Tag Archives: solutions
Web Application Software Systems A way to grow
In the recent years, Web application software programs have been widely accepted in multiple software application areas and user segments because of the benefits, ease of licensing, meeting client specific needs and minimal investment requirements.
At an enterprise or business level, the applications that are widely in use are Human Resource Management Software (HRM Software), CRM Software, ERP Applications, Accounting, Inventory Management, Students Information and Operation management software in Educational Institutions, Hospital Management Software systems and so on. Though most of the applications can be perceived as an ERP in business needs, the software apps have been developed by companies keeping in mind the specific industry& business domain needs.
The software as a service can also be used in the government and public interactions; for example application sites like tax payments, utility bill payments, demographic data collection like working men, nature of service and so on. The SaaS finds electoral use in updating public information for polling purposes and so on. The information would benefit both the government authorities and the general public in handling the information. The application would seek integrated information management, features and modules with robust data handling capacity. This will significantly improve the planning of the progress, forecasting public works and related demographical needs.
Since internet brings the ease and convenience along with the reach it has in penetrating the farther or the remote locations; it enables data management and planning from a remote location through proper data capturing and reporting mechanisms. Hospital management, patient health recording mechanism helps in gathering the general data about a particular disease and research upon the data to find solutions, taking precautionary measures, steps to improve the health conditions. Though the above information sounds simple, it has appreciable implications in improvements.
The hurdles that an enterprise or a public authority might face in implementing SaaS applications to record data and forecast based on the data are:
Resistance to disclose data like financial information, health conditions and demographic information
Approval problems due to general public problems
Logistics in implementation of the strategy
Uncertainty in anticipated effectiveness, efficiency and result of the system implementation on improvements
Some of the primary areas or segments that can be looked upon to implement SaaS solutions are:
Data capturing for Market Research, Polls and Forecasting for a product / service.
Scientific Research ideas exchange
Socializing and Social Media Platforms
Public works ideas planning and implementation.
With growing internet usage, reach of personal computing, increased technical capabilities of search engines and absorption of web technology; web based applications is placed comfortably to grow as a sustainable service applications.
The related IT solutions development would complement the development of SaaS and its benefits. Some of the catalyzing IT technologies could be internet banking, mobile technology, payment gateways; internet security applications and so on.
In India, recently NASSCOM (The National Software Solutions Companies Association) took the initiative to launch a directory of emerging companies in SaaS in India.
Copyright ITISL Technologies Pvt Ltd.
Cloud Computing Shifts the TCO Discussion
The cloud computing model can help companies conserve cash and focus limited resources on the business, instead of reacting to IT infrastructure-related fire drills. In the cloud computing model, vendors provide Web-based access to applications as a service, through a subscription pricing model. This eliminates the need for customers to buy, deploy and manage IT infrastructure and solutions. Vendors take responsibility for everything: the servers, storage, operating system, database, business software, updates, migration, power and cooling, data center space, and support services. As a result, cloud computing shifts the IT burden from the customer to the cloud computing application vendor.
Cloud computing vendors can provide these benefits because they’ve built their solutions as Web-based services from the ground up. Instead of building their solutions to run in-house, as a separate, individual instances for each customer, they architect their solutions for a one-to-many, or multi-tenant model. This means that they can run thousands of customers on a single instance of the database and application software. By optimising their business solutions for this shared environment, they can achieve efficiencies throughout the solution lifecycle that would be difficult for on-premise vendors to achieve.
Lean and mean IT
Headquartered in Slovakia, the U.S. division of this security software firm has grown from 1 to 135 employees over the past 10 years. The division had began by using multiple brands of packaged software for accounting, contact management and reporting functions. But as it grew, the organisation wanted tighter integration across functions, better reporting, and an easier way to provide access to an increasing number of remote employees. It also wanted to keep upfront capital and ongoing support costs low. “The fact that there was little or no infrastructure or internal support required drove us to a software-as-service solution,” according the firm’s Business Systems Director. Since deploying NetSuite in 2006, the company has kept IT “lean and mean”, and “the single system, real-time view of customers helps our sales and support teams to offer better service to customers”.
Why does TCO matter?
In the IT industry, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is used to calculate the total cost of purchasing (or in the case of cloud computing, subscribing to), and of operating a technology solution over its useful life. TCO provides a realistic and holistic measure of the long-term costs required to acquire and operate technology solutions. Return on investment (ROI) is another method to evaluate and prioritise technology investments in a company. This measure is typically used to compare investments that uncover new top line revenue and growth opportunities. However, ROI tends to be more subjective in nature than TCO, because ROI looks at business benefits, which often cannot be measured as objectively as costs.
Hurwitz & Associates views TCO as a preferred method to compare technology investments when two solutions provide roughly equivalent benefits over the solution lifecycle, but have different types of costs associated with acquisition, maintenance and operation. For these reasons, a TCO comparison offers a more tangible assessment of the total costs involved in deploying cloud-based SaaS and on-premise business solutions.
Cloud Computing Shifts the TCO Discussion
The cloud computing model can help companies conserve cash and focus limited resources on the business, instead of reacting to IT infrastructure-related fire drills. In the cloud computing model, vendors provide Web-based access to applications as a service, through a subscription pricing model. This eliminates the need for customers to buy, deploy and manage IT infrastructure and solutions. Vendors take responsibility for everything: the servers, storage, operating system, database, business software, updates, migration, power and cooling, data center space, and support services. As a result, cloud computing shifts the IT burden from the customer to the cloud computing application vendor.
Cloud computing vendors can provide these benefits because they’ve built their solutions as Web-based services from the ground up. Instead of building their solutions to run in-house, as a separate, individual instances for each customer, they architect their solutions for a one-to-many, or multi-tenant model. This means that they can run thousands of customers on a single instance of the database and application software. By optimising their business solutions for this shared environment, they can achieve efficiencies throughout the solution lifecycle that would be difficult for on-premise vendors to achieve.
Lean and mean IT
Headquartered in Slovakia, the U.S. division of this security software firm has grown from 1 to 135 employees over the past 10 years. The division had began by using multiple brands of packaged software for accounting, contact management and reporting functions. But as it grew, the organisation wanted tighter integration across functions, better reporting, and an easier way to provide access to an increasing number of remote employees. It also wanted to keep upfront capital and ongoing support costs low. “The fact that there was little or no infrastructure or internal support required drove us to a software-as-service solution,” according the firm’s Business Systems Director. Since deploying NetSuite in 2006, the company has kept IT “lean and mean”, and “the single system, real-time view of customers helps our sales and support teams to offer better service to customers”.
Why does TCO matter?
In the IT industry, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is used to calculate the total cost of purchasing (or in the case of cloud computing, subscribing to), and of operating a technology solution over its useful life. TCO provides a realistic and holistic measure of the long-term costs required to acquire and operate technology solutions. Return on investment (ROI) is another method to evaluate and prioritise technology investments in a company. This measure is typically used to compare investments that uncover new top line revenue and growth opportunities. However, ROI tends to be more subjective in nature than TCO, because ROI looks at business benefits, which often cannot be measured as objectively as costs.
Hurwitz & Associates views TCO as a preferred method to compare technology investments when two solutions provide roughly equivalent benefits over the solution lifecycle, but have different types of costs associated with acquisition, maintenance and operation. For these reasons, a TCO comparison offers a more tangible assessment of the total costs involved in deploying cloud-based SaaS and on-premise business solutions.