What Are the Benefits of Business Application Hosting?

CIOs and other executives responsible for the upkeep of the company IT department understand

all too well that it can be prohibitively difficult to provide organizations with access to the tools

needed to stay competitive in today’s high-tech world. In large part, this is due to the demands of

maintaining up-to-date software. Licensing software can be extremely expensive, particularly

when significant numbers of employees require these pricey applications to perform their jobs

properly. Combine this with the added stress of contending with other IT-related problems—

such as the ongoing effort to protect company systems from hackers, or the perennial difficulty

of calculating a budget that will not allocate either too much or too little money to computer

accessories—and it’s no wonder why so many organizations have sought a cost-cutting

alternative. Fortunately, business application hosting can provide just that.

What is business application hosting? This is a service provided by a third-party organization

that agrees to take over responsibility for hosting and managing one or more software

applications on behalf of a particular organization. After contracting with one of these

application hosting outfits, a business pays a fee—usually a monthly subscription—in return for

off-premise access to various programs. These applications can be accessed from nearly any

Internet-connected device; the company does not own the software programs that are provided

through this service. As a result, a company is freed from the burden of having to purchase

expensive software licenses; it can also devote valuable manpower to matters that would

otherwise be tangled up with IT concerns. Business application hosting comes with a number of

other benefits, which we’ll explore in the space below.

Easy Upgrades

Software upgrades are simply a troublesome fact of life for businesses that depend on IT

departments; this can involve applying a patch to resolve a flaw in the program, or a

downloading a new version that fixes a range of problems and deficiencies. It is an easy process

with business application hosting, as the third-party company responsible for this service handles

everything on their end. Alternatively, a company that uses traditional on-premise IT solutions

will have to update their various software programs individually, and at significant cost.

Easy Scalability

One of the persistent problems with IT departments is figuring out how much to spend on

hardware and software. More than a few companies have wasted substantial amounts of money

on first-class computer suites that ended up unused. Also, a sudden, unanticipated surge in

demand for a company’s services can leave it struggling to assemble needed technological tools

in a brief time frame. With business application hosting, however, it’s a simple matter to request

expanded access to software programs when necessary. Many organizations—like

CyberlinkASP—offer pay-as-you-go plans that mean businesses will not have to tie up valuable

company resources in advance.

Freedom from Dependence on Specific Devices

In general, downloading a software program to a computer means you have access to the

program only when using that particular device. Also, documents stored on one device cannot be

accessed from another. For example, an at-home employee who does not have PowerPoint

installed on their personal computer will be unable to continue work on a presentation that they

started on their office computer. But, with business application hosting, this software is

accessible from virtually any computer, laptop, or device that can connect to the Internet.

Therefore, it’s possible for a vacationing employee to use their personal laptop to pull up a

document that they had typed up while at work the week before. It’s also possible for different

employees to collaborate on a single file, which is stored in the cloud.

Avoid In-House Hiring

Maintaining an in-house IT staff can be burdensome, due to salaries, payroll taxes, and related

company expenses. By shifting many of these burdens to a third-party organization, businesses

can access important IT services without needing to expand their in-house staff.

Company Bio

Based out of Dallas, Texas, CyberlinkASP is an application service provider that offers 24/7

cloud-based access to a wide range of IT services, including virtual desktops and managed

hosting. This privately owned company, founded in 1999, maintains a staff of highly experienced

IT professionals and a network of world-class data centers

Sources

http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/1118/2/42/

http://www.cyberlinkasp.com/asp-faqs.html