NEW YORK, USA: A new AMI-Partners study, “Adding Fresh Value to the SaaS Equation: Six Vendors to Watch” explores the approaches that smaller, newer vendors are taking to help accelerate adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions in the small and medium business markets.

The report examines how Boomi, Dreamfactory, LucidEra, MyBizHomepage, Zoho and Zuora are bringing new value to SMBs by concentrating on making SaaS solutions more affordable, accessible and flexible.

While the SaaS model is gaining acceptance as a viable alternative for businesses, it still hasn’t become mainstream. Currently, about 26 percent of small businesses, and about 33 percent of medium businesses currently use and/or plan to use SaaS, according to AMI surveys. “Especially as some established SaaS players move upstream to focus on large and upper mid-market customers, ample opportunity remains for other vendors to innovate and add the kind of value needed to pull more SMBs into the market,” says Laurie McCabe, VP of SMB Solutions & Insights at New York-based research firm AMI-Partners.

Highlights from the report include how these smaller, lesser-known vendors are trying to expand SMB adoption of SaaS—and their own market share— by adding additional value to the SaaS equation. Examples include:

Changing the economics of the SaaS equation. Though often more affordable than traditional, on-premise solutions, many SaaS solutions are still out of reach for cash-strapped SMBs. Vendors such as Zoho and MyBizHomepage are reducing the pricing barrier with free and/or low-cost solutions; others, such Zuora and Boomi, are slashing infrastructure and integration costs for SaaS developers, who can pass their savings on to customers.

Speeding time to solution value. By reducing friction throughout the solution lifecycle, vendors can speed up their return on investment. For instance, LucidEra provides prospects with a free 48-hour Pipeline Healthcheck that provides them with actionable information in the pre-sales phase; MyBizHomepage delivers business dashboards to Intuit QuickBooks users with just a few mouse clicks. Meanwhile, Dreamfactory helps users collaborate and share data across different cloud solutions without having to build and support additional integration and infrastructure

Capitalizing on ecosystems and communities. By building networking and collaboration into their solutions from the beginning, vendors are providing more value to SMBs right out of the gate. Some, such as Zoho, are creating their own communities and marketplaces; others, such as Boomi and Dreamfactory are helping vendors and users integrate solutions within and between ecosystems.

Facilitating the shift to service-centric economy. The shift from product-centric to service-centric businesses is well underway. Vendors such as Zuora, with its Z-Billing and Payments solutions, and Zoho, with Zoho Creator and Marketplace make it easier for other vendors to make the shift

AMI’s “Adding Fresh Value to the SaaS Equation: Six Vendors to Watch” study synthesizes market data with vendor analysis to:

Offer data and trends about relevant SMB requirements, constraints and other related behaviors and attitudes, with data sourced from AMI’s most recent U.S. Small and Medium Business surveys.

Examine the fresh approaches that six vendors—Boomi, Dreamfactory, LucidEra, MyBizHomepage, Zoho and Zuora—are bringing to the SaaS model.

Consider the additional value-add they bring to the SaaS value proposition.

Assess how they—and others that deploy similar strategies—can collectively reshape the SaaS industry, and help accelerate mainstream SMB SaaS adoption.