Is a Hybrid (Desktop AND SaaS) Approach Best?

Situation: Your IT shop bleeds MS Blue, but those SaaS tools sure look inviting.

Desktop vs. SaaS Schedulers
Here's a phrase I'm sure many of you have heard - "Every real project manager knows how to use MS Project".  Throw that up against "Everyone is buying PM SaaS tools because they just include the functions you need" and you've got two sides to a very important argument.   Truth be told, MS Project probably does have some functions not everyone uses and many basic SaaS PM apps don't do much beyond providing online to do lists without any sense of heirarchy or relationship between tasks and resources.

Desktop vs. SaaS PPM Tools
Providing PPM or just a view of all projects in some form of dashboard is becoming increasingly popular in the SaaS world.  However, in looking at enterprise-level SaaS tools, we often run into issues similar to theones we see with schedulers.   That's not to say that truly enterprise-grade PPM sftware does not exist.  It's just that much of what's out there is just a simple view of all projects that doesn't provide you with enough actionable information.

Is a Hybrid Approach a Good Thing?
(typically large) Organizations committed to MS Project have the resources necessary for a completely custom Project Server install that's tailored for that company's needs.  Many small to mid-size companies that are committed to MS Project need something that is easier to implement. Something pre-configured or easily configured to meet most company's needs.

Today, Microsoft rolled out a new section of "Easier with Project", called Project For WorkGroups.  This section highlights their partners who have SaaS (and semi-custom in-house) solutions that deliver a comprehensive view of all of your projects being managed in MS Project.  So your familar desktop app can tie in with a dashboard that is relatively easy to implement.   This is pretty interesting to me as it seems to create a best of both worlds option for a lot of companies. 

What do you think? 


(publishers note: Microsoft is one of our advertisers, but then again there are not many PM software vendors that aren't.  Given that, you may want to take everything I say here with a grain of salt - or just understand that I think its important to talk about these things)