The 10 Best Performing SaaS Solution Providers 2018

from one system to the next – leading to the introduction of
middle-ware as an economical means of “connecting” the
silos.
At that time, SAP emerged as the leader in delivering
comprehensive, end-to-end business solutions on the most
advanced platforms. They quickly captured the market and
cross-industry adoption continued to deliver best in class
results to their customers. PeopleSoft was also introduced
to the market during this era, initially focusing on the
payroll/human resources market. They ultimately started
developing and delivering ERP and CRM systems as well.
Change continued to accelerate as web-based systems were
introduced which impacted the economic and technological
dynamics of “user requirements,” development,
deployment, and costs.
Throughout this evolution, industries, companies and
individuals not only developed an incredible reliance on the
performance of their “systems,” but forward thinking
organizations saw this as a quick path to competitive
advantage.
The Need for Speed
The problem then as now – how do you accelerate the value
of the technology investment to the business? The
technology was purchased, licensed, and implemented to
achieve a specific set of business benefits. When it comes to
these large enterprise application investments, companies
conduct in-depth evaluations and build business cases to
map out exactly what results they expect to realize. This
typically involves a look at what financial and human
capital investments – time and money – will be needed to
achieve success with a product as well as the financial,
efficiency, and competitive gains that come with the
ongoing use of the software.
On one side of the equation, development methods have
evolved to meet this need for speed. Waterfall
methodologies are being replaced with Agile. DevOps has
become the new buzz-word. But there’s something else to
consider – the business side of things. There is an everincreasing
reliance on packaged applications to execute and
deliver critical business outcomes. It’s important that
applications are developed and deployed quickly and
changes can be made regularly, but how do you ensure that
business processes are running flawlessly?
Surprisingly, many companies are managing their enterprise
application processes manually. This means hours of white-
December 2018 |
board meetings spent trying to understand existing business
processes. Weeks during every project spent writing test
scripts that break when something changes. Delays in
delivery because manual testing can’t keep pace with
business change. The implementation and ongoing
management of enterprise applications is complex, and a
crucial component is making sure that end-to-end processes
work—every time, every day. Manual or first generation
testing means system downtime, errors in production,
wasted time and energy and companies left open to
technology risk.
The bigger picture is that those approaches are
fundamentally standing in the way of achieving the results
companies set out to achieve with packaged apps. How can
you make the financial, productivity, and competitive gains
About the Author
Shoeb Javed, Chief
Technology Ofcer, Worksoft,
is responsible for the
technology strategy,
software development,
quality assurance and
customer support for all
Worksoft solutions. As CTO,
Shoeb also works with quality
assurance and business
leaders of some of the
largest global Fortune 1000
corporations to help
automate testing of
complex packaged
enterprise applications to
speed up project timelines
and improve operational
efciencies.
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