but I don't quite see how "doing it over the network" is going to inherently going to bring costs down It's a simple matter of the economics of scale. Let's a

but I don't quite see how "doing it over the network" is going to inherently going to bring costs down It's a simple matter of the economics of scale. Let's assume it takes 1 IT person per small business and assume there are 1000 businesses. The cost of upgrading and maintaining all those systems is roughly 1000 salaries. Now if you take those same 1000 businesses and provide them with SaaS solutions (assuming cost of software will remain consistent between the two platforms) and say that you have a decent sized team of 50 people, then assuming the salaries are consistent you're solution is much cheaper. This is a very simplified way to put it, but should make it clear.