» What are Hosted Applications?
Lower operating costs
No costly hardware or software is needed at client premises as there is little or almost no disk space needed at user's computer. A computer capable of running a Web browser like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera or Safari is just what is needed. The business application is delivered over the Internet for a monthly or annual fee. Internet connections have become more faster, reliable and economical these days. Even if you take parallel Internet connections from 2 different Internet Service Providers for redundancy, the total cost of running the application is far below the cost of maintaining a locally installed software.
Quick and easy updates
You are actually renting the software. We will take care of the ongoing upgrades, maintenance, security, and other IT headaches. New updates are installed centrally negating the need for expensive roll outs. In some cases, a newly discovered bug or a new feature request can be developed, tested and deployed globally within hours.
Easy and instant deployment
Hosted applications can be deployed instantly. As the applications are more likely ready-made ones, there is no time needed to develop the application or to install the software in your business computers. No special changes or configurations are required at user end; the application can be used instantly upon signing up.
Freedom to choose any Operating System
Hosted Applications are not tied to any particular Operating System. Users can install any Operating System on their computers; what they need is just a W3C standards compatible browser like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc. For organizations that have legacy systems from different suppliers running different operating systems, hosted applications will provide an integrated solution to any system that supports a standard Internet browser including Windows, Linux, Mac and even latest Mobile phones.
24 X 7 global access
As the software and the data is stored on our Internet server, hosted applications are available to authorised users once they have logged in from any place where there is Internet access. The customers can work anywhere in the office environment, from remote offices or from their home or hotel without the need to download their work or synchronize with portable devices. As there is no software to download, a hosted application can be made instantly available across an entire organization even where the organization has multiple regional and international offices.
Minimal Risk
Our hosted applications require no long term commitment. New customers can test the hosted applications either through a free introductory offer or with minimal risk using a Pay-As-You-Go model. If after testing the hosted application, the customer finds it unsuitable then they can simply stop using the service. With Essence Computing Hosted Applications, you can always take the backup of data you entered and move on to another provider. If you take the wise decision to stay on with us, your data is safe and secure in our distributed server.
Easy integration with other web applications
Our Hosted Applications are backed by powerful APIs that can be integrated with other systems or websites. Our data formats are always standards based, and you can always export the data to any other application you desire. Almost all reports of Hosted Applications can be exported to XML, CSV, ODS, HTML, PDF, etc. This gives you full peace of mind as there is no chance of vendor lock-in with Essence Computing Hosted Applications.
Although hosted applications offer our clients as well as ourselves considerable benefits over the locally installed applications, they will not suit every situation, or every customer, especially in the following cases:
Unreliable Internet connection
Internet connectivity is now available in more and more remote places but there are still some regions where internet access is limited or unreliable. Moreover, if you have onsite offices in remote locations, Internet connectivity charges in such places prove to be prohibitive, at least in the short term.
Mission critical usage
Hosted Applications are not recommended in situations where a minute of downtime will pile up the work and end up in a long queue in front of the computer operator. The client should very well understand that Internet connection can go off, the server may crash, the database server can be busy. We do provide 99.99% uptime guarantee on our servers, but still, they are hardware equipments and subject to downtimes beyond our control and prediction.
Security
Hosted Applications use a login procedure using a variety of checks using username, password, IP address, browser, time, etc. ensuring that only those that are authorized have access. As with online banking and shopping sites, it is the user who controls the security. If a user allows the browser to save the username and password, then anyone who can physically access the system can gain access to the application. Moreover, some virus programs also access these stored passwords and send to malicious websites. We provide proper instructions and guidance to our customers on what to do and what not to, but it is upto the users of Hosted Applications to follow them. Although security is a concern, in some circumstances hosted applications may prove to be more secure than it would be on a private network with less sophisticated security measures or in an environment where there is a risk from within. Eventhough all banks are now working on centralised applications, they are also not 100% hacker-safe or risk free. Good backup is the only solution in such situations.