Buying Software for Your Startup

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Buying Software for your startu

Buying Software for Your Startup

Buying software for your startup these days require some careful considerations. Once-upon-a-time most software deployments were considered, “on-premise”, deployed on your servers behind your firewall. These days the software delivery model has changed to be more, “on-demand”, where the software you are using is actually hosted in the cloud. In this article, we will take a quick, comparative,  look at how On-demand has become the preferred option over on-premise.

 

Buying Software for your startup On-Demand SaaS software deployments vs On-Premise

 

On-demand SaaS software deployments

On-demand SaaS software deployments refer to software licensing and delivery model on which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. On-demand software is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser.

Some of the top benefits of a software-on-demand model:

 

  • Since a provider hosts commercially available software, the provider gives customers network-based access to a single copy of the application created specifically for SaaS distribution.
  • Fault finding or troubleshooting becomes easier as existing hosting helps find bugs and maintenance tasks quickly.
  • Updates can be automatically applied, and patch management can be done seamlessly without disturbing existing implementations.
  • Easier Collaboration across networks because of connectivity and faster collaboration of information.
  • Immediate access to the latest innovations. With the software delivery process being online, the on-demand software provides access to the latest technology faster.
  • Lower IT costs, as the software is hosted on shared servers or the cloud.  A typical software implementation involves purchasing and maintaining servers, housing them securely, and installing and maintaining the software.

 

On-premise SaaS software deployments

On-premise SaaS implies the implementation of the software done the traditional way. In this model, which is outdated and available less in the market, a customer has to pay for a lot of things such as the infrastructure, the hardware, the operating system, and underlying software.

In this traditional model, you also have to pay for maintenance and support. Besides these, there are many shortcomings of the on-premise SaaS software deployments, such as:

 

  • Data Security: The data is not secure as it is distributed and not secured with Cloud functionality.
  • Reliability: If a single node does not work then it can lead to problems while delivering data continuously.
  • Manage enterprise data: Managing enterprise data can be challenging due to the distributed nature of the SaaS software.
  • Functionality: The feature implementations are tough to be implemented successfully due to the distributed nature of the infrastructure.
  • Disaster control: In the event of a disaster since the data is not being backed on the cloud, there can be a loss of data.
  • Forced upgrades: There are a lot of forced upgrades the end user goes through as the upgrades are not synced with the cloud.
  • SLAs and Value-added services: Meeting SLAs and providing Value added services requires extra effort since that may need additional configuration efforts.

 

Cost Comparison

When buying software for your startup, you should make a detailed cost comparison. Just because you are leasing the software over time in a SaaS environment does not mean that it is always cheaper to acquire.  Before you make any decision about the On Demand vs. Deployed, do a side-by-side cost comparison. Make sure you factor in things like the cost to support or upgrade the application as those things are usually included in SaaS and not in the Deployed model

 

Final verdict

In totality, In SaaS, the user does not pay for the software itself. Instead, it works like a rental. They have the authorization to use it for a period and pay for the software that they are using.

So, for a business on-demand, SaaS is the obvious choice to equip them for better business results with on-demand and on-time computing.

Buying Software for Your Startup

 

 

JoeFlynn

Joe Flynn is a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur who created Lavante, Inc. Lavante was started with the vision using Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and advanced Data Extraction techniques to transform the traditionally manual-based Account Payable Recovery industry. Lavante Was acquired by PRGX Inc. in November 2017. Joe is currently working on a new venture using Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning to transform trade partner communications across the entire supply chain.