By: Jeanne Morain For many enterprises and software vendors alike there are details that must be solved around people, process, and technology when designing your cloud strategy.
Posts Tagged ‘Provider’
Exploring the Software Licensing Implications of Cloud Bursting
Posted by admin on June 1st, 2011
Posted in Software Piracy 
Tags: Applications, Business, cloud-bursting, double-dipping, Enterprise, Implications, Industry, Internet, leap-the-impact, license models, network, Provider, software licensing, virtualization 
Comments OffI recieved a notice of copyright infringement from my internet provider today for allegedly using them to down?
Posted by admin on April 30th, 2011
load a Creed album. Does this mean the riaa is going to come after me or is this some sort of warning? Has this ever happened to any of you, and what was the outcome after this notice from the isp?
Posted in Software Piracy Tags: allegedly, Copyright, Down, From, Infringement, Internet, Notice, Provider, recieved, them, TODAY, Using 1 Comment »WHAT YOUR LICENSE MANAGEMENT PROVIDER SHOULD DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Posted by admin on January 24th, 2011
All license management providers are not built the same. Protecting your hard earned work and investment takes companies that are equally dedicated to your progress as a business. Why risk it all with companies that aren’t equipped with the qualities that go hand in hand with success? Here are some small tips that can go a long way into providing your company with the adequate resources to protect your revenue streams. When it comes to software licensing, look for these few things.
A TRUSTED NAME
Many software license management companies come and go as quickly as the summer changes to fall. A true providers mission is to protect the revenues of your creation and maximize the usage of the software for the end users. A trusted name enhances user experience through exceptional customer service. Look for a name that not only stands behind their product but also uses feedback from actual customer experiences.
In addition to customer service and consistent advancement of products, a provider should have a track record of positive business oriented results. Look for historical accomplishments with other software licenses and where the companies they have helped are at currently. Past successful principles that led to helping ISV’s become successful companies is a key sign that you may have a solid company to be on board with. Achievement comes with repetitive discipline and it cannot be done overnight. It’s the leaders whose vision and experience drives your software management experience to great heights or nightmares and low depths. Find out what experience the leadership has in creating value with ISV’s and end users.
COMMITMENT TO BEING FLEXIBLE AND MALLEABLE
Many software management companies claim they are committed, however they fall short when certain fundamental policies need to be in place. There are many software license managers that are too rigid when dealing with the nature of your product. Can they allow your end user to test the trial version and then convert the trials into permanent licenses either by embedding activation within your product or a web page?
Flexibility should be a core model of their business because you need it to stay ahead in the fast paced game of technology. Do you need to fine-tune the license model you’re providing to your end users? Will you have to reprogram your source code? You should be able to work through those issues easily and simply by reissuing a license. Can your software license provide that? It should.
The Ten Step Process: Step 8—Empower Customers with Entitlement Management Self-Serve Capabilities – Converting Your High-Tech Company into a…
Posted by admin on December 16th, 2010
By: Cris Wendt As a company moves from a pure-play hardware company to including software excellence in the supply chain, an important element is the addition of a customer self-serve portal. This is one facility that over time, will decrease operational costs, and make it easy for your customers to do business with you. A self-serve capability simply put is a web-portal where they can perform a number of activities with their provider, including software entitlement and fulfillment activities. A rich self-serve portal can even involve elements of social networking as a way to increase participation and value to the customer. From the perspective of the delivery of digital goods, the self-serve portal should be capable of allowing the software download and software license keys based upon a login and password, or, an access-code that is provided as part of a purchase. For most B2B software, it's typical to require customers to register in order to access critical information and software updates. A self-serve portal can often enable a faster revenue recognition process; once an order is processed, revenue can be recognized once the customer is informed of how they can access all of the software and license keys required to fulfill the order. It is typically not required that the customer actually download or use the software to recognize revenue. A self-serve portal can also be provided that enables customers to view their account activity, and, perform ongoing management activities. From the portal, ideally the customer can view all of the licenses that have been purchased and fulfilled (and to which machines they have been deployed). In addition, customers should be able to perform basic administration activity, including moving software to other machines. A self-serve portal is also a great way to provide customers with emergency access to license keys or other critical information to minimize any disruption. Behind the self-serve portal is often an entitlement management system , which aggregates information from the ERP and CRM systems, and provides the business logic for the portal to allow customer viewing and manipulation of software licenses. In this context, the entitlement management system allows customers to perform numerous self-serve activities without requiring the involvement of ERP and CRM systems. Depending upon the business model, the self-serve portal can also be used to allow e-commerce activities to enable customers to purchase more software licenses, or, renew maintenance contracts. Next time: Step 9— The Supply Chain Design Secret All Hardware Companies Need to Know
Posted in Software Piracy Tags: behind-the-self, customer, entitlement management, high-tech manufacturers, perspective, Provider, social-networking, supply Comments OffeCommerce SaaS Platforms, 10 Provider Questions
Posted by admin on July 23rd, 2010
This article provides a checklist for retailers who are evaluating SaaS based eCommerce solutions as part of their re-platforming project. These are the characteristics of a true software-as-a-service (SaaS) eCommerce provider.
