The Tap

9. Google Spreadsheet - The Shape of Things to Come?

2007-01-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

Many people will evaluate SaaS by the applications they use most often. And for most people, spreadsheets and word processors are where they live. Google Spreadsheets (GS) perfectly demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of SaaS applications.

Before I get into the GS discussion, let me first say that creating a SaaS spreadsheet that compares favorably with a desktop spreadsheet like Excel is probably the most difficult technical challenge there is in SaaS.

The desktop spreadsheet has the benefit of direct access to the computer's CPU and very fast access to the hard drives. Desktop spreadsheets have had years to add functionality and iron out the bugs.

SaaS spreadsheets have to work within a browser which slows everything down. Their access to disk space is through an Internet connection, which is much slower than accessing a local hard drive. And they're new - they simply haven't had the same number of man-hours devoted to developing functionality and fixing bugs.

However, it's easier for SaaS applications to offer collaborative features.

That being said, let's review the pros and cons of Google Spreadsheets (GS), cons first:

You'll notice, as you move around the sheet, that it's not as smooth or responsive as, say, Microsoft Excel. You'll also notice that GS has a simpler interface than Excel. That's because some significant features, like graphing, are missing completely.

As you build your spreadsheet you'll find yourself missing some of the elegant touches that Excel has. Things like double-clicking on the divider to automatically adjust a column width. Or dragging a cell to copy a formula or value. Aligning a cell takes two clicks, not one. None of these will prevent you from building your spreadsheet, but everything takes a little longer.

GS lacks virtually all of the output control that Excel has. When you print, your document will show your browser's header and footer. The best way to avoid that is to export your document to a PDF file and print from there. Kludgy at best.

The good news is that GS harnesses the collaborative power of the Internet to offer collaboration, discussion, and publishing options. Collaborating allows you to share your spreadsheet with anyone you want so they can view or edit it. You can also have real-time chats while in your spreadsheet. Changes you make are instantly seen by anyone participating in the discussion.

Publishing allows you to post some or all of your sheet in a blog or web page. In the example below, I've published 70 cells from a GS spreadsheet. The spreadsheet shows some financial information for six public companies. Note that this spreadsheet will update every 5 minutes automatically.

Google harnesses its on-line strengths to create two new functions: googlefinance() and googlelookup(). Googlefinance(x,y) is used to generate all the values in the PE, Price, High52 and Low52 columns. Give it a stock symbol (such as ORCL) and an attribute (such as PE) and it finds the most recent value. The values in the four financial columns above are obtained with the formula "=googlefinance(b2,c$3)".

Googlelookup(a,b) is used to find information on a topic. Set "a" as the topic and "b" as the information you want and googlelookup() will try to find an answer for you. In the spreadsheet above, I've used "googlelookup(a3,g$3)" to find the number of employees for each company name. Googlelookup() automatically creates relevant footnotes which you'll see when you scroll down.

Collaboration, discussions, publishing, and new functions: this is slick stuff. It may be enough to allow some people to replace Excel. Others, of course, will stay with Excel...for now.

The trend is clear, though. As developers find ways to make SaaS applications more functional and more polished an increasing number of people will make SaaS their home.

I'll introduce you to another spreadsheet in my next article that attempts to mimic Excel!

8. Parallels: Running Windows on a Mac

2006-12-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

So there I am, using my shiny new MacBook Pro and enjoying it. When along comes a problem. I find that I HAVE to use a Windows product. Now what?

One (sub-optimal) solution is to use Apple's Boot Camp. This allows you to boot your Mac as either a, well, Mac or boot it as a Windows computer. Yech. This means closing all of your Mac programs and then rebooting and then waiting for Windows to start. And then reversing it all when you want to get back to your Mac applications. This is clumsy at best. There's gotta be a better way.

And there is: use Parallels and simply run Windows applications in another Mac window (see below).

The screen shot is taken from my MacBook Pro. I'm running iTunes in the back window, Blogger in a Firefox session, and Parallels in the front window. You can see the Mac menu at the bottom.

Parallels creates a "virtual machine" that runs just like any other Mac program. When you run Parallels, a Mac window opens and Windows runs inside it. Windows is fooled by Parallels into thinking that it's got its own machine. It has its own hard drive (a Mac file), its own screen (the Mac window), access to the speakers, USB ports and all network hardware including wireless. Windows applications simply run inside the Mac window.

And they run lickety-split, too.

Best news? You don't have to re-boot each time you want to switch operating systems.

Here's my preferred configuration (see below). I run Parallels in full-screen mode on a second monitor attached to my MacBook. It's like having two machines running at the same time.

