Dynamic Business

Hosted solutions are also permeating the market as a replacement for the personal computer in some situations. Users of the new Apple iPhone can access a monthly for fee service called MobileMe, which synchronises their iPhone with Apple data services to back up the iPhone data. Users can now protect their phone data without connecting to a computer to do so because Apple provides and manages the service for them.

The consideration of whether the business should contract for a hosted solution as an alternative to buying the hardware and software and running it in-house is not an either or choice. Most businesses opt for a stepped approach to implementing hosted solutions by buying the service for one aspect of the business’ IT needs. Often this is in an area where the business has no existing application and where it has identified a need for something to fill the gap. For example, a manufacturer or logistics business may identify sales as being an issue and investigate an SaaS (software as a service) solution like Salesforce.com. This can be implemented in isolation to the other business applications and can be run from the web with other business applications run locally.

In time, as the business identifies opportunities for using the data that it has in the hosted application within the applications it runs locally, specialist applications can be developed to integrate these two. In this way, the data generated using the hosted service can be made available throughout the business.

Security is an issue for every business and one advantage of hosted solutions is in providing the SME with better security than most already have. In a hosted environment using a reputable company which supports the use of best practices and which is regularly audited, data and back-ups will be more securely held than if the back-up tapes go home with the receptionist each night, for example. Where data is transferred between a business office and its servers residing in a data centre, this is typically encrypted and transmitted across secure DSL or fibre optic lines.

Analyse business needs
Like any business purchasing decision you need to investigate the company your business chooses to do business with. The hosted services industry isn’t without its share of rogue players and it behoves any business to exercise due diligence and investigate the bona fides of the service provider. Understand the SLA (service level agreement) being offered so you know the level of service the hosting service is guaranteeing to provide. Ensure that your data belongs to you and that if you terminate the contract you will get all your data back in a format that you can use and without having to jump through hoops. Reputable businesses will provide references on request and ask to speak to an ex-client too.

At the end of the day, you need a service provider who will provide you with what you have determined your business needs. This might be a hosted application, it might be a fully managed data service and it can be a long-term relationship with a provider that will help your business chart its IT future.

- Dave Stevens is managing director of Brennan IT (www.brennanit.com.au), a leading provider of telecommunications and IT services to the mid-market, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Checklist

• Analyse your business needs and determine the solutions required to fill them
• Identify IT systems required to implement the identified solutions
• Determine whether IT requirements include additional hardware or software or both and write specifications for these
• Determine the level of user support required and if this can be met in-house
• Analyse whether to buy hardware and software outright or use a hosted solution
• If a hosted solution is chosen:

- determine whether to use a shared or dedicated solution
- investigate suitable hosting solutions against list of business needs
- check hosting service’s references, SLA, contract and issues such as security and data ownership