So to summarize Debes (who comes off a little like Vinny from da mob or a coke dealer - his words, not mine):
(1) SaaS and Cloud computing as a delivery vehicle has been tried before and therefore will fail (like all things) (2) People (excluding himself) are stupid (3) Lawson hasn?t made a SaaS product because they couldn?t recoup for 8 years (which has nothing to do with the fact that they would have to rethink their entire operations, or that it?s easier to be a SaaS company when you?re designed that way ? lean and mean ? in the first place) (4) People don?t lock themselves in to a vendor; they just like it that way (like they like moving in with mom) and (5) Lawson is only going to go after big businesses with lots of cash to spend on an on-premise, proprietary platform that only Lawson Professional Services knows how to support.
While it might be good for Lawson's bottom line and investors, it has no benefit to the customer that's dealing with an ever web-reliant workforce. Sure, Lawson?s ERP niche is geared toward dinosaurish industries, but that?s not what SaaS is addressing. It?s about immediate results and higher productivity, not year-long engagements with yet another entrenched vendor you?re stuck with.
SaaS providers can make money by designing with an economy of scale in mind and a leveraged platform. In short, SaaS providers build like Starbucks. Traditional enterprise software like Kopi Luwak Coffee (look it up).
There is room for both in this world. Just like there?s room for smart and stupid people.
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