I can't emphasize how slick Parallels is. It's also very easy to install and not expensive.

If I was Apple, I'd ditch BootCamp (like, now!) and sell Parallels. Better yet, I'd buy the company!

Okay, now that I've got that off my chest, I'll get back to talking about SaaS applications in my next article.

7. Intuit Gets SaaS Right

2006-12-19T14:54:00.000-05:00

I introduced 10 SaaS applications in my last article. However, as nice as they are and as useful as they are, none of them are the kind of heavy-duty applications that organizations use all day, every day, to get their primary job done. Which begs the question:

Are there any fully-featured SaaS applications?

QuickBooks Online Edition (QBOE) from Intuit provides the answer: yes.

QBOE is an integrated accounting package. It includes billing and accounts receivable, bill paying and accounts payable, general ledger and financial reporting, payroll, and other related accounting functions. It's pure SaaS: you don't download and install it; you can run it from any supported browser (more on this later); you pay a monthly fee that includes your usage and support.

It looks and feels as sophisticated and elegant as any traditional accounting application including things like incremental searches in lookup fields and pull-down menus. It's responsive as you move from field to field. It saves and loads information with virtually no perceptable delay. You quickly forget that you're using a browser-based application.

QBOE prints clean reports that run very quickly. It prints checks that align to pre-printed forms - tough to do from a browser. Reports can be saved in an Excel format or emailed.

In addition to its excellent functionality, QBOE provides a large amount of assistance on each screen. And yet the assistance isn't obtrusive. It does this by providing the help at the bottom of the browser page. The usable screen is at the top (see the graphic above) and all of the help links are at the bottom (see the graphic below).

And because it's a SaaS application, QBOE can be accessed from anywhere. I use it in my office, on the road, at home. My staff use it from the office but can also use it from home if they need to. My bookkeeper uses it from her office. My accountant accesses it from his office. We don't have to email files or move CDs around. We're always working with the current data.

My experience with QBOE has been, on the whole, positive. But it does have two weaknesses.

The first is availability. There were two occurrences last week when I couldn't access QBOE. The QBOE site had a "temporarily unavailable" message. This is completely unacceptable for a SaaS application as it leaves its users stranded. SaaS developers take note: your product MUST be designed for 24/7/365 up-time. Otherwise you will inconvenience your customers and shake the confidence of potential customers.

QBOE's second weakness is that it only runs in Internet Explorer running on Windows computers. This was a bit of a problem for me as you'll recall that I do all of my SaaS work on a MacBook Pro and I prefer FireFox as a browser. I suspect that this QBOE restriction was made several years ago to allow for the high level of functionality that was their primary design goal. I believe that new SaaS applications should be able to meet the QBOE usability goal across all browsers and operating systems because of the advancement in browser capabilities.

By the way, I'm very happy to report that I have been running QBOE on my Mac. How? I've tapped into the product of some very smart people - read about them in my next article.

6. My First 10 SaaS Apps

2006-12-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

In my last article I told you that I would try to work entirely by using SaaS applications. I'll start by describing the first 10 SaaS apps that I use.

The first 10 are easy to list. They're applications or services that for one reason or another I have no choice but to use or they're the de facto leader.

Email is a good example. I've been using Gmail for well over a year. It has a simple interface and yet is powerful enough to do almost everything that I need to do. By the way, "simple interface and powerful enough" seems to be a recurring theme among SaaS applications that I like. Gmail is free.

Gmail has only two weaknesses that have slowed me down. They've solved one but not the other.

The first weakness is its inability to operate when the computer doesn't have an internet connection. This, of course, is typical with all SaaS applications and not Gmail specific. My solution to this is to run Gmail from my mobile phone, a Treo 650, which has reasonably good browser abilities. Now the only time that I can't access Gmail is on an airplane.

The second weakness is its inability to manage and send email to large numbers of people. Mass emailing is something that is becoming more important to me; I'll need to find a solution in the next month or so.

The second SaaS application is also from Google. I've just started to use Google Calendar to keep track of my schedule. It has a clean interface. It supports multiple calendars. It's shareable with others. It has a nice drag-and-drop interface. Google Calendar is also free.

On the downside, it doesn't have an integrated tasklist. And the reports it prints aren't as clean as you'd expect. For example, some reports show the browser header and footer while others don't. All in all, though, it seems to do the trick.

Another SaaS calendar application that is just hitting the market is called Scrybe. Their marketing team has released a video that is a joy to watch. It demonstrates a product that is very nicely designed, has an intuitive interface and clean, useful reports. They claim to have solved the SaaS issue of connectivity. I will say that I'm leery about discussing any product until it's actually released and available. Scrybe has created quite a buzz already; let's hope it can live up to the hype.

