Perpetual Licenses No Longer a Monopoly
Believe it or not, there were days when we saved up for months for software licenses. Some were quite pricey, and as such, a major investment for firms and individuals alike. Known as the perpetual license model, prior to Software as a Service (SaaS), these licenses were the only options on the block. While they made sense (and still do) for many, smaller players are naturally crowded out as upfront license costs can be steep and new hardware (and even software) is often required.
While perpetual licenses certainly have their upsides, SaaS is disrupting the natural order of computer licensing. With SaaS, not only have upfront costs radically decreased, but SaaS licenses can also be adjusted to the budget of the user. SaaS also mitigates the need for additional IT hardware resources, staff, or software onsite. Alternatively, database backups also aren’t a walk in the park, and the downtime that can occur when updates need to be installed remains a pain point (however minor).
But perhaps the best value-based characteristic of SaaS is it can be used on any device with Internet access. This alone has streamlined work and overall team collaboration in ways previously unimaginable.
Perpetual licenses make sense for many. But don’t we all enjoy options?
