Software as a Service
Much has been written about the SaaS (Software as a Service) application delivery model. Our goal is to present a summary view of these differences.
Lower initial cost. With ECI supported hosting, clients do not need to buy the underlying hardware infrastructure rather they pay per employee per month. In addition, with ECI's SaaS customers typically buy subscriptions and thus pay for use over time. As a result, the initial costs can be far less than buying traditional enterprise software.
Not only are start-up costs lower under this model, but costs in general are also predictable. We believe this is one reason for the increase we have seen in contract terms; customers want to lock in current pricing years into the future.
Reduced risk. Given decades of applications failures and cost overruns, it is not surprising the traditional software model would be challenged by a new one. The traditional model of running the software on site and purchasing perpetual licenses led to huge up-front costs and a high level of risk. It can take years (if ever) before a company achieves a return on investment. With the ECI SaaS model, the up-front costs and risks are reduced substantially, and customers can receive near-term benefits and ROI from their efforts.
Quick implementations. Traditional software implementations are expensive and time consuming. With ECI SaaS, limited customization and the use of existing infrastructure significantly reduce initial implementation work. As a result, the software can be deployed in weeks instead of months or years.
Minimal IT Support. Because ECI manages the technology, our services require little IT support from user organizations' internal IT departments.
More-frequent functionality improvements and built-in upgrades. With ECI's SaaS, one version (the newest release) typically is used for all subscribers. As a result, customers have access to the most up-to-date software. In addition, with the hosted model, ECI customers automatically have the new version of the software without having to implement and customize it. Because ECI automatically upgrades software for all customers, no decision about whether to upgrade (often at considerable cost) is necessary.
Security. ECI's applications are aggressively monitored and designed for high levels of security.
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