Global software as a service revenues to soar

Worldwide software as a service (SaaS) revenues are set to reach $7.5 billion this year, a promising 17.7 per cent increase from 2008’s $6.4 billion.

That’s according to analyst group Gartner, who also claim that the SaaS market will continue to grow into 2013 and hit $14 billion for the enterprise application markets.

"The adoption of SaaS continues to grow and evolve within the enterprise application markets,” said Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner.

She added: “The composition of the worldwide SaaS landscape is evolving as vendors continue to extend regionally, increase penetration within existing accounts and ‘greenfield’ opportunities, and offer more-vertical-specific solutions as part of their service portfolio or through partners.”

The figures cement the SaaS market as a principal driver of two sectors; the customer relationship management (CRM) market, and the content, communications and collaboration (CCC) market.

The CCC business is set to make $2.6 billion in 2009 while the CRM segment will make $2.3 billion; both up around $400 million from 2008.