Despite Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) being ever-present, the technology is still relatively new. Some consider IBM’s time-sharing computing as one of SaaS’s early relatives. Large computers were extremely expensive back in the 1960s, so commercial bureaus would sell computer time to remote users. Personal computers eventually replaced time-sharing, but the blueprint was there for more to come.
While time-sharing was indeed novel for its time, most associate Salesforce’s beginnings as the industry’s birthplace. Lotus, Microsoft, Oracle, and Concur had SaaS-esque products way before Salesforce. Yet, the San Francisco software giant opted not to integrate ASP infrastructure and physical products into their offering. In 2000, the Salesforce app was delivered online with access in the browser, and they were the first company to go “all in” on SaaS.
By year three (2003), Salesforce had exploded. Growth averaged over 100% for the subsequent three years. Around the same time, ACADS-BSG was releasing their software suite on CDs that were subsequently shipped worldwide. The overall computing industry eventually caught on in 2005 giving rise to successful SaaS platforms such as NetSuite, Veeva, SAP Success Factors, and Ariba, among others. By 2016, Autodesk started gradually ending the sale of perpetual licenses for most of their products, and offering subscription based software solutions. Not only did this change their tools, but it changed the way we went about purchasing and accessing them, too.
In early 2020, ACADS-BSG launched an online Support Desk System via a new website that vastly modernized the support system. This has allowed the ACADS-BSG team to record feedback and implement updates to CAMEL+ and HYENA+ more comprehensively.
SaaS models in the engineering field are hitting their stride. But the best is certainly left to come, and ACADS-BSG will be innovating with the best of them!
