EFFECTIVENESS ASSESSMENT FOR OUTSOURCING MODELS OF PROVIDING APPLICATION SOFTWARE FOR THE SME SECTOR. METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND THE CASE STUDY (Polish title - below)

(Title in Polish - 'Ocena efektywnosci outsourcingowych modeli udostepniania oprogramowania aplikacyjnego dla sektora MSP. Aspekty metodyczne i studium przypadku'). More and more software providing companies implement Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as one of models to distribute its products. This stems from unquestionable benefits which this distribution method offers both to software producers and its customers. In most cases economic effectiveness of such implementations is examined with discounted financial methods, using measures typical for Cost-Benefits Analysis (CBA), such as: net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) or modified internal rate of return (MIRR). Those examinations may not consider to sufficient extent technological risk, which is related to the necessity of adjusting offered solutions - in particular those developed under 'outdated' tools - to the new distribution model. For this reason financial measures should be supported by additional risk examinations, for example sensitivity and scenario analysis. They also need to be verified with the help of Information Economics method, which beside business aspects, takes also into account technological ones. This paper presents the example of such extended examination and verification by the experience of SaaS implementation in a leading Polish provider of application software for SMEs.