The third SaaS application is what I use for search. No surprise here: it's Google. Clean interface, simple to use, powerful. Nuff said.

I often use maps to search on-line. I've been a MapQuest user for years but have found myself switching over to Google Maps. Both help you find addresses; both help you get from point A to point B with clear and (generally) correct instructions.

Google Maps is more intuitive and more helpful than MapQuest. The interface is simpler and yet feels more powerful. For example, you don't need to separate addresses into their component parts (street, city, state/province, etc.). Simply type in the address as you normally would (ie. "123 main st, new york, ny") and Google Maps will do the rest. Even nicer, type in "shoe repair near 123 main st, new york, ny" and Google Maps provides you with a helpful and intuitive display that shows nearby places to fix your shoe.

Google Maps will run on my browser phone (Treo 650) and also has a downloadable application that contains almost the entire functionality of its bigger-screened brother. Very slick.

Have you noticed that four of the first four SaaS applications that I use are from Google? On the one hand, there are good reasons for this: Google applications are well designed with clean user interfaces and powerful feature sets. Google Maps, for example, is a wonderfully designed product. On the other hand, however, Google products aren't perfect. Calendar, for example, could be strengthened in several ways and, in fact, I'm surprised that it was released with some of its current flaws.

The fifth SaaS application that I use is Wikipedia. I don't spend a lot of my time researching but when I do I turn to Wikipedia first. Easy to use and well laid out, Wikipedia is fast, comprehensive and free. I won't get into the debate here as to Wikipedia's accuracy, especially compared with Britannica Online. I'll simply say that Wikipedia is the first place I turn to.

The next five SaaS applications are not general purpose applications like the five I just mentioned. This next group consists of "self-service" applications provided by companies that I do business with. Some general comments first.

With corporate self-service applications, you don't get a choice of which app to use. This can be a problem if the company you're doing business with has poor or non-existent applications.

The public's increasing awareness of the Internet, though, has made more and companies aware that their self-service applications are competitive advantages or disadvantages. Their applications have become much better as a result. Booking flights, or arranging courier packages, or checking bank balances should be effortless to do. And for the most part, they are.

Here are the five self-service SaaS applications that I use most:

TD CanadaTrust for on-line banking, on-line trading, portfolio management and research. Special nod to Google Finance which has a slick interface for portfolio research and tracking.
Air Canada for booking flights and checking in. Not necessarily my favorite airline but it's the one I use the most. Thank goodness their site works reasonably well!
Aeroplan for booking flights using my Air Canada points. Not quite as slick as it could be but it allows me to get what I want done most of the time.
Hertz allows me to rent cars from them. Its profile tracking minimizes my time on-line.
I use the FedEx site to arrange for package pick-ups and tracking. Some nice features allow me to keep track of my favorite destinations which reduces the amount of time it takes.

All of them do reasonable jobs; all of them have become easier to use over the last couple of years while simultaneously adding features.

That takes care of the basics. But what about full-featured applications such as word processing or spreadsheets? Stay tuned, that's coming up next.

5. The Grand Experiment

2006-12-11T10:04:00.000-05:00

Time to put my money where my mouth is!

So, after assessing the strengths and weaknesses of SaaS applications, I went out on a limb in my last article and predicted that SaaS applications would inevitably replace existing Windows and Mac applications. So here's the test: can I work effectively using only SaaS applications? Can I function better? Or will I give up something?

To start this experiment off correctly, I decided to purchase a brand new laptop and not install any applications on it. Now, being a staunch Windows user, I decided to add another challenge: can I figure out how to use a Mac? My new laptop, therefore, is a 17" MacBook Pro. With no software. Wish me luck!

The first step was to determine what I use software for. Here's the list:

email
calendar
blogging
business accounting
word processing
spreadsheets
web design
project management
presentations
search
research
maps
financial research and analysis
on-line stock trading
booking flights
renting cars
couriering documents

I realize that I do need at least one piece of software installed on the Mac. A browser, of course. The Mac comes with Safari. However, almost from the beginning of the experiment, Safari was incompatible with some of the websites that I really need to use. I quickly downloaded and installed FireFox and haven't had a problem since.

For those of you who haven't tried Firefox yet, I've found it to be tight, fast and unobtrusive. Multiple sites can be browsed in a single Firefox window; it simply tabs them across the top which makes it very easy to switch back and forth. And although I haven't tried any, it has many add-ons that allow you to customize it.

Next, I needed to find an easy way to keep track of all the websites that I'll be using. Most people use bookmarks to do that bookmarks are only saved on one computer. Because I want to be able to move from computer to computer, I need to have a way to save my bookmarks on the internet.

