Data on Demand (continued)
SaaS-y Promises
Hosted applications provide further advantages which, while less obvious, save time and boost an organization's bottom line. These include:
More reliable off-site backup Many companies are beginning to see that SaaS' built-in off-site data storage makes it a perfect solution for their data recovery and business continuity needs, says Jeffrey Kaplan, managing director of THINKStrategies, a consulting firm based in Wellesley, Mass. "It's one of those unintended benefits that has increased in importance as people become more aware of what SaaS can do," he says.
Compliance with regulatory mandates Most companies are facing increased regulatory mandates, either because of universal laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) or industry-specific regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Most on demand solutions offer automatic compliance with these regulations, says Kaplan.
Cheaper archiving After instant and always available data access, the main reason Copart chose ExpenseWatch was because the archiving of critical information could be achieved less expensively than with an on-premises solution. "Document retention was huge for us," says Perez. "Otherwise, we would have had to invest in servers, bring them in-house and hire personnel to maintain them."
Easy transition to globalization Because on demand applications are so easily scalable, as well as being instantly available in other languages, many international companies are turning to them as well. "An on-premises solution generally requires installing a whole new version of the software. It's much easier to switch between languages and currencies (with a hosted application)," says Berridge. "All it takes is a click of a mouse."
The bottom line: Any company looking to cut implementation costs, reduce network-operating risk and provide near-universal data access should further investigate whether SaaS' promises pay off.
About the Author
Alice LaPlante is an award-winning writer and editor who has covered business for more than 20 years.
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