标题: Understanding the Deployment Options for& [打印本页] 作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:00 标题: Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
Understanding the Deployment Options for your new Business Management System作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:00 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
Introduction Does this situation sound familiar? You started out with an off-the-shelf accounting software package, but now your business has outgrown its usefulness. Or perhaps you purchased your accounting system many years ago and have decided it is time to find out more about the newer solutions on the market. Or, maybe, you’ve recently purchased a business management system, but it is not performing as promised or the cost of maintaining it is too high and you feel it is time to cut your losses. Or you are starting out a new business and want to assess your software solution options.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:02 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
When deciding to implement a new business management system, there are many factors that need to be considered. Up until the beginning of this century, choice of deployment options–the how and where of delivering a software solution–was NOT one of these considerations. You would purchase software licenses, buy computers, and install and run the application in your office. With advances in Web technologies and growth in broadband access to the Internet, alternative deployment methods have emerged. Nowadays, most evaluations of software alternatives include the question of whether to implement the solution “on-premise” or “on-demand.” The purpose of this paper is to assist you in better understanding these deployment options and how your choice in deployment can impact the overall success of your business management solution.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:03 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
On-premise and on-demand defined On-premise solutions are software installed and run on hardware on the premises of the customer. The customer is typically responsible for maintaining the technology infrastructure, and the software licenses are paid for up front through licensing fees. The customer has a perpetual license to use the software and is able to customize features and functionality within the software to suit the company’s unique requirements. In addition, the customer has complete control over the infrastructure and the data.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:03 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
There are two common forms of on-demand software: software as a service (SaaS) and Hosted. In a typical SaaS deployment, a vendor provides the application as a service that is licensed by multiple customers. All aspects of infrastructure management and application delivery are handled by the service provider. Delivery is typically over the public Internet. The customer typically does not maintain software or hardware and pays for access to the application on a pay-for-use or subscription basis.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:04 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
Hosted software is similar to software as a service in that it is managed by the vendor (or by a third party), accessed over the Internet, and paid for on a subscription basis, but the depth and breadth of the application’s functionality is often more comparable to that of the on-premise model, in part due to the only recent advances in technologies supporting SaaS and the relative newness of software publishers in the SaaS arena.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:05 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
At the end of day, deployment is a “how” and a “where” rather than a “what,” and competing business management solutions are separated by a broader range of considerations than just the choice between on-demand and on-premise. Additionally, the relative advantage or disadvantage of one deployment type over others is dependent on each company’s individual objectives and circumstances, which are likely to change over time and vary according to a number of criteria. This paper, therefore, aims to provide a clear understanding of the context of deployment within overall selection criteria and examines five key considerations: 1. Improving business performance 2. Investment timeline and total cost of ownership 3. Data security and data access 4. Availability of internal IT resources 5. Vendor reputation and support ecosystem作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:07 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
1. Improving business performance First and foremost, you need a system that does what you expect it to do: automate key business processes, solve important business issues, and minimize impact on operating procedures. The system needs to provide you with functionality that meets your requirements, and it also must be flexible enough to satisfy your unique business processes. In addition, the system may need to be accessible to your distributed workforce and have capability to support mobile workers.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:08 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
Functionality The functional breadth and depth of business management solutions varies significantly from vendor to vendor. It is important to define your functional requirements clearly up front in order to identify the solution that will provide you with the best fit over the lifetime of your installation. Although new technologies enabling the delivery of software over the Internet have made great progress in recent years, some of the vendors relying solely on these technologies–particularly those with SaaS offerings–have incomplete solutions. Either they do not include key aspects of the solutions in their core offering–instead, charging extra for them–or need to turn to third parties to provide this functionality. Worse, some vendors will promote product capabilities, but once the cover is pulled back, the customer discovers severe limitations that negatively impact the usefulness of the system.作者: Rex 时间: 2009-7-16 17:09 标题: Re:Understanding the Deployment Options for your new
Solution maturity is also an important consideration. Generally, more mature solutions with a number of major product releases behind them will provide broader and deeper functionality than those with a less established history. As SaaS is a relatively new business model, companies only offering SaaS solutions are less experienced and offer less functionality than their on-premise counterparts. Prefer an on-demand model? It is important to note that the most functionally complete on-demand providers are those that have leveraged their on-premise expertise to deliver their solutions in an on-demand environment–often as Hosted solutions.
