As an SDN network provider focused on the datacenter, we spend a good amount of time understanding the state of data centers today, tomorrow and some time into the future.
There is no question that the use of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications in the cloud is growing rapidly. Plexxi itself is a shining example, few of the applications we use are in-house across all functional areas.
There are many reasons why we picked cloud-based applications for our needs. As a small company, in many cases there is a very simply economic choice to make. Paying for a cloud based service is simply cheaper than building your own infrastructure. Creating a datacenter infrastructure is not cheap, and maintaining it and the applications that run on top is a serious investment. When you are small, that overhead is hard to carry and per user based charges for a cloud based application is much easier to swallow.