The platform decision is arguably the most important, complex, and costly part of a retailers 3-5 year investment cycle. It is a decision that is often put off or easily put on hold due to other priorities or the risks involved. And it is a decision that very few online retailers are qualified to make on their own since it has such broad implications across technology, marketing, operations, and sales.
What is SaaS?A logical place to start. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a delivery model alternative for software companies to license their software “on-demand”, typically delivered over the Internet using standard web protocols. In most cases, the SaaS provider has software running their own servers in a data center they manage, along with all aspects of the application. This is opposed to licensing software “off-the-shelf”.
eCommerce SaaS Providers are companies that deliver their eCommerce software platform on their proprietary infrastructure. True SaaS eCommerce providers can offer a much higher level of service overall to retailers over in-house or third party hosted models.
The “Service” in SaaSBeyond the software delivery side of SaaS, and more important for retailers to understand, is the provider’s ability to actually provide an ongoing service. The SaaS provider is not coming in, building out a website, charging licensing fees and leaving. A SaaS provider makes their money over a 3-5 year period and is accountable for keeping the website online and fast every second of every minute. A tall order for just plain old software companies and is the fundamental difference with SaaS providers over custom eCommerce solutions or third party hosted systems.
1. Redundant Server InfrastructureTrue eCommerce SaaS providers have redundant server farms with no single points of failure. The SaaS platform will offer load balancing, clustering, and automatic fail over for all server tiers. In all likelihood the SaaS platform will house more than one website and Client (called a multi-tenant architecture) – this is not a problem providing they can guarantee performance, security, and availability in a Service Level Agreement.
Beware: We often hear of eCommerce Systems Integrators proposing one or two servers as “ongoing hosting” instead of proposing robust, high-availability architectures.
2. New Features and Upgrades IncludedWe are not talking about “18% per year maintenance”. True eCommerce SaaS providers will deliver several releases per year of new platform features requested by their Clients. These features will be rolled into the software code base and seamlessly released to all Clients avoiding costly “customization fees”.
Beware: Software License Maintenance is often used as a placeholder during the sales process for new features, support, service, or other.
3. Service Level Agreement (SLA) IncludedTrue eCommerce SaaS providers have a “service culture”. They are used to earning their money over a 3-5 year period of time vs. one-time upfront fees. As a result, they will guarantee Uptime, Performance, Transaction Integrity, and the Support Process in an SLA with the retailer. These SLAs should provide clear monthly reports on the status and a penalty structure for not meeting the targets.
Beware: Companies may try to use the 3rd party hosting company’s SLA in place of an agreement with the solution provider.
4. PCI SecurityPayment Card Industry compliance is something that all online retailers must understand and be able to demonstrate. True eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain PCI-DSS compliance and provide controls within their platforms to make compliance easier for the merchant.
Beware: Providers should guarantee they will maintain PCI compliance in their Master Services Agreement.
