ESaaS: A new software paradigm for supporting higher education in cloud environment

As a new paradigm, Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is becoming increasingly important in information technology industry because it provides a cost-effective alternative over traditional packaged applications. Apart from an application delivery model, SaaS is also a business model that encompasses a broad spectrum of business, marketing, and technical opportunities, as well as issues and challenges. Introducing the concept of ESaaS that is defined as Education Software-as-a-Service, this paper compares it with traditional software, and discusses how such software can support education systems as a tool for enhancing information, teaching and learning in cloud environment. This paper then focuses on the development model of ESaaS, providing systematic steps on how to develop ESaaS.