Cloud WFM to Near $1 Billion by 2018

According to IHS (NYSE:IHS), the growing adoption of software as a service (SaaS)-based workforce management solutions will have a dual effect on the market, acting both as a disruptive technology shift and a long-term stabilizer for positive market growth.

IHS estimated that in 2013 SaaS-based workforce management solutions accounted for more than $500 million in revenue and forecasts this to grow to almost $1 billion by 2018.

"Adoption of SaaS in the market for workforce management solutions will be driven by the strategic advantages offered by using cloud-based software", wrote Sam Grinter, market analyst at IHS. "Cloud enables customers to centralize the management of workforce management solutions over multiple geographic sites, to outsource the IT infrastructure required to host the software, and to pay for the solution as an operational expense rather than a capital investment. These benefits are forecast to aid the market for SaaS based workforce management solutions to grow by more than 80% over the next four years."