Kana joins on-demand goldrush

Web CRM firm adds SaaS option

Dot-com survivor Kana Software is the latest firm to join the software-as-a-service gang, hoping to appeal to firms impressed by Salesforce.com and other pioneers.

Kana once had a multibillion-dollar valuation at the peak of the first internet boom but is now midway through a comeback as more firms seek a way to automate customer service via email, instant messaging, web self-service and call centres.

After moving research and development back to north America and returning to a full stock-market listing, Kana’s latest trick is to offer an on-demand version of its software.

The Kana OnDemand suite is released today in concert with an on-premises version of the software. The company will use the same underlying code for both its on-premises product and its hosted sibling. Although many on-demand software purists suggest that only code developed from ground up as hosted products will be optimal, Kana said that its products’ roots in being developed for outsourcing partners sharing code held on servers means that the underlying architecture does not need to be changed.

“It’s the same product, the same code base but what we’re offering is the flexibility of deployment for people who want to get up and running quickly,” said Marchai Bruchey, Kana’s chief marketing officer.