Sage’s Accpaconline was one of the services that was off line. At Intuit, just about everything needed to run a small business went down. And that raises the question, about what the options are for customers when the service itself goes and a business can’t do anything because it is relying on Web-based applications. I don’t have the answers, but a lot of people are going to ask this question. While larger organizations can protect themselves, the Intuit difficulties affected thousands of small businesses that don’t have the resources or time for formal disaster planning. Still, although I think this might set back SaaS in the short term, it won’t in the long term.  Among the doubters is Clark Haley, CEO of BCS Prosoft, a Sage reseller. "I'm one of those Controller types that have been skeptical of the all-SaaS model for some time," Haley said. "I believe there are some applications that are perfect for SaaS. But mission-critical systems like POS, timekeeping, and payroll are probably better suited for localized applications - or at the very least, publishers need to provide a way to continue working locally if the Internet goes down."