Software as a service
Also called: SaaS or software on demand
With Software as a Service (SaaS), an ict application and associated user licenses are not purchased once but purchased as a service. The organization using software as a service pays a monthly or annual fee for this, which is often based on the number of users. Included in these fees are installation, maintenance, updates, support and backup.
The software offered may consist of programs physically installed on the users' workstations and/or the customer's server(s). Increasingly, it is online software, in the form of shielded Web applications that can be run in the browser.
