Differences between Enterprise Software and Software-as-a-Service

Enterprise software is designed exclusively to perform the operations of the business. Software-as-a-service is the service available on the cloud and delivered to the user through internet when requested.
   
Business can make use of either of them to perform the operations. But which one of them is more useful for the benefit of the organization? Here are some of the differences between the enterprise software and the Software-as-a-software are

Customization and functionality

• As an enterprise software is owned by the business or organization, it can be customized/modified according to the needs of the business. It can be modified to perform all the operations of the business.

• But, software-as-a-service is deployed on cloud and available for multiple users. So, there is no guarantee that it performs all the functionality of a particular business. And customizing would also be very difficult and impossible at times.

Developing and installation

• Developing and the installation of an enterprise software for a business or organization is expensive and time taking process.

• Software-as-a-service is very cheap and is readily available for the user whenever needed. It is also easy to install this services.

Training

• Enterprise software requires training to the people, who are the part of the business and uses it regularly. Hence, it may be an extra burden to the organization to invest money and train the employees.

• In case of software-as-a-service, very less training is required and it would not cost much to the organization to train their employees.

Modifications/updates

• Any software need to be updated and modified for proper functioning and better performance. Enterprise software once installed on the business server does not work forever efficiently. It need to be updates as technology changes and also with the changes in the business. This is again an extra cost for an organization. Which means maintenance is expensive in case of enterprise software.

• For a software-as-a-service, maintenance and the modifications are the responsibility of the service provider. So it is all done for the free of cost and user need not worry about them.

Access to business data

• If a business need to generate the reports for analysis, it is easy when it has its own enterprise software. This is because all the data and records related to the business are stored securely and are accessible anytime.

• But software-as-a-service is a common service to most businesses who are subscribed and all their data are stored by the service. This makes the access to their relevant data more complex.

• Querying the records would also be more complicated in the case of software-as-a-service. Whereas it is easy when an organization has an enterprise software.

Resource sharing

• When there is a need of sharing the interface or the software with other business, enterprise software need to be installed in the other party server/system. This takes long time and big work to install the software and test to check if it is running properly. So, it is not easy to share resources with the other businesses.

• In same situation, sharing of resources with the other businesses would be easy if the business is using the software-as-a-service. Any organization can subscribe and install the software from the cloud and share the resources easily.

• Businesses/organizations who deployed the enterprise software in their server will have the total control of the software and the business in their hands.

• Whereas if the business is using software-as-a-service, the information of the business is shared with others and the software is controlled by the service providers. So, the organization cannot have total control of software or business in their hands.

Thus, understanding the differences between enterprise software and the Software-as-a-Service, businesses should choose the best service that can fulfill all their requirements.