On-demand software vendors

The ability to easily mix-and-match best-of-breed components from different vendors is often claimed as an advantage for SaaS over all-in-one suites from conventional on-premise software vendors. But it may not be such a boon for applications where a consistent user interface is important. That was the takeaway insight when I caught up with leading HR SaaS vendor Authoria back in April — a conversation I’ve only now had a chance to write up. In another challenge to SaaS convention, Authoria also questioned the practice of upgrading customers all at the same time. More on that below, since it picks up a point raised in my post earlier this week on Many degrees of multi-tenancy.