Hosted Solutions

Quatro Group provides hosting services as a method for implementing client solutions on a subscription basis or Software as a Service.

Five major benefits of SaaS

Regardless of what specific application you might be evaluating, you stand to benefit from SaaS in five major ways. When you subscribe to a software service instead of purchasing a software license, you:

1. Save money

Several factors contribute to making it considerably less expensive to implement a SaaS application than a traditional on-premises application. These factors include:

• Lower IT costs.
• Economies of scale.
• Pay as you go.

2. Save time.

When you subscribe to a SaaS application, you avoid the overhead associated with implementing conventional software. A typical software implementation involves purchasing and maintaining servers, housing them securely, and installing and maintaining the software. This requires the time and effort of experienced IT personnel and deflects the efforts of employees at a number of levels away from the core mission of your organization. According to analysts, the cost of implementing conventional enterprise software is four to five times the cost of the original license.

3. Focus your technology budgets on competitive advantage rather than infrastructure.

When you subscribe to a web-hosted application, you free your organization from supporting high-cost, time-consuming IT functions, including:

• Purchasing and supporting the server infrastructure necessary to install and maintain the software in-house.
• Providing the equipment redundancy and housing necessary to ensure security, reliability, and scalability.
• Maintaining a labor-intensive patch and upgrade process.

The more time your employees spend maintaining equipment, downloading and installing patches, and supporting software upgrades, the less time they are spending on your core business activities.

4. Gain immediate access to the latest innovations.

With traditional licensed software, you typically have to wait for the next release to benefit from the latest innovations or to move your organization to a new browser or operating system. Given the cost and complexity of moving to a new version, it may not even be practical to upgrade each time a new release becomes available.

With a SaaS subscription, on the other hand, you benefit from innovations on an on-going basis. As soon as a new or improved feature appears in the application, you can begin using it.

5. Join a community of interest.

Purchasing a traditional software license is very much an individual affair. When you subscribe to a SaaS application, however, you become a member of a community that has the application at the center.

As a SaaS customer, you benefit from your peers in a way that you're less likely to do with an on-premises implementation. Customer user communities "tend to thrive" and are excellent sources of best practice tips and even templates or add-ons.