SaaS has been gaining traction partially due to it’s ability to help companies adapt to the new state of “normal” they will face as we emerge from the global recession. SaaS and the “cloud” computing model help contain costs, shorten implementation cycles and enable CIOs to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than expensive hardware and personnel management. And according to some reports, we can also add improved energy efficiency - along with the associated cost savings and sustainability benefits - to the list of potential benefits.

The Cloud Clinic covered the rise in SaaS applications as a means for companies to “green” up their operations and cut costs.

“One area in which cloud computing is proving particularly useful is the data center. With the ability to store data and apps online rather than on energy-guzzling servers, IT managers are able to scale down their equipment while scaling up their IT capabilities.”

Much of this energy and equipment cost reduction is a result of economies of scale. Most companies simply aren’t capable of taking their data center operations to the extremes - in terms of energy efficiency and capacity - that SaaS providers are naturally incentivized to do, simply to keep costs in line.

Google Apps is a perfect example of a cloud application provider who’s pushing the energy efficiency envelope. Here, they give a tour of one of their data centers, which achieves an energy efficiency rating the EPA didn’t expect companies to reach for several years.

My guess is that Google’s data center doesn’t look like the IT/server rooms in your own company. And although Google likely leads in this trend towards lean, green energy efficiency, other providers in the cloud will certainly follow. Will your own company do so, with their in-house application servers? Not likely - at least not to that extreme.

Although deployment times for SaaS applications likely depend on the functional area, integration, migration, change management, etc., it’s possible that in some cases, they may be included in the must sought after category of “easy wins” for CSR initiatives. Add that in with decreased support and hardware costs and the cloud may become the new normal paradigm for cost conscious, green focused companies.