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Constant access to fast and reliable internet connection has become the standard in the Europe, with even 98% internet penetration in Northern Europe (Statista Research Department, 2022). However, in 2021, the number of worldwide internet users was 4.9 billion, being 63 percent of global population. In other words, more than one third of the global population currently does not have access to the world wide web. Internet access and availability can heavily differ per region. For example, India and China combined count for a total of 1.1 billion people who are disconnected to the internet.

At this moment multiple companies are trying to solve this problem, through delivering internet from space, using small satellites that are launched into low Earth orbit. Companies such as OneWeb, Viasat, Geespace, Telesat, Starlink are currently competing to become market leader in this satellite internet industry.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is currently leading the race with their project called Starlink. This company was established in 2015 and launched their first prototype satellites into the orbit in 2018. In the following years SpaceX deployed a total of 2,662 satellites into low Earth orbit, currently serving about 250,000 customers in 32 countries around the world (Pertova, 2022). The company offers a high-speed broadband connection to people in rural areas and parts of the world where currently internet access is unavailable. The company is currently helping Ukraine with their war against Russia, providing Ukraine with stable and secure internet connection, giving them a strategic advantage.

Another contender that entered the market in 2019 is Amazon’s project Kuiper. In April 2022, Jeff Bezos’s Amazon signed the largest rocket deal in the history of commercial space industry, around $10 billion, for launches of a total of 3276 Kuiper satellites (Clarke, 2022). Amazon is planning to launch its first internet satellites by the start of 2023, and will try to compete with SpaceX and the other competitors.

This competition between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can have major positive impact on developing countries, countries in difficult situations, as well as rural areas in other companies, by providing stable and fast internet connectivity. I believe that the competition between these companies, and these two billionaires, will accelerate the growth of this technology, which will have positive effects on helping countries and areas that are in need.

References

Clarke, N. (2022, 4 7). Amazon’s Project Kuiper vs Starlink: What We Know. Opgehaald van https://www.starlinkhardware.com/: https://www.starlinkhardware.com/amazons-project-kuiper-vs-starlink-what-we-know/

Pertova, M. (2022, 5 1). Amazon has bold ambitsions to take on SpaceX in the satellite internet business. CNBC.

Statista Research Department. (2022, 6 6). Internet usage worldwide – statistics & facts. Opgehaald van https:/www.statista.com: https://www.statista.com/topics/1145/internet-usage-worldwide/#dossierKeyfigures

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Software as a Service, in the tech industry better known as SaaS, is software that is owned, delivered, and managed remotely, and delivered in the form of a subscription. SaaS is currently the largest public cloud service and is expected to reach $208 billion in end-user spending in 2023 (Gartner, 2022). The pandemic of 2019 led to organizations seeking for new business applications to support remote work. These business applications were needed for standard business processes e.g., internal communication and collaboration, which perfectly fits the SaaS model. So, partially due COVID-19, SaaS is currently becoming the go-to option for Small and Medium Businesses as well as large enterprises, due the scalability cost-effectiveness, and the ease of use.

Due a proliferation of new SaaS options it can be difficult to you as a manager to choose and manage the usage all different services within your organization. One of the benefits of SaaS is the ease of implementation for businesses, which led to a proliferation of apps in many organizations. Access management provider Okta has reported on application use of its customers in 2020, in a report called ‘Business at Work’, giving insights into how organizations and people work today. This report shows that their larger customers with over 2,000 employees use an average of 175 apps, while smaller companies with less than 2,000 employees use an average of 73 apps (Okta, 2021).

As seen in the figure below, SaaS Management Platforms were ranked on the absolute peak of inflated expectations according to Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Cloud Security (Moore, 2021). This hype cycle highlights the capabilities of these platforms but also indicates that current expectations are rising above the reality of what can be achieved. SaaS Management Platforms (SMP’s) help organizations monitor and manage their technologic portfolio of different SaaS applications in an optimal way. It enables managers to discover the most suitable SaaS options, monitor license use and costs, proactively manage renewals and monitor the use per employee in a scalable and automated way. It helps development, Finance, Procurement and Security managers grow with informed decisions, which result in a cost effective and secure strategy (LeanIX, n.d.).

Is a SaaS Management Platform for needed for my organization? You should consider SMP, if your organization is struggling with subscription costs, if multiple departments are buying software with overlapping features or if your security management is struggling with certain business apps. These tools help you manage your sprawl of apps and prepare your company for a future full of SaaS.

References
LeanIX. (n.d.). The Definitive Guide To SaaS Management. Retrieved 10 5, 2022, from https://www.leanix.net/en/wiki/saas/saas-management#What-is-SaaS-Management

Moore, S. (2021, 9 8). www.gartner.com. Retrieved 10 5, 2022, from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/4-must-have-technologies-that-made-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-cloud-security-2021

Okta. (2021). Business at Work. Okta.