Given the tough times, boiler plate predictions on SaaS, Cloud, etc. seem pedantic and meaningless. Drastic changes are happening in the industry and buzzword-driven trends are out. Here is my view. – IT-spending is tight for CIO’s. Since top line growth (revenue) is slow, every one is focusing on bottom line which is cost control. So any solution that reduces cost will be welcome. That brings us to the biggest trend – Application Modernization. Enterprise clients are stuck in the client-server model of business applications, analytics, etc. for last decade or so. They are blissfully unaware of the great advantages of a web-platform-based delivery, seen in the consumer space. So the transition from client-server to RIA is key for lowering TCO and improving efficiency. At Curl, we have seen over 400 large enterprises deploying B2B and B2E (like procurement, field service management) applications delivered on the web. The cost savings are enormous. The switch to more client-based processing reduces server round-trips (read performance) and cost. Scalability and security are key needs here, so Ajax tyoe solutions fall flat. This is not theory, but actual practice. These customers do not waste time debating buzzwords and technologies. They start with “improving the procurement process” and naturally switched to Curl-based RIA. I predict 2009 will be the year of RIA for the enterprise. A true transition from the old client-server architecture to the modern web-based architecture will take off.

Jnan Dash Chief Strategy officer, Curl Inc.

PS: Jnan — great plug for your company there, although some of what you’re saying does sound like a lot of the same arguments I’ve heard for other webservices/SaaS/app cloud offerings (or I guess RIA in your case). I’m not aware of many companies that don’t debate technologies before deploying, and from where I sit the procurement people make sure we have desks and stationary etc. I work in IT.

Given the tough times, boiler plate predictions on SaaS, Cloud, etc. seem pedantic and meaningless. Drastic changes are happening in the industry and buzzword-driven trends are out. Here is my view. – IT-spending is tight for CIO’s. Since top line growth (revenue) is slow, every one is focusing on bottom line which is cost control. So any solution that reduces cost will be welcome. That brings us to the biggest trend – Application Modernization. Enterprise clients are stuck in the client-server model of business applications, analytics, etc. for last decade or so. They are blissfully unaware of the great advantages of a web-platform-based delivery, seen in the consumer space. So the transition from client-server to RIA is key for lowering TCO and improving efficiency. At Curl, we have seen over 400 large enterprises deploying B2B and B2E (like procurement, field service management) applications delivered on the web. The cost savings are enormous. The switch to more client-based processing reduces server round-trips (read performance) and cost. Scalability and security are key needs here, so Ajax tyoe solutions fall flat. This is not theory, but actual practice. These customers do not waste time debating buzzwords and technologies. They start with “improving the procurement process” and naturally switched to Curl-based RIA. I predict 2009 will be the year of RIA for the enterprise. A true transition from the old client-server architecture to the modern web-based architecture will take off.

Jnan Dash Chief Strategy officer, Curl Inc.