Sunday, February 26, 2006
NextLogic on demand software.
NextLogic just launched first on demand software or software as a service. It's called SBS - Small Business Solution. SBS is an on demand software for start up companies, sole proprietors, small businesses and self employed agents. It comprises most important functionality for running business like simple contact management and communication tracking, products management, generation of quotations, sales orders, invoices and also receivables and payments. (http://sbs.nextlogic.org)
The objective is to help small companies to run their businesses smoother and in a more organized way, so they can grow in the future easily. We also added mass email and mass sms as value added features, which can help to generate awarness and maybe also extra revenue if used wisely.
On demand software or software as a service is a new approach to software implementation or software "selling" these days. Not that we want to be trendy or anything, but based on our own experience, we see its benefits compared to traditional software and would like to briefly and simply introduce them to our target audience - SMEs.
So, what is software on demand?
There can be many disputes raised if on demand software - software as a service - utility computing software is the same thing or not? There are slight differences but for the purpose of keeping it simple and understandable, we would refer to all these terms as if they would be the same thing as the main principle is the same.
Software on demand transforms the point of view on software. Software is no longer a commodity, a product you can buy either of the shelf as the packaged solution or from software vendor as a customized software solution. Nowadays, you can purchase software as a service and use it only when you need it (or when there is a demand from your side for it).
To give you simple example from life to understand better:
In order to use electricity, you do not buy a powerplant and produce your own electricity, right? You just subscribe to electricity provider and pay for the electricity used on a monthly basis plus some extra cost comes as first time subscribtion fee and some maintenance cost.
With software on demand or utility computing solutions is the same thing - you do not need to buy the whole solution and run in on your own computer anymore and pay for user or other licenses. You just select a software vendor that provides solution you are looking for, the solution can be initially customized for your needs and you can access the solution over the Internet any time you want to and use it only as much as you need to. The rest is the responsibility of the software provider - hosting, maintenance, upgrades, security, back ups, customer support, etc.
Payment structures for these kind of solutions can vary from one standard monthly fee, monthly fee per every user, monthly fee per transactions made, etc. Generally, you have to commit and subscribe to the provider for a minimum of 1 - 3 years.
ADVANTAGES:
- very cost efficient - the savings compared to traditional software purchase can be amazing (lower upfront cost, lower maintenance cost, less headache in managing all aspects of the computer system in house, saved time during implementation, saved on license cost, etc.)
- pro business oriented - upgrades to the solution are provided on a regular basis based on feedback from many business users of the solution
- less risky - if the project fails at least you have not spent so much time and money in it already (which happens to many software projects nowadays for many different reasons)
DISADVANTAGES or CONCERNS:
- security - is a major concern for small and big companies, truth is that nowadays accessing data over the Internet from highly protected servers and through encryption of data and security certificates, etc. that software providers offer in the package, is much safer way than keeping data in your company servers where feeling that data are secure is higher but in reality security of data is much more questionable
- less flexibility - on demand software solutions offered to many companies can easily become "on line off the shelf" solutions where standarization can take over the real need behind company automation, thus you have to be careful that solution that you get can easily be adjusted to your needs and customized, otherwise its not worth the investment either
- service - eventhough provided as a service, many providers fail in providing the real service to rapidly growing number of software users (maybe thats why also salesforce.com is currently loosing many customers daily). No matter how great the idea is, if service is not good, run away from the provider as soon as possible because this concern or disadvantage can prevail all advantages and benefits that on demand software solution can offer to the company (small and a big one too).
The objective is to help small companies to run their businesses smoother and in a more organized way, so they can grow in the future easily. We also added mass email and mass sms as value added features, which can help to generate awarness and maybe also extra revenue if used wisely.
On demand software or software as a service is a new approach to software implementation or software "selling" these days. Not that we want to be trendy or anything, but based on our own experience, we see its benefits compared to traditional software and would like to briefly and simply introduce them to our target audience - SMEs.
So, what is software on demand?
There can be many disputes raised if on demand software - software as a service - utility computing software is the same thing or not? There are slight differences but for the purpose of keeping it simple and understandable, we would refer to all these terms as if they would be the same thing as the main principle is the same.
Software on demand transforms the point of view on software. Software is no longer a commodity, a product you can buy either of the shelf as the packaged solution or from software vendor as a customized software solution. Nowadays, you can purchase software as a service and use it only when you need it (or when there is a demand from your side for it).
To give you simple example from life to understand better:
In order to use electricity, you do not buy a powerplant and produce your own electricity, right? You just subscribe to electricity provider and pay for the electricity used on a monthly basis plus some extra cost comes as first time subscribtion fee and some maintenance cost.
With software on demand or utility computing solutions is the same thing - you do not need to buy the whole solution and run in on your own computer anymore and pay for user or other licenses. You just select a software vendor that provides solution you are looking for, the solution can be initially customized for your needs and you can access the solution over the Internet any time you want to and use it only as much as you need to. The rest is the responsibility of the software provider - hosting, maintenance, upgrades, security, back ups, customer support, etc.
Payment structures for these kind of solutions can vary from one standard monthly fee, monthly fee per every user, monthly fee per transactions made, etc. Generally, you have to commit and subscribe to the provider for a minimum of 1 - 3 years.
ADVANTAGES:
- very cost efficient - the savings compared to traditional software purchase can be amazing (lower upfront cost, lower maintenance cost, less headache in managing all aspects of the computer system in house, saved time during implementation, saved on license cost, etc.)
- pro business oriented - upgrades to the solution are provided on a regular basis based on feedback from many business users of the solution
- less risky - if the project fails at least you have not spent so much time and money in it already (which happens to many software projects nowadays for many different reasons)
DISADVANTAGES or CONCERNS:
- security - is a major concern for small and big companies, truth is that nowadays accessing data over the Internet from highly protected servers and through encryption of data and security certificates, etc. that software providers offer in the package, is much safer way than keeping data in your company servers where feeling that data are secure is higher but in reality security of data is much more questionable
- less flexibility - on demand software solutions offered to many companies can easily become "on line off the shelf" solutions where standarization can take over the real need behind company automation, thus you have to be careful that solution that you get can easily be adjusted to your needs and customized, otherwise its not worth the investment either
- service - eventhough provided as a service, many providers fail in providing the real service to rapidly growing number of software users (maybe thats why also salesforce.com is currently loosing many customers daily). No matter how great the idea is, if service is not good, run away from the provider as soon as possible because this concern or disadvantage can prevail all advantages and benefits that on demand software solution can offer to the company (small and a big one too).
