Ambika Prakash

“Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are gaining immediate access to latest innovations with benefits like ease of implementation, management and better coordination across branch offices through on-demand applications,” says Sunanda Bang, IT Head, Dhoot Transmission Private Ltd. 

On-demand software is a software distribution model where applications are hosted by a vendor or a service provider and made available to customers. “Savings on cost and time are the major factors responsible for the growth of on-demand software in the SMB segment. This apart, SMBs focus on technology budgets on competitive advantage rather than infrastructure, she says.

It is the business needs that are driving adoption of software as a service (SaaS) model. For instance, as much of the manufacturing business and some design have been steadily moving to Asia from the US, it becomes imperative for Asia Pacific companies to collaborate effortlessly, both within the enterprise and with vendors and suppliers, Sunanda says.

”Asian companies need to collaborate more effectively across multilingual, multi-currency, multi-time zones. However, the use of application depends on the business needs and size of the company,” she adds.

While talking about the various advantages of on-demand software, Sunanda also highlights the security concerns. She says, “No doubt on-demand services appears to be hassle-free, but there are various security concerns that any SMB worries about.”

Some of the key concerns among the SMBs are:

• How can I be sure that my data will be secure?
• How do I know that the application will be available when I need it?
• Will I lose control of my data?
• Should I use an open source or SaaS application?
• How often is my data backed up and long are the backups stored?
• What are my rights in terms of complete access to my data - can I get
  to it any time?
• Is there a charge for data backups?
• Is my data hosted at a Tier 1 facility with full security protocols?
• What is the provider's responsibility to inform me of down-time and maintenance prior to their site going down?
• Do they have a rebate for excessive downtime to ensure they have a
  reason to minimize it?

However, large enterprises are far less likely to leverage the SaaS model for core applications such as ERP, but for applications deemed less mission-critical and those on the edge of their infrastructures, on-demand software is receiving considerable interest, says Sunanda.