The growth in popularity across the world of horizontal Software as a Service (SaaS) is a key trend, according to one research analyst.

Robert McNeill, vice president of research at HFS Research, told Computerworld US that he is seeing even core enterprise applications being updated in this way at major organisations.

He claimed that the number of SaaS implementations is on the increase, praising executives such as Guardian Life Insurance chief technology officer Frank Wander for moving towards the cloud in their processes.

Mr McNeill labelled Mr Wander a "real leader", adding: "What's interesting is that he is using SaaS in IT - an area that he controls. He is embracing SaaS as a way of changing the business."

To emphasise the rocketing popularity of SaaS, the online news resource cited a report by research firm Gartner, which predicted that the overall market for such enterprise applications will rise to $23 billion in 2015 - growing at an average of 17.9 per cent per annum.

For users, there are three ingredients necessary for them to want to move across to a new piece of software, according to Cloud Pro blogger Dennis Howlett, who is openly pro-cloud in his writing.

In his opinion, users must see added value, reduced pain and increased enjoyment - otherwise they will automatically be resistant to change. This why SaaS providers must prove beyond doubt how the cloud will benefit operations.