5. eCommerce Account ManagementOutside of 24×7 support, true eCommerce SaaS providers will offer a dedicated account management resource to their Clients. This person is named on their account and is available as a single point of contact and is accountable for customer satisfaction at no extra cost.
Beware: It is important the person assigned to your account is not motivated by selling more services.
6. Platform ConfigurationTrue eCommerce SaaS platforms offer rich features that can be turned on or off (configurable) as part of the implementation and by the merchant on-demand. This includes the ability for complex merchandising, search, promotions, shipping, checkout, payment, and other tools to be available to the Client as needed at no extra charge.
Beware: Many eCommerce providers will build a custom platform and website that offers limited configurable parameters after it’s delivered.
7. Rapid DeploymentSince a true eCommerce SaaS provider already has existing infrastructure and software running live, this drastically reduces project times and allows the retailer (and the provider) to focus on the most strategic parts of a project (User Experience and Integration).
Beware: To reduce project risk, retailers must provide more time for testing (technology, procedures, etc.) for in-house or third party hosted solutions than with SaaS solutions.
8. NOC Monitoring and PerformanceTrue eCommerce SaaS platforms have a software and hardware architecture that is scalable, allowing for quick provisioning of additional capacity to handle peak demands. To stay on top of capacity, SaaS providers are continuously monitoring eCommerce websites using global availability and performance monitoring tools (Gomez, Keynote, Uptrends) and have a Network Operations Center (NOC) that can proactively stay ahead of load issues.
Beware: Many IT departments are just not staffed to handle 24×7×365 monitoring or have the resources to properly architect a scalable solution.
9. Rental License vs. One-Time Lump SumSince SaaS providers license their eCommerce platforms “on-demand” vs. lump sum licensing, most provide a monthly based fee to “rent” the license. SaaS licensing models vary, some which are based on transactions, commissions, users, products, bandwidth or flat monthly fees. In almost every case, the ongoing monthly fees with a SaaS provider will be higher but the one-time fees will be significantly lower (than a licensed / hosted or custom build hosted). Typically the monthly fee is a blend of License and Delivery of the service.
Beware: The monthly fee for SaaS providers is not “hosting”, it is a mix of licensing and service delivery (as defined in the plan and SLA). Go back to checklist #1, the managed hosting fees alone for a redundant setup will make the SaaS fees very reasonable.
10. Disaster Recovery – Business ContinuityAs a provider of business critical services to online retailers, true eCommerce SaaS providers will maintain a full disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plan (BCP). This will protect the merchant by reducing possible downtime and data loss caused by a disaster in the data center.
Beware: Backups can be part of a DR strategy, but are not the plan alone. It is critical that the platform provider has a replicated environment to recover service if needed.
Integrate Your Case Management Software With Your Work Provider
Posted by admin on July 15th, 2010
Many Conveyancing and Personal Injury solicitors use work providers. DPS OneOffice for Personal Injury and Conveyancing can integrate with many of the major work providers on the market.
When a work providers sends a case to your firm, DPS OneOffice automatically creates a file in your system and informs the key person that this file has been incepted. The system automatically files progress reports with your work provider and recognises incoming and outgoing emails that are related to that case, filing them against the file in DPS with no user intervention.
One such work provider DPS can integrate with is Albany Assistance, who specialise in the provision of outsourced services to the insurance industry including claims management services and personal injury management.
Albany Assistance are a major work provider for Tayntons Solicitors LLP, a client of DPS Software. Tayntons use DPS Personal Injury to automatically create files, track cases and send out initial letters relevant to cases that have been provided by Albany Assistance.
DPS are also compatible with movewithus, a major property services provider. Heenans Solicitors required a system which was able to integrate with movewithus, their principal property service provider. When movewithus submit a case to Heenans, DPS automatically creates and updates a file as the case progresses.
Brendan Heenan, Business Manager at Heenans Solicitors commented: “The DPS MWU Agent has substantially reduced data inputting, thereby getting the instruction off to a flying start. This alone has enabled us to significantly increase the volume of instructions handled and decrease administration.”
DPS also integrate with Accident Exchange for PI work, and LMS, Xit2 and 55Live for Conveyancing work.