Generally software is delivered under an unlimited right to use license that allows the licensee to install the software on a particular computer and to use the software package. On the other hand software as a service or software on demand, in which the software can be accessed by the company through the internet and the payment can be made as per the use. In this process Software as a Service vendors maintain enterprise software on servers within their own company data center and the customers can access the software via the Internet.
Telecom companies are looking to climb up the IT stack towards application focused software services where the business value is more direct and the margins are higher. Software as a service model provides economies of scale and delivery model that are perfectly suitable for the Telecom industry. The SaaS model together with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and platform innovations on top of SOA, is capable to solve the issues in the traditional software model.
Telecom sector should care for Software as a service because SaaS has more market potential. SaaS benefits from enhanced Telecom services. Telecoms helps to improve the service quality in providing SaaS, telecommunication also gives customer support needed for SaaS vendors. If the software becomes network based then it is better to provide service through telecommunication channel as they have a billing and care relationship and consumers generally trust their telecommunication providers. Telecoms also help in marketing the SaaS applications. SaaS and IMS perfectly complement each other and the telecommunication operators deploy IMS which provides real-time charging, real-time authorization, QoS provisioning, standard application APIs and service profiles. These are the OOS primitives needed by the SaaS.