Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/39df53/research_agenda_k) has announced the addition of the "Research Agenda: Key Issues for Open Source Vendors and Users" report to their offering.

Software vendors must overcome multiple challenges when preparing to enter the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) arena. Most of the challenges can be grouped into the following five categories:

Economic – funding, managing existing/legacy products, customers and partners, pricing of the new offering for competitive positioning and profit, migrating existing customers, and profitability strategy;

Technological – technology strategy, architectural selection and exploitation, R&D management, integration and customization, infrastructure selection and implementation

Operational – security, service levels, back up & recovery, operational metrics, initial functional requirements and ongoing enhancements, facilities to automate and efficiently “manage” the processes required for a SaaS business, and service excellence

Organizational – organization transition plan, partnering strategy, distribution channel for value-added services; and

Cultural – new identity, community, collaboration, and customer intimacy, and culture evolution.

There has been considerable focus on many of the challenges associated with the above categories. However, in discussions with software vendors, we have found that challenges in the Technological category receive a lot of careful attention, while some of the challenges in the Operational category may be underestimated. This Strategic Perspective provides some tips and forewarnings about those Operational challenges.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/39df53/research_agenda_k