Using Drupal to power SaaS
This deck accompanied my talk at DrupalCamp Toronto on April 2, 2014 - which related experiences using Drupal as a framework for developing SaaS solutions.
The gist of the talk was that Drupal's flexibility for theming and interacting with other software (through its API and Services like JSON) in combination with its modular scalability really empower software designers to test hypothesis' through rapid prototyping using Drupal. Additionally, now that cloud hosting solutions like Pantheon exist, which is tailored for Drupal specifically, you don't have to worry too much about implications of growing userbases - prototypes can become actual customer-facing offerings from day 1.
As an example of how we've used Drupal at Design Guru to power SaaS offerings, I talked briefly about the architecture powering a project called GetFilmi (subscription video on demand service for South Asian cinema) which uses Drupal to act as a central content publishing hub which displays video assets from Kaltura and then pushes content to native mobile and tablet apps using Services. From the lessons learnt in developing GetFilmi's architecture we've created a white label SVOD service and I spoke to our vision for the future which would be a truly turn-key offering (taking some queues from another Drupal powered SaaS service called introduction.io we run for creatives around the world to host portfolios.)