There are several sites that do this. The first one I tried was del.icio.us. I gave up after 30 minutes as it was far too cumbersome. The next one I tried was mybookmarks.com. Simple, easy and effective. 10 minutes later I had added and organized all of my bookmarks. Nice.

Now, whenever I go to any computer, the first site I'll open will be mybookmarks.com. After logging in, it will show me the bookmarks of all sites I regularly use.

Okay, I'm all set! In my next article, I'll start off easy with my first ten SaaS sites and services.

4. SaaS is Inevitable

2006-12-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

"You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That's the sound of inevitability." - Agent Smith in The Matrix.

Despite their current weaknesses (see my previous article, "SaaS Disadvantages"), history tells us that widespread adoption of SaaS applications is inevitable.

From an end-user's perspective there are five identifiable architectures between the beginning of commercial computing in the 1950's and today. Architectural change has been driven by a mixture of economics and enhanced user experience. These changes have been built on four trends: the increasing power of hardware, the increasing speed and availability of a communications infrastructure, the increasing functionality and useability of software, and the declining end-user price. Let's look at how history has evolved.

Mainframe computers, the first architecture, were first commercially available in the 1950's. In terms of the four trends identified above, mainframes were not very powerful, had extremely limited communication abilities, had no software, and were prodigiously expensive. Customers were primarily governments and very large organizations who could afford them and who could afford to have software written on them.

Minicomputers, the second architecture, were developed in the 1960's. They were as powerful as early mainframes but cost significantly less. The software available for them was better than early mainframes: operating systems were more approachable and development tools were more capable. This led to the creation of a wide array of commercial software packages.

Because minis were easier to use than mainframes and much less expensive they came to dominate the commercial computing landscape during the 1970's.

The next architecture was microcomputers running the DOS operating system. Micros were as powerful as early minis but much less expensive. A useable software development tool came with each micro and it wasn't long before many software packages became commercially available. Their ability to communicate was initially primitive but their open architecture and the large potential market soon caused networking hardware and software to appear.

Micros did to minis what minis did to mainframes: by the late 1980's micro's had supplanted mini's because they were easier to use and less expensive.

Micros have since remained the dominant computing platform. However, the development of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) redefined micros and created the fourth architecture. Software designed for GUIs made computers even more approachable and so created a larger market. In addition, the cost of hardware continued to drop and the communications capabilities increased tremendously. GUI micros have long replaced non-GUI micros.

SaaS is the next architecture. Currently driven by lower costs and the collaborative experience available via the Internet, SaaS's adoption will accelerate as its applications become more capable and more refined. In addition, SaaS applications run on a much larger number of devices leading to greater availability and, thus, greater convenience.

The trends that caused each platform to be replaced by the next are very much at play here. Hardware costs continue to decrease, especially when you consider browser-capable telephones. Communication abilities increase daily; wireless computing and mobile telephones have expanded this enormously. SaaS software applications are increasingly capable. And software costs have decreased, in some cases to zero.

Now THAT is the sound of inevitability!

In my next article, I'll tell you about my grand experiment: from now on I'm going to use ONLY SaaS applications...

3. SaaS Disadvantages

2006-12-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

As with anything in life (except my new bride), nothing's perfect. And SaaS is no exception. There are three main disadvantages that can get in the way of this experience.

The first, and most obvious, is that you must have a connection to the Internet in order for your SaaS applications to function. No connection, no application. For many, this isn't a problem. But if you don't have broadband at home, then you won't be able to work on your SaaS applications at home. And if you travel, forget about working on a plane.

Your connection must also keep working throughout your session. If the connection fails you are at risk of losing work. I haven't found this to be a problem except with Google Spreadsheets . I'm not sure why, but it seems to be incredibly sensitive to the connection. It has often failed on me and for no good reason. Other SaaS applications seem fine and are able to run all day without problem.

The second disadvantage, and likely the largest one for the moment, is that SaaS applications may not have the same features as non-SaaS applications. The functionality is often not as refined or as full. For example, I often double-click between columns in Excel to automatically re-size a column. Not available in Google Spreadsheets. Automatic cell filling in Excel (ie. Jan, Feb, Mar...) is not available in Google Spreadsheets.

This can be annoying and frustrating especially because many of these refinements were added to make things faster and easier for us. I'm sure many people will not consider moving to a SaaS application unless these features are there.

This problem will diminish over time. Development tools for SaaS applications are becoming much more capable. Developers, driven by their marketing departments and their customers, are doing their best to add these refinements to their applications. As a good example of this, take a look at the iScrybe video; now here's a SaaS application that doesn't appear to suffer from any limitations!

