates like a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) Goal Wizard for creating employee objectives using the SMART methodology, an Employee Directory for social networking and collaboration, and a Quick Cards template that will allow users to create electronic business cards to connect to other employees.

The company claims more than 2 million subscribers and 1,000 customers, three times as many subscribers and almost 25,000 fewer customers as Salsesforce.com due to the nature of the service, said Rob Bernshteyn, vice president of product marketing.

While CRM targets a specific category of employee -- salespeople and their managers -- SuccessFactors is a human resources service that touches and is used by every employee in the company, said Bernshteyn.