Cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) are two of the most used and misused terms in the industry. Celent describes where it is appropriate for financial institutions to take advantage of these offerings.

In this report, Cloud Computing and SaaS: Getting the Most Leverage, Celent lists the characteristics of areas where SaaS is most appropriate for financial institutions evaluating these areas on multiple criteria and scoring these areas for applicability to SaaS and the cloud. The top scoring application was collaboration software, followed by email.

SaaS is taking off in all sorts of areas. Core banking has been provided by service bureaus as a service (effectively SaaS) for years, and outsourcing email platforms, collaboration, and desktop software are newer areas where banks can receive better service at a lower cost.

“In many ways, SaaS on the cloud can offer superior service in areas such as archiving, disaster recovery, business continuity, and availability,” says Bart Narter, Senior Vice President of Celent’s Banking Group and author of the report. “Banks should take these factors into account when deciding whether to support certain functions in house.”