The increasing popularity of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) over the last few months may attract many small businesses in IT into taking advantage of the systems, according to an expert.

Regional sales director at Interactive Intelligence Dave Paulding made his opinions clear to ITWeb, stating that SaaS programs such as customer relationship management can be brilliant for many companies.

The expert compared it to electricity, saying that it is "a utility that they plug into and pay for monthly".

Mr Paulding emphasised that SaaS can be a valuable addition, particularly for small businesses in IT which are able to get a large number of functions without having to spend too much money on the system itself.

The news follows a recent survey by Gartner which understood that many companies in the UK are taking to SaaS projects, with the country only coming second to France in a list of leading international users.

More than half of small businesses (53 per cent) believe that the most important benefit of outsourcing is guaranteed response times for IT support. London-based Connect conducted the research in 2007.