{"id":68983,"date":"2021-04-06T11:19:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T09:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/?p=68983"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:45:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:45:43","slug":"cloud-vs-saas-which-delivers-the-most-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/cloud-vs-saas-which-delivers-the-most-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud vs SaaS: Which delivers the most benefits?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTechnology & Innovation<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCloud vs SaaS: Which delivers the most benefits?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tGerhard Hartman<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

A <\/span>few<\/span> years ago, <\/span>software <\/span>deployment options were barely considered. Accounting solutions were predominantly licenced and deployed onsite, or via a third party.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCloud\u201d <\/span>wasn\u2019t part of the business lingo, and \u201cSaaS\u201d was either unheard of or poorly understood.<\/span>\u202fWhile complementary solutions like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) were headed in that direction, entrusting the transactional system of record of your business to the cloud required a higher level of trust that had not yet developed.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the world has changed! <\/span>Today<\/span>, most <\/span>businesses have <\/span>a <\/span>cloud strategy<\/span>,<\/span> and the shift to the cloud and SaaS has begun in earnest. When cloud was less popular, decision-makers worked hard analy<\/span>s<\/span>ing the pros and cons and understanding their options. <\/span>With today\u2019s vendor and media hype, the move to cloud <\/span>appears<\/span> inevitable. <\/span>And as people and companies accept the inevitable, they stop looking at the<\/span>ir <\/span>options with a critical and questioning eye.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mint Jutras<\/span> has been following perceptions and trends in cloud and SaaS since 2011, and carefully distinguish<\/span>es<\/span> between the two. <\/span>It<\/span> do<\/span>es <\/span>this through <\/span>its<\/span> annual Enterprise Solution Study, an electronic survey <\/span>collecting <\/span>data from hundreds of respondents from all types <\/span>and sizes <\/span>of companies<\/span>. <\/span>In 2019<\/span>,<\/span> <\/span>there were<\/span> 464 participants. <\/span>Previously,<\/span> <\/span>it<\/span> asked those considering a SaaS solution (but not yet using one) what appealed to them about SaaS. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their responses are summari<\/span>s<\/span>ed in the \u201cAnticipated\u201d column in Table 1. <\/span>T<\/span>hose already <\/span>using<\/span> a SaaS solution we<\/span>re<\/span> asked what benefits they had achieved by moving to SaaS.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table 1: Anticipated versus Realized Benefits of SaaS.\u202f Source: Mint Jutras 2019 Enterprise Solution Study<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Participants were allowed to select any and all that applied<\/span>, but<\/span> the answers this year <\/span>were <\/span>disappointing.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years<\/span>,<\/span> the potential benefits <\/span>have evolved but remained quite similar. Y<\/span>ear after year<\/span>,<\/span> the percentage of participants recogni<\/span>s<\/span>ing the potential benefits <\/span>has <\/span>increased \u2013 until this year. With almost every software vendor <\/span>jumping on the cloud bandwagon and aiming to be the biggest and best, it appears that many business users are doing the same without <\/span>properly grasping the potential benefits. Without this knowledge, many benefits are not being <\/span>realised<\/span>. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SaaS vs cloud: Is there a difference?<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Non-technical ERP end<\/span>–<\/span>users often don\u2019t know, <\/span>or even need to know<\/span>,<\/span> the different deployment options<\/span> or how they\u2019re paid for. <\/span>It is, however, critical to understand the various options in order to maximise the benefits. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start <\/span>with a<\/span> <\/span>basic definition of cloud and SaaS<\/span><\/b><\/a>. Many use these two terms interchangeably, but there are some important differences. So, let\u2019s distinguish between the two:<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n