Leading Software as a Service (SaaS) providers Genesis Communications have commented on the increasing number of Small-to-Medium Businesses (SMB’s) utilising Hosted IT Solutions in an effort to reduce costs.

Genesis, who offer a range of SaaS Hosted Solutions including Microsoft Exchange 2007, SharePoint 2007 and Dynamics CRM 4 are supported in their claim that ‘SaaS is the future of IT’ by technology analysts Gartner. The latest research from Gartner shows that ‘nine out of ten companies intend to broaden their use of Software as a Service (SaaS) in the next twelve months.

The survey also showed that 37% of respondents were planning on replacing their on-premises software with SaaS in an effort to reduce costs or more specifically to ‘drive down the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The top two reasons given by respondents for this uptake were cost-effectiveness and ease/speed of deployment.

Speaking on behalf of Gartner, Research Director, Sharon Mertz said:

“Use of SaaS has been evolving during the past decade and the SaaS model has become increasingly popular over the past three or four years.”

One of the reasons given by Mertz for this increase is the current recession and the effects it is having on small to medium sized organisations. Reasoning which a spokesperson for Genesis agrees with:

“As companies try to cut costs many businesses are re-directing budgets from in-house IT applications to Hosted Solutions. SaaS services enable businesses of all sizes to reap the rewards associated with Microsoft Hosted Services without the added expense of implementing and maintaining on-premise software. Also, responsibility of the software lies with SaaS providers like us, meaning there is less IT management to worry about”

The Microsoft SaaS solutions currently offered by Genesis enable customers to email, access documents, create intranets and manage customer relationships safely and securely both remotely and from the office.

Implementation of applications such as CRM 4 have also seen an increase in recent months as more and more companies look to improve customer service provision, an advantage that CRM has received much credit for.

To find out more about the range of Microsoft SaaS Services offered by Genesis, visit www.genesis.co.uk