Nine years ago Phil Wainewright for ZDNet coined the term “return before investment” (RBI) which he referred to as the “defining characteristic” of on-demand software as a service applications http://is.gd/cBr0  A point that really caught my eye was a Phil’s quote “The applications are designed to be easy as possible to get started with - because vendors don’t get paid until they are deployed and in use.“  He’s right and being held to account for usability and value is a significant improvement on its own.  The IT sector needed this cold boot to the ass for a long time don’t you think?

With a brutal economy and mature useful applications it’s no surprise the transparent on-demand model is growing fast.  If you don’t get it, or don’t trust it, you need to talk to someone who does.