Desi

Lawson's Harry Debes: SaaS Industry Will Collapse in Two Years

Hello,

I think the Lawson's CEO, Mr Debes is absolutely right. I think all the major ERP/SCM/CRM vendors are saying the same thing the only difference is that Mr. Debes is a straight shooter. Based on a recent article in Financial Times (www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33c...), the SAAS business can be summed into three things >>> attracting new customers, generating subscription revenue and customer replacement. The first and last activity of this business is always a over-head on the companies balance sheet, selling a hyped product to a customer. The subcription business is driven by how much value is generated for the customer and is always a questionable issue.

With the global economy heading south and companies managing their cost to the n'th detail, I think we have a hurricane "Gustav" on the door-steps for the SAAS companies. And dont behold, even the company that pioneered the SAAS mantra (Salesforce.com) is forecasting dark clouds in Q3 and Q4' 08.