The last disadvantage is speed or lack of it. This, of course, will depend on the speed of your computer but generally speaking, SaaS applications are slower then their non-SaaS cousins. They're not painfully slow, but you'll notice that...they're...just...not...as...smooth.

Do these three disadvantages completely undermine SaaS applications. No, but take them into consideration as you think about adopting SaaS. And do think about adopting SaaS because, as I'll describe in my next article, SaaS is inevitable.

2. Advantages of SaaS Applications

2006-12-05T09:42:00.000-05:00

In my first post (A SaaS Introduction) I suggested that a SaaS application is one that runs in a browser from a server far, far away. You run a SaaS application just by walking up to any computer on the planet and loading a browser.

Well, that all sounds nifty, but what are the pluses and minuses to this approach? I'll discuss some of the benefits in this article and some of the short-comings in the next article.

The first benefit is that you needn't install anything. You don't have to plug in a CD or download a file and then run an installation routine. You don't have to hassle with configurations to ensure that it works properly on your computer. Fuhgedaboutit.

The same goes for upgrades. The end-user (you!) will never have to spend time upgrading the software application because the author of the software application does it for you. This also extends to other mundane chores that we all forget to do like making back-ups. You don't have to because (you hope) the software author is doing it for you. Lovely!

The second benefit is that you can access the SaaS application from any computer with a supported browser. In fact, many new mobile phones have browsers capable of running SaaS applications. Use your computer at work, or your computer at home, or your computer at your mother's house (after you do the dishes), or a computer at an Internet cafe in London...you get the picture.

This is remarkably freeing when you think about it. Even though you're used to dragging your laptop with you wherever you go, try to imagine leaving it behind. Just go home. And when you want to do some work after supper, turn on your home computer and, voila!, you have instant access to your SaaS application and all its data. Cool!

Collaboration is likely the most important benefit of SaaS applications. With SaaS applications, it happens much more naturally. Consider a calendar application. Many people use a non-SaaS calendar application, such as Outlook, to keep track of their schedules. Most of these people don't share their schedules with others because to do so would require the help of highly trained IT people. So much of the benefit of calendar applications is lost.

With a SaaS calendar application, sharing your calendar is as simple as typing your co-worker's email address.

Similarily with a SaaS spreadsheet or word processing application. My wife and I regularly work on our home finances using a SaaS spreadsheet. We can each edit it any time we like; we can both edit it at the same time; and if we're both editing it, we can use the built-in chat functions to discuss our budget. It's easy, natural and intuitive. We don't worry about who's got the file or which version we have. We just open it and do our work.

Here's another example from the last company I owned: we created a SaaS application that connected ALL of our customers, ALL of our suppliers, and ALL of our staff (production, call center, accounting, administration and management) in real-time. We were spread over a dozen countries. The application was easy to install (because there wasn't any installation), easy to maintain, and essentially ran our entire business. This software was a serious competitive advantage.

The last benefit I'll discuss today is cost. With typical non-SaaS software, the entire purchase price is paid up front in a per-user model. SaaS software (when it's not free) is normally priced on a per-use model over time. For example, buy a typical project management software and it may cost you, say, $500 per person up front plus a fee for each future upgrade. Use a SaaS project management application and it may cost you $10 per project or $20 per month and any upgrades are included.

Would you pay for one year's worth of water up-front? Of course not; you pay for it each month as you use it. Use more, pay more. Use less, pay less. This is the SaaS approach as well.

Taken together, these four advantages can create a compelling reason to adopt SaaS applications: saving time and reducing inconvenience, a richer collaborative experience, and reduced or deferred cost. But wait! There may be a downside...stay tuned for the next article.

1. A SaaS Introduction

2006-12-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

Forget for a moment about SaaS’s obvious definition (”software as a service”). Think instead about getting water or using electricity.

If you want water, simply go to a faucet anywhere on the planet, turn the handle and water comes out. Same with electricity: go to a wall plug anywhere in the world, plug in, and you’ve got power. Simple.

The comparison to water and power is why SaaS applications are sometimes referred to as “Utility Computing“. This comparison extends to the payment method as well. When you use water or electricity you are charged only for the amount that you use. Similarily with SaaS applications: those that aren’t free most often use some variant of a “pay-as-you-go” model.

And just to finish off the comparison: sometimes the water you get tastes a little different or the faucet handle works a little differently; sometimes you need a converter to plug in your electrical device. The SaaS experience can have some variances depending on the browser and the computer you use. But the main theme remains the same: walk up to any computer in the world, start the browser, and run your SaaS application.

Next: SaaS advantages