“There's an app for that!” is heard countless times on television, radio, and in everyday conversation. The cell phone has evolved from a communication device to a personal assistant, revolutionizing the way we perform our day-to-day tasks in the past decade.
The same can be said about cloud-based or hosted solutions for business. Similar to mobile applications, cloud-based solutions allow for more streamlined and highly efficient business processes such as budgeting and forecasting, AP, JIB procession, and CRM. Organizations can use hosted solutions to increase efficiency and decrease total cost of ownership in comparison to an installed software.
Cloud-based hosted solutions allow organizations to give their employees instantaneous access via a secure internet connection and a user-friendly interface rather than confining data to a hard drive or an internal network. A hosted solution also requires a significant workload shift. Installation of software updates, backups, and hardware maintenance responsibilities are taken on by a third-party service provider rather than an in-house IT department. This allows the IT department to shift their focus to supporting a company’s day-to-day revenue generating activities.
Smart phones revolutionized the way humans operate on a day-to-day basis, and hosted solutions are revolutionizing the way organizations approach their day-to-day business processes. Yet there are still misperceptions about application security, cost, and ability to customize in a hosted environment. Hosting companies have addressed each of these.
This is the number one fear organizations face when contemplating switching to a cloud-based hosted solution. Unless an organization has a full time IT staff dedicated to maintaining and backing up their data, a hosted solution can provide more security than an installed software. This is because vendors have more resources to invest in highly secure servers, facilities, and a full-time staff dedicated to ensuring all data is encrypted. It is also important to note that risk decreases significantly when servers are not housed on site. Critical data can be accessed anywhere with a secure internet connection, despite server damage or data loss. On the other hand, data may take up to months to recover when using an installed software.
Not all third-party cloud providers have the same security policies, so it's critical to ask questions in order to understand the policy:
It's important to remember that vendors handle data with extra precaution because their reputation is on the line once a contract is signed.
Purchasing a hosted solution requires an upfront fee and a monthly or annual fee. The fee is often a factor of the number of users an organization has and the amount of data they are storing in the system. The initial start-up fee is significantly lower than an installed software.
Cloud-based hosted solutions do not require a substantial initial investment, because organizations are no longer required to integrate additional hardware to support software deployment or purchase additional storage space to house servers. Maintenance is virtually eliminated as all is taken care of on an external network through a third-party provider.
Using a hosted solution does not require organizations to purchase hardware, hire a dedicated IT staff for support, or purchase and configure software onto individual computers. Therefore, hosted solution integrations require weeks compared to years that organizations require for installed software implementations. This yields a greater ROI over the lifetime of the application.
There is not a single application in which smartphone users can manage finances, access social media, check email, and listen to music. Similarly, organizations aren’t restricted to a single application to meet all of their business needs. The possibilities are endless and hosted solutions are able to integrate with virtually any software with API tools.
Although cloud-based hosted solutions may not be customized to an organization’s every specification, one of the primary concerns for hosted solution vendors is ensuring their client is comfortable with the application interface with training, help boards, and 24/7 support. Clients import and export data using a common data interface, lending to familiarity with the solution.
Another benefit to choosing a hosted solution is that they are flexible enough to meet an organization’s changing business demands. For example, adding and removing users is as simple as a click of a button.
Cloud-based hosted solutions provide several benefits, including decreased TCO when compared to an installed software, increased accessibility, and scalability to meet business demands. Organizations still need to examine critical success factors like integration and alignment with current software to determine if it will meet current and future state needs. It's also important to conduct a rigorous package selection to determine what vendor most closely aligns with their needs.
Trenegy helps companies determine how to properly leverage the cloud to reduce complexity within IT. We help our clients get value out of their investments quickly and painlessly.
