MSPmentor

Software as a service (SaaS) may represent the future of IT, but MSPmentor’s SaaS 20 Stock Index continues to slide downward like the rest of Wall Street. While the Dow is approaching bear market territory — down nearly 20% from its October 2007 high — the SaaS 20 Stock Index has slid 16.38% in 2008 and 3.63% for the week ended June 27.

By comparison, the Dow gave up 4.19 percent, the S&P shed 3 percent and the Nasdaq fell 3.76 percent, according to the Associated Press.

For the week, only three of our 20 index members (Athenahealth, +0.20%; Blackboard, +1.94%; and Kenexa, +5.80%) posted gains. The index’s biggest one-week losers were EMC (-10.43%), Omniture (-10.15%) and Amazon.com (-7.94%).

Here’s more about our weekly winners and losers.

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Evidence is mounting that the software as a service (SaaS) industry is doing well — but not quite as well as financial analysts had expected. The latest anecdote comes from Blackboard Inc., a company that offers hosted applications to colleges and universities.

I’ve tracked Blackboard for numerous years while working at a college and also contributing to University Business magazine. Blackboard was among the first niche, vertical market software companies to truly master the SaaS business model. So, how are things at Blackboard, and what does the data mean to managed service providers (MSPs)? Here’s a look.

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