Book excerpt: "True to form, Melvin Greer's futurist thinking provides new applicability to Software as a Service that identifies ways of reducing costs, creating greater efficiencies, and ultimately providing significant long-term value through business transformation. He continues to be on the cutting edge of merging business function evolution and technology innovation to increase customer satisfaction and return on investments." -Kevin Manuel-Scott, chairman and CEO, RONIN IT Services, LLC "Melvin Greer provides an excellent guide to the Cloud computing IT model with a solid overview of concepts, business aspects, technical implications, benefits, challenges, and trends. Definitely a 'must read' for IT managers and enterprise architects considering adoption of this flexible, beneficial business model within their organization." -John Magnuson, senior staff engineer, Lockheed Martin "This book offers the most comprehensive view of Cloud computing and SaaS on the market today. The author skillfully lays out a game plan for government and commercial entities alike looking to stay relevant in this burgeoning business paradigm." -Ken Brown, program account executive, IBM Federal Almost every business reaches a time when the fundamentals change. This time is referred to as a strategic inflection point. Adopting new technology or fighting the competition may not be enough when these critical moments arise. That's because inflection points build up force so quickly that organizations may have a hard time even putting a finger on what has changed. The way a firm responds could propel it to new heights or lead to its demise. Over the last few years, industry has begun developing a model of information technology known as Cloud computing, which includes Software as a Service. This new model has reached an inflection point and will give users the choice to purchase IT as a service, as a complement to, or as a replacement of the traditional IT software/hardware infrastructure purchase. It's time for businesses to transform how they approach advanced software and innovative business models so they can achieve real agility. If you are a decision maker involved with the deployment of information technology, then it's imperative that you understand "Software as a Service Inflection Point."