1. At the instructor’s discretion, this may be assigned as a small group or individual assignment.
2. Submit an original work addressing the topic and questions provided and other relevant factors you may think of beyond the questions provided here.
3. No title page is required. Provide your name(s), the course and section number, and date in the header of the first page and subsequent pages.
4. If you use material from outside sources (i.e. the Internet), be sure to cite the source in the body of the paper where you use the information and provide an APA-style reference at the end of the paper.
5. The expected word count is 400-500 words, excluding the information in the header and any references.
6. A plagiarism checker is used, so be sure to cite and reference any outside source material.
7. You are writing with a professional audience in mind, so be sure to use a professional tone. Do not use a familiar tone as you might use when discussing this with a friend.
TechnologyOne – Offering SaaS Around the World
AACSB Standards: Global, Analytical Thinking
In 1987, Adrian DiMarco started TechnologyOne in Brisbane, Australia. Today, TechnologyOne has over 1,200 employees $50 million (AUS) in innovation. In 2017 Adrian DiMarco stepped down and Edward Chung was appointed the new CEO. TechnologyOne is a provider of global SaaS enterprise solutions for many industries throughout Australia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Vietnam.
When TechnologyOne first started, it was a traditional software provider of financial and accounting software, and its customers installed its software on-site. Customers today, however, want faster service and need newer technology. “We’ve transformed from a traditional software provider that used to install software on-premise, to being full software-as-a-service (SaaS) and it’s been a wild journey. The only way is to be cloud-first and a SaaS provider”, says Chung.
Although the change required re-engineering its software, TechnologyOne found that its customer base in Australia was quick to adapt to its cloud-based offerings. According to Chung, “We were thoroughly impressed with how quickly the government sector adopted our SaaS—it’s beyond what we hoped for.”
Over the past thirty years, TechnologyOne has developed software for government, education, healthcare, financial services, corporations, and community services. The firm also has an application managed service, which is a flexible prepaid technical services plan. This plan is available for those who do not want to pay for continuous support but want on-call support paid by the hour. There are flexible monthly programs available for all the products for both onsite and remote delivery methods.
Another of TechnologyOne’s SaaS offerings, Ci Anywhere, provides a mobile platform that allows users to access to software from any mobile device. To ensure the safety of the data, TechnologyOne transmits the data through a security layer so that the user can be assured their data is secure, no matter where they are accessing the system.
TechnologyOne has branched out into larger markets in other countries. In April of 2019, TechnologyOne signed a multimillion 10-year deal with New Zealand’s fifth largest energy provider, Unison Networks, to replace their current solution with OneEnergy, a fully-integrated enterprise SaaS solution. Mid Ulster District Council in Northern Ireland has also signed a SaaS agreement, replacing the installed financial management system with their mobile system, allowing the council to access their system from any device at any time. The Cambridge City Council, The London School of Economics and the Science Museum Group are already fully integrated SaaS users.
TechnologyOne is the largest SaaS company in Australia. They consider Microsoft, SAP and Oracle as some of their main competitors. With the growing number of SaaS providers, the list of competitors is sure to grow, but TechnologyOne is now a thriving business across six countries and is making technology news.
Critical Thinking Questions:
Do you think TechnologyOne should have kept an on-site version of its enterprise software? Do you think today’s market would still sustain maintaining two systems one cloud based and one installed?
In offering a SaaS package, what advice would you give to a potential client regarding a support plan by the hour and not as part of the package? Is there an advantage to this type of package? What would be the negatives to not have a full-service plan and having someone on call 24/7?
What security measure would you look for in a SaaS company? If the company were an international company, what questions would you have before signing a contract? Are there specific regulations to look for based on having a cloud-based system or data storage that must be addressed?