5 Reasons PaaS is Picking Up

Often times, it may seem like PaaS adoption is being advocated without a compelling reason behind it. Sure, PaaS is a development environment, but why would devs want to use it over a traditional method of coding?  Sure, PaaS can be accessed from a variety of devices through the cloud, but what use do devs, with their personal workstations, have for that feature?

Recently, director of product marketing for OutSystems, Sean Allen, offered five reasons that PaaS is quickly becoming the status quo—and why you should be paying attention. Here's my take on what he said.

Technology

Technology should not be advocated for technology’s sake, but in the case of PaaS, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. For one, the cloud is secure. PaaS applications and databases are relatively safe from user error. Because everything is backed up and stored in a server separate from the developer’s workstation, accidental deletions or losses due to viruses or glitches that require reimaging become a thing of the past. Plus, PaaS gets everything onto one platform, so integration becomes easier. There are no hassles with installing drivers or uploading development builds to servers. No issues with integrating backends and databases into applications. Everything exists together, so everything works together.

Expectations

Customer expectations have always been a big part of developing any product, and business applications are no different. These days, frankly, customers expect a lot. Apple’s old mantra “there’s an app for that,” echoes the customer expectation for an app for everything from checking their bank statement, to cooking, to tuning their guitar. If there isn’t already an app out there for some given task, you can bet there is a market for one. What’s more is that these days, unlike when Apple was still touting that catchphrase, many people have multiple devices in a variety of form-factors. They expect all of these devices to have “an app for that,” and they won’t be willing to interrupt their workflow due to the limitations of their devices. The advantage of PaaS in this area also comes from its position as a cloud service. Applications developed on a quality PaaS will be cloud-native and multi-platform by design. The ethos of “write once, run anywhere” that PaaS brings is good for time-constrained devs, demanding users, and executives looking to save money by developing for all their platforms at once.

Competition

This point is simple: your competitors are adopting PaaS; you should too. Soon, it looks like PaaS will be the standard. That means that while some organizations are starting to take advantage of the security, integration, and rapid development benefits of PaaS, the ones who are slow to change will be left behind. It’s better not to limit your ability to adapt to the market.

Pace

Simply put, PaaS is highly efficient. Because most PaaS offerings will include graphical rapid application development products, they allow more people to take part in development. Because they include code libraries and automate a lot of the more tedious aspects of development, seasoned devs can spend a lot more time actually developing. Both of these things means PaaS applications are ready for market long before those developed using traditional methods.

Economics

It’s common sense: the sooner you have a product on the market, the sooner you can start making money off of it. Plus, by getting to the market early, you put yourself in the position of being a market leader, able to respond to changes before competitors even have a product available. The speed that PaaS offers is unmatched and that, along with the headaches it avoids and features it brings to development, makes it worth a good look. For more on how PaaS is enabling the next generation of business application software, read Mark Troester's white paper, Progress® Pacific™: The Future of Business Software.