When hearing "SaaS", most people think "higher standardisation", and "out of the box solution". Within the constraints of whatever configuration the SaaS solution allows, this is usually right. Multi tenancy usually enforces a common code base and doesn't allow custom development, while making upgrades faster and less painful, and quite often also making the configuration, as far as allowed, more straightforward than in traditional single tenancy ERP solutions.

However, the demarcation line between SaaS and "traditional" vendors is blurring. SAP, Oracle, and others are rushing onto the bandwagon to get their own SaaS solutions out, proving the success of the concept. However, looking closely at what's on offer in HR/HCM, using SAP as an example, you find that your first port of call is not the omnipresent vendor from Walldorf, Germany, but some of their more innovative (or just bolder) partners. SAP HCM SaaS comes packaged as "exalerate" (from Exaserv), "tHRive" (offered by ROC), "euHReka" (by NorthgateArinso),...

They all have in common that they use SAP HCM as a foundation but add their own elements, most notably web based and mobile user interfaces. It is difficult to see how purely SaaS the end product really is and many argue that the core product, as not designed to be SaaS, will never be a perfect SaaS solution. But that's not the question we want to ask here.
What we find interesting is: how will SAP HCM - and other solutions in a similar situation - develop as SaaS? Will it vanish as an anonymous engine hidden behind the brands and UIs of powerful partners, with marketing execs in Walldorf taking a leaf out of Intel's book and try to get at least a "SAP inside" sticker onto those products?

Will SAP prevail as the driver of the solution, but clients looking for SaaS need to choose between various slightly different packages adding nothing more, but confusion? Or will we get to a point, where each reseller adapts their user interface, pre-configuration, add-on developments, and service models to a certain segment of clients, e.g. an industry or company size? With this thought, there is actually a glimpse of hope that the current confusion will eventually lead to added value for clients, as they will find real industry solutions - not just modules covering a tiny part of the enterprise or half-heartedly pre-configured templates suffering from too small a customer base. Products with market shares as large as Oracle's or SAP's can definitely cope with some segmentation, particularly when the core product stays the same and industry based SaaS solutions are offered on top - in co-existance with the pure traditional model for those, who still prefer to be 100% in control and change their system wherever they want to.

Of course, there's always the option that SAP themselves will start late, but thoroughly, and overtake the partner solutions offering a better SaaS of their own and making the multitude of current variations obsolete. This has happened before with other add-ons and service models.

So, there are a few scenarios where SaaS based partner solutions could drive traditional ERP vendors to - what are you expecting?