Companies considering this new application delivery model should examine several issues, including: Which applications are suitable for consumption through an online model? How can we make the transition to an online service without incurring system downtime or inducing confusion among employees and staff? And which provider is the right one for us, not just today but tomorrow as well?
What to Outsource?
For many small and mid-sized businesses, the question is not whether to outsource but which application to outsource first. In the past, SaaS offerings were limited to applications such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and the like.
Now, however, organisations of all sizes have discovered that online infrastructure services lend themselves well to this model by providing easy, fast, cost-effective access to applications such as backup and storage that protect and store mission critical data.
With traditional on-site backup and storage, for example, the many methods that must be considered to protect data, combined with the host of time-intensive processes required to configure the environment, yields complexity and opportunity for human error. This complexity can be particularly problematic in small and mid-sized organisations with few — if any — IT personnel. Consequently, outsourcing such important and challenging applications to an expert can provide welcome relief.
But outsourcing backup or storage is not just a cost-effective strategy for easing IT burdens. By putting crucial IT tasks into the hands of an experienced and trusted SaaS provider, businesses can implement business continuity and disaster recovery plans for critical data, and reduce the risk of failing to comply with critical industry or government data protection regulations.
Furthermore, moving to a SaaS model for infrastructure applications can give organisations the flexibility they need to meet their own changing business requirements. For example, with data volumes growing at unprecedented rates, organisations must be able to store, manage, and maintain this data — and bear the associated costs of deploying new hardware, consuming more power, and other physical matters. However, in a SaaS model, these responsibilities shift to the service provider.
Making the Move
The ease and speed with which an organisation transitions to a SaaS application model depends largely upon the application and the service provider. In general, however, moving to a SaaS application model is much simpler and faster than deploying a similar solution in-house.
Better yet, no up-front investment is required.
Getting started with online backup, for example, is designed to be virtually effortless on the part of the end-user. An organisation signs up for the service, then selects how much data should be stored and for how long. A pay-as-you-go model based on service and capacity makes the SaaS model very cost-effective. Some vendors also allow customers to adjust their capacity requirements during their contract period without penalty. This type of flexibility allows the organisation to adjust their requirements over time to fit their business needs.
Once an organisation signs up, an online backup service agent is typically downloaded to the servers requiring protection. While this process should require minimal interaction to ensure ease-of-use, it should also include a procedure for creating an encryption passphrase on each computer on which the agent is installed to ensure data security.
When registration is complete, the organisation then typically selects the data to be backed up for each server. The service should compress this data and encrypt it using the previously mentioned passphrase before sending it to the service provider's data centre.
The most robust online backup solutions provide infrastructure and capabilities — such as redundant data centres and the easy administration of backup data from multiple servers as well as desktops and laptops — to help address high-priority business needs for information security and availability. These solutions provide always-on data protection so that when a file is changed or saved, it is also backed up. In addition, to save time, bandwidth, and storage space, the most advanced online backup services use delta transmissions — that is, an entire file is uploaded just once, after which only the portions of the files that have changed since the last backup are saved.
Data restoration should be simple. Users should look for solutions that allow them to use the same online interface to securely browse and select files to restore. Ideally, files can be identified using multiple methods. Once selected, the files can be securely transmitted back to the appropriate server.
Selecting a Provider
When evaluating online backup options, look for a well-established SaaS provider that backs up data to multiple, redundant data centers. This means that once information is backed up to one data center, it is replicated to another, with redundancy between the two so that in case one facility experiences a failure, data remains available via the other facility. At the same time, this process should be transparent to the customer.
The use of certified data centers is also critical. For service organizations, one of the most important is the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 Type II certification. SAS 70 sets out detailed guidelines and standards of reporting on the effectiveness and adequacy of internal control procedures and activities by service organizations. A SaaS provider that owns the technology, infrastructure, data centers, and support that comprise the on-demand offering are typically much better positioned to deliver higher quality services today and into the future.
By investing in the most appropriate service from a reliable SaaS provider, small and mid-sized-businesses can stretch their IT budgets while enhancing their efficiency and, in turn, focus more closely on business priorities. Services such as online backup give organizations a cost-effective alternative to traditional on-premise infrastructure applications, which can be complex and time-consuming to deploy and manage.
Indeed, its ease of deployment and use, together with its scalability and affordability make the SaaS model a competitive advantage for small and mid-sized businesses in an increasingly challenging and promising global marketplace.
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