I’ve been thinking about the software-plus-service model, where a vendor offers online (hosted) software components that integrate with the vendor’s software installed onsite at the end-user organization (i.e., the customer). Microsoft is pushing this approach in response to on-demand offerings from Google and other providers. More recently, SAP AG has jumped on the software-plus-service bandwagon as it has backed off its on-demand-only efforts. In some ways, this “hybrid” model makes sense. In other ways, it seems like it could be the worst of both worlds.In the case of SAP, the idea that some ERP components should remain onsite with the customer seems to make sense because of the security and reliability concerns I have with the on-demand-only model used for crucial enterprise applications. For example, if your hosted ERP application goes down or becomes unavailable for almost any length of Read more …