I was in the Bay Area for a few days last week for some meetings and had a great chat during my visit with someone who really gets software-as-a-service from an investor perspective.  We hit a couple of core themes during our conversation including the notion of “consumption.” 

Enterprise software has not been easy for business users to consume in the past.  It required software, servers, consultants, and extensive configuration as well as the lead from IT to get it in the hands of the business end-users.

In the past it was about business users using software once it was set-up.  Now it is about business users individually consuming software and realizing the business value first.

This puts a new onus on any company wanting to successfully penetrate the enterprise with software and do so while avoiding bloody and bruising 18 month sales cycles.

Get all or some part of it into the hands of the business end-users first and have them begin to rely on it.  When the time comes to talk about a broad deployment that needs IT attention it has almost become predetermined.

This approach is made possible by the ability to deliver software via the internet (SaaS/on-demand).