What is Software as a Service (SaaS)?

HousingPoint requires no capital investment and requires no in-house IT support. Uniquely, HousingPoint is delivered using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, which means the system is provided on a monthly subscription basis.

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software application delivery model where a software vendor develops a web-native software application and hosts and operates the application for use by its customers over the Internet. Customers pay not for owning the software itself but for using it.

SaaS is a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the same benefits of commercially licensed, internally operated software without the associated complexity and high initial cost. SaaS applications are priced on a per-user basis.

Computing itself is now a commodity: In the past, corporate systems were jealously guarded as strategic. However, time has moved on; people now know it's the business processes and the data itself-customer records, workflows, and pricing information-that matters.

Housing application functionality has become fairly standardised: one IHMS offers much the same as any other IHMS. However, because they were built in the early '90s, before the Internet, or even, is some cases, PC technology, they all look different from the standard Office systems that most people are used to either through their work or from home. Computers and computing use, like the key applications that most people use, are now ubiquitous. A spreadsheet, an e-mail system, a calendar system etc are all sufficiently ubiquitous and well understood that most users can switch from one system to another easily. This same commonality of look and feel is something that HousingPoint has built in its underlying Microsoft technology.

A modern SaaS application is flexible. Parametric applications are usable: In older applications, the only way to change a workflow was to modify the code. But in HousingPoint, significantly new processes can be created from parameters and macros. This allows organizations to create many different kinds of business logic on top the HousingPoint application platform.

Why SaaS?