The Software-as-a-Service Era hasfinally arrived as the latest evolution of the service bureau modelthat had its origins in the days of the expensive and bulkymainframe computers.

Technology outsourcing has been making a muscular comeback for anumber of reasons—weak margins, economies of scale, risk mitigationand the need for new assets.

More financial institutions are turning to theSoftware-as-a-Service or SaaS model, which is simply using abrowser to access a software application centrally hosted in thecloud by an outside service provider. The SaaS model is compellingfor lenders as challenges of the past – security, compliance andcontrol – are being well-managed. But first a